I'd really prefer not to discuss the controversy surrounding this show, as I have the utmost respect, admiration and love for the owners and directors of Camp Pontiac and do not want to slander them or the camp by bringing up some of the things that took place between the summers of 2000 and 2001, so I'll try to sum it up quickly and concentrate instead on the process of producing the show, and the performance itself.

Jesus Christ Superstar was controversial for obvious reasons; the title of the play suggests a Christian religious motif, and while none actually exists in the play (it has in fact been denounced by Christian fundamentalist groups as being "non-religious"), the title alone was enough to cause predictable and understandable knee-jerk reactions from a number of people. What is unfortunate is that those reactions were unencumbered by any knowledge or understanding of the play, and worse yet, could not be assuaged by any rational explanation or fair assessment of the play's true nature, and therefore became irrational and problematic for all concerned. In the end, and without going into detail, I think everyone did the right thing here; from the beginning, everyone acted in what they felt were the best interests of the camp, and the show itself ultimately was an unqualified success.

Jesus Christ Superstar was first suggested to me by Emily Gallice in 1999, when I told her that I planned to do Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2000. She offered a glowing assessment of Webber and Rice's seminal rock opera, which at the time I had never seen, and had of course avoided because I had made the same misguided assumptions about its content that I would later have so many problems with. My co-director at Long Island City High School, who is a devout Christian, was less enthusiastic about it; she didn't like it at all, and called it "blasphemous." Intriguing, I thought. I had to find out more.

I must admit, the first time I listened to the score in the fall of 1999, I thought it was awful. I don't remember if it was the 1973 film soundtrack or the original 1969 London "concept" recording, but whichever one it was I really didn't like it much, except for the well-known title track. Maybe my expectations had been inflated by Emily's description of the music, maybe I wasn't familiar enough with the story or characters, and maybe I just wasn't listening carefully. Then in the spring of 2000, one of the actors who was in the production of Grease I was doing at the Stage theatre in Merrick recommended the 1996 London cast recording, which my school library had just acquired. I listened to it and fell in love with it immediately; I don't know what made this recording so much more appealing than the first one I'd heard, but the more I listened to it, the more I liked it. I realized that the show was essentially non-religious and completely inoffensive, and the research I did on its conception and history confirmed that interpretation. By the time camp rolled around in 2000, I had already decided that this would be the upper-camp show for 2001.

Anticipating some controversy, I put a few gentle "feelers" out about the show during the summer of 2000. Jan Ford seemed to love the idea, as did the campers in Tommy and Joseph who were in line to be in it. I mentioned it to a few parents on Visiting Day, all of whom reacted very positively. When You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown was over, I put a small plaque in the theatre marquee that read simply: "Jesus Christ Superstar - 2001."  Everyone knew that I was planning to do it, and at the time, no one seemed to have a problem with it. I went straight to work on the script right after camp ended and had it finished by the end of October.

The decision to push Superstar back to after Visiting Day, and have staff involved in the show, while certainly disappointing and frustrating at the time it was made, did present me with a very appealing possibility: that I myself could be in the show and play Judas Iscariot, the less prominent but more challenging of the two male leads (the other, of course, being Jesus). I honestly had no idea whether or how a show with staff as lead actors would work out, in terms of scheduling rehearsals or even finding people who could sing and were willing to commit to it, but thankfully it worked out beautifully. Adron Scott, a counselor from Indiana, expressed an interest in the show very early on that summer; he had experience in theatre and a very good singing voice. He was an obvious choice for the role of Jesus, though I had to lower some of the songs a step to make it easier for him to sing, and he couldn't do the high-pitched falsetto screeches that are in the original score. Adron was a pleasure to work with, and did an excellent job.

Casting the role of Mary Magdalene was slightly more difficult, only because Lori and I couldn't decide if she should be in the show or not. She had a great singing voice but preferred to concentrate on the choreography, so we cast Kirsten Sandvik, who had an absolutely beautiful voice that was ideal for the role. Russell Hunt had returned from England after working at camp in 1996 and 97, and we cast him as Caiaphas. Although Patrick Tuite had the deep baritone voice that the high priest's role called for, we cast him instead as Peter, one of the Apostles; Patrick just didn't look like a villain. Since Mary is the only female role in the original play, we gave the roles of Annas and another priest to women, Kelly Klundt and Nikki Bradford, respectively. Shannon Crockett, who went on the California trip that year, was nonetheless perfect for the one-song, comic-relief role of King Herod, understudied  by the ever-reliable Corey Elan. With only five male staff (myself included) auditioning and six male roles to give out, the last male role (Pontius Pilate) went to a camper, Brian Tannenbaum, who had for some reason decided not to be in West Side Story but who had done several plays over the years and developed a very strong singing voice.   

When people saw that I was in the cast, what most wanted to know was, who's going to play the piano? That problem was solved rather easily through the wonders of digital technology. I had  a Mini-Disc (MD) recorder which I used to record highlights on sports radiocasts, and which came in very handy here, enabling me to make a high-quality, track-indexed recording of the entire score which we could use both in rehearsals and in the actual show. (I still have it, for the next time…)

Two days before the performance, I suffered a mild but very painful concussion playing football with the counselors, and had some short-term memory loss. I was not able to rehearse at all the next day, but I soon discovered that, fortunately, I hadn't forgotten my lyrics or blocking. The whole right side of my head was throbbing in pain and, to make things even more uncomfortable, I wore as part of my costume a heavy leather jacket and it was about a hundred degrees in the theatre that night. This was the first time, really, since 1997 that we had a really hot night in the theatre for a show; up until then we'd been lucky. Mike Tsung provided several jugs of ice water for the cast and crew, and we had about a half-dozen fans going backstage, but I kept that leather jacket on until the show was over.

Performing in a camp show which I was also directing at the same time was a new and exciting experience for me, bringing with it new challenges and new possibilities. I sometimes found myself "directing" while I was onstage, while consciously trying not to break character, but all in all it was a genuine thrill to be on stage with the cast and play such an interesting, challenging role.

And what an event this was. All the anticipation, all the controversy, all the spirit and enthusiasm of the cast and crew built up to one glorious night in the theatre and one triumphal performance on stage. The response to this show was overwhelmingly positive. Jesus Christ Superstar set a new standard, and while I think we exceeded it with Les Misérables the following year, this show will always be my favorite, not just because of what I went through to put it on, or how well the performance was received, but because of how much the cast and crew believed in it, and how we all worked together to show just what can be accomplished when you truly believe in something.   
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