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'Jesus Christ Superstar' A Theater Treat

Area Schools Well-Represented In Ambitious Staging of Andrew Lloyd Webber Masterpiece

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By LINDA CHION KENNEY

Published: April 5, 2007

The rock opera about Jesus Christ introduced three decades ago has become universally accepted on community theater and high school stages.

But that wasn't always the case.

"Jesus Christ Superstar," by Broadway heavyweights Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, was lambasted as being sacrilegious back in its early days, and actors performing the musical this month in Riverview are well aware of the show's rocky start.

"But I find it so accepted now," said Daron Hawkins, theater director at Riverview High School and founder of Riverview Little Theatre, the community theater company through which the show is being staged under the direction of Liz Stewart, the chorus teacher at Riverview High.

"Whatever happened to all the bashing before?"

Hawkins said he thinks he has an answer.

"Because (the bashers) got a clue, because I think they realize this is an adaptation, and that the Bible has all the best stories," he said, stressing that while the show is for entertainment and not proselytizing, it nevertheless can be said that "at least kids are talking about Jesus."

The students are also learning about history and storytelling to boot.

The production focuses on the final days in the life of Jesus told through the tortured eyes of his betraying disciple, Judas Iscariot.

The Riverview show draws upon the talents of many students and teachers from area schools, including Bev Sutherland, the show's musical director. Sutherland is the longtime chorus teacher at Bloomingdale High School, who also taught at Newsome High School.

The show's orchestra director is G. Frank Meekins, formerly the artistic director of the M.A.D. Theatre in Tampa and the Riverview High School orchestra conductor. Jennifer Thomas is the choreographer and Miguel Oquendo, the musical theater director at Music Showcase on Oakfield Drive, plays Caiaphas.

Hawkins plays King Herod.

The cast is comprised of community theater veterans including Matt Mello of Valrico, a Durant High School graduate, as Jesus, and Patrick Brown of Seffner, also known as Mr. Bones the magician, as Pontius Pilate.

But most of the cast are students representing Blake, Bloomingdale, Brandon, Riverview and Newsome high schools, Rodgers and Progress Village middle schools and the University of South Florida.

For many of these students, the timing of the show couldn't be better.

"It's an interesting experience because I'm really religious and it's the season of Lent right now," said Bloomingdale sophomore Gabrielle Stuart-Davis. "Whenever I go to Mass, it speaks to me more than usual because, in the play, I play the part of Mary Magdalene. It makes me want to go to church more because I get insight there that I can take back to the stage and put into my character."

In the role of Peter, the thrice-denying disciple is Nick Giuliani, a Bloomingdale junior who finds his character "simple, but kind of complex."

Giuliani said he isn't sure what the controversy was all about so many years ago.

"I think it's ridiculous, especially if you're Christian," he said. "You should be happy a man such as (Webber, whose credits include "Phantom of the Opera," "Cats" and "Evita") would make such an incredible musical about Jesus' story."

Cast member Rick Coolick of Riverview, a biomedical technician at Tampa General Hospital, said he saw the original "Jesus Christ Superstar" on Broadway back in the 1970's.

"I was in high school," he said, "and it was a field trip."

Coolick said he wasn't mired in the controversy back then, but realizes its roots today.

As a born-again Christian, he said, he finds the show not to be "absolutely true to the Bible."

"I find it's more liberal," Coolick added, "but God can use any avenue to save anyone he wants."
For Stewart, this year's staging is truly bittersweet. Her son, Christian, a Riverview senior and recipient of a prestigious $3,000 thespian club scholarship, plays Judas. Her husband, Robby, the school resource officer at Mulrennan Middle School, plays lead guitar in the orchestra. And her brother, Robert Alan Bennett, a member of the wrestling team that started the Brandon High streak and captured the school's first state title in 1977, died unexpectedly two weeks before the March 29 opening night.

Stewart dedicated the production "in loving memory " to her brother.

"The last time I directed this show, in 2000, Robert was in it and he played a disciple," said Stewart who, with her Liz Stewart Productions company, has staged the show thrice before. "This is his favorite show I've ever directed, so I hope he likes it again."

Stewart said she finds solace in the show, and hopes many others will follow suit, regardless of their religious convictions.

"I think people who come to this show, and who have come to the past productions, are impressed with it," she said. "They find it a spiritual experience whether they're Christian or not, and I would like to think most people can at least respect who Jesus is. The show is a nonreligious way of telling a spiritual story."

Remaining show dates are April 5-7 at 7:30 p.m. All shows are at Riverview High School, 11311 Boyette Road in Riverview. Tickets are available online at www.ticketleap.com.

Linda Chion Kenney can be reached at 657-4525 or lchion@mediageneral.com

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