Jesucristo Superestrella

Last night we volunteered for Jesus Christ Superstar at the Zachary Scott Theatre. What's interesting about this production is that it's bilingual. The show was both in English and Spanish, with some songs using one or the other language, while other songs were sung in both. The set design and costumes were also very Mexican in look and feel. This is the first attempt to do the show bilingual and it seemed to work.

I have to admit, Joseph Melendez, the actor playing Jesus was hot. I might burn in hell for this, but after the show I was saying how I would go pray in his church any day of the week. The director brought Melendez in from New York so no one really knew who he was. There was a lot of speculation whether he was gay or not, because, let's face it, 90 percent of the male actors at the Zach are (not that there is anything wrong with that). A friend who is stage manager for the show, confirmed that Melendez is in fact straight. Dios mio! At this point, Doug decided it was time to leave, with or without me, and left me chatting with the girls until they pointed out I better go catch my ride. ;-)

Actually, the best performance was John Pointer, playing Judas. He rocked the house.

My only disappointments were that they did the song "I Don't Know How To Love Him" only in Spanish. This actually was a pop hit in the '70s and one of my favorite songs from the show. I'm sure if it were in English I would have sang along to it; Doug said for this reason it was a good thing it was in Spanish. The other disappointment is that the show started with someone dressed like an Aztec god, doing a dance. He was brought out later in the first act, but I would have also liked to see the second act start with him. It was fascinating watching him leap and turn in the air.

The next time we are scheduled to volunteer at the Zach is the July 21st opening part of An Almost Holy Picture.