Review: Jesus Christ Superstar. Music by Andrew Lloyd-Webber. Lyrics by Tim Rice. Produced by The 5th Avenue Theatre. Directed by Bill Berry. Choreography by Jimmy Shields. Music Direction R.J. Tancioco. Set Design by Parmida Ziaei. Costume Design by Danielle Nieves. Lighting Design by Robert J. Aguilar. Sound Design by Ken Travis. Hair/Wig/Make-up Design by Jason Goldsberry. With Alexander Killian, Cameron Lavi-Jones, Molly Sides, Mark Siano, Cassi Q. Kohl, Mari Nelson, Adam Standley, Aaron Alexander Gordon, Will Chadek. Onstage at the 5th Avenue Theatre May 2 – May 17, 2026. Tickets at https://www.5thavenue.org/shows/2025-26/jesus-christ-superstar/
I’m not the biggest fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber (personally, he seems like a rodent shaped git) but I am a fan of a limited amount of his work:
- Evita
- The song “Masquerade” in Phantom of the Opera
- Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is cute
- His first big hit, Jesus Christ Superstar
The rest is dreck…and, if you look over that list, all but “Masquerade” from ‘Phantom’ are the hit musicals that ALW wrote with lyricist Tim Rice. (They wrote some other stuff together too but not really hits.)
Jesus Christ Superstar is also a bit of a big deal for me personally because it was the first professionally staged musical I saw as a youngster, back in the long ago day, when a road company of JCS made a stop at the local Orpheum Thee-ay-tur in the nearest big city to my hometown. I fell in love with it and bought the original concept album and played the HELL out of it and naturally, as a little budding homosexual boy, I adored “I Don’t Know How To Love Them” sung by the confused and pining Mary Magdalene, who isn’t sure where the hell this relationship with Jesus is going.
Not very far…
The 5th Avenue Theater is currently staging JCS and I’m happy to report Sir Andrew and Sir Tim’s nearly 60 year old musical still holds up. It’s a terrific score with lovely lyrics and so many delightful numbers…and, since the show is sung through (it’s a rock opera!) there’s no dumb dialogue moments to get in the way, so it’s just the cast singing their little hearts out for 2 hours! That’s another plus for the show; unlike so many traditional musicals that run 3+ hours, JCS is delightfully brisk and to the point…we all pretty much know the story (even if we flunked Sunday school…) and with the great songs quickly moving along, it makes for a fun and fast night of theater.
It’s also nice that it’s a handsome production with a delicious scenic design by Parmida Ziaei and lighting design by Robert J. Aguilar. For this production, they’re playing up the whole “Jesus and his crazy kid followers are rebelling against the colonialist oppressive government” thing so we have a fun romanesque cathedral thing going on with the excellent band up in the balcony of the set, wailing away under the always superb musical direction of R.J. Tancioco. This production both looks AND sounds good.
Since it’s a rock musical with no dialogue, this is a show that really very much depends on the ability of its actor/singers to wail on the music and fortunately, we have an energetic, talented cast that can sing this score. As is frequently the case with Jesus Christ Superstar, director Bill Berry and the 5th Avenue have cast some actual local rock musicians in the roles of Mary Magdalene and Judas, and both Molly Sides and Cameron Lavi-Jones do a fine job singing those roles, though it’s really interesting to note that poor Mary Magdalene doesn’t actually have that much to DO in the show…she’s just there to sing a couple of lovely pining for Jesus songs and to mop his brow a bit and cause contention between Jesus and Judas who doesn’t approve. Well, she’s there for that and to break up the huge sausage party that is “The Greatest Story Ever Told”. As is usual with anything historical, the women tend to get lost in the shuffle. Lloyd Webber and Rice were so into the creating fun rock songs for all the dudes, they even left out giving poor Mary, the Jesus Mama, anything to do!
But, the 5th Avenue has rectified the ‘bro problem with JCS by casting the always amazing veteran Seattle actress Mari Nelson as Pontius Pilate and she really gets to have fun with her brief moments in the show. Not surprisingly, all the show’s ‘villains’ provide the most joy here, with Adam Standley also a standout in his brief turn as Herod, and Mark Siano having a ridiculous amount of fun as the dastardly Caiaphas, who has the great fortune of making a grand entrance from above the stage in true Lord Vader style. He will forever be now known as Darth Siano in Seattle theatrical circles for the sheer audacity and basso profundity of that moment.
As for Jesus…it’s actually a tough role. Jesus is really a bit of relunctant messiah in his own show; he does tend to mope a bit and you really wish he’d slap the shit out of Judas instead of singing yet another mopey song but happily he gets to break out with his big Act II show stopper ‘Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say)’ and Alexander Kilian gets HIS moment in the sun and really does stop the show for a couple minutes with a gorgeous heartfelt wail from the gut and it really is terrific theater. Nicely done.
Not really anything to pick apart…there were a couple awkward transitions between songs/scenes but that’s understandable; Jesus Christ Superstar is really just a two hour long music video. I mean, really, when you think about it…it has a long haired hero, soft hippy rock, a whipping scene, and a hot chick pining for the unattainable star of the band. It’s like a Whitesnake video but with better music.
So, it’s a big old recommendation for the 5th Avenue’s Jesus Christ Superstar. It’s a gloriously rapturous way to spend an evening in the theater.
About the Author: Michael Strangeways
Related Posts
Review: The Book Needs A Freshening But “The Wiz” Still Dazzles
Why, yes, we would like to “Ease on Down The
Review: I Loved Beauty, The Beast is OK But Gaston Was Too Greasy
It’s been almost exactly two years (I’m about 6 weeks
