Jesus Christ Superstar - Review

First performed in 1970, Jesus Christ Superstar , an account of the last week of Jesus's life, remains rock opera's heaviest hitter. But Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's masterwork has started to look decidedly middle-aged - what was cool and "edgy" back in Sir Keith Holyoake's day can seem, well, try-hard to a modern audience.

So the not inconsiderable challenge to directors Michelle Johansson and Molly Wills was to funk up the production, though retain the reverence that the subject demands. Make it resonate to the MTV generation. And on this opening night, the Old Student's command performance*, Johannson & Wills' charges responded with a show of passion, confidence and no small amount of swagger.

Here was a decidedly Pasifikan Superstar. Swathes of tapa cloth. Hip-hop handshakes. The disciples hangin' in their Hawaiian shirts.

And the main players? Big Inoke Tuita is a marvellously garish Herod. Bigger Lauie Sila, a show-stealing Pilate. And Catalina Kamira plays a heartfelt Mary - her Annie-Crummer-like voice ensures songs like I Don't Know How to Love Him and Could We Start Again Please? will dominate your shower solos for weeks.

With the Wesleyan love of singing to fall back on, the "mob", backed by Will Payne's fresh backing track, were always likely to sound magnificent. And they don't disappoint though it is the details, a subtlety of performance you rarely see in school productions, that impresses most.

Of course, this is a show carried by Jesus and Judas. After a nervous start, Simas Tekulu (Judas) brought a conflicted anguish to a role that very easily lapses into caricature. John Salanoa's Jesus was "just a man" and yet somehow much more. Word is that their alternates - Poloma Iosefa (Jesus) and Jonathon Aiono (Judas) - are equally adept: they'll be doing pretty damn well to match Tekulu and Salanoa.

There were a few glitches: a couple of mikes weren't on (this was technically the dress rehearsal) and there were lengthy pauses between scene changes that could've been better masked by music. But these are minor quibbles. This was a performance of exuberance and joy. Sadness too - the final scene, Christ's crucifixion, is chilling and simply unforgettable.

Jesus Christ Superstar runs until Thursday night at the Wesley School Hall. The performance starts at 7.30pm - tickets are $10 for adults with concession prices available.

* The Old Students' Command Performance was dedicated to the late Richard Honey, Wesleyan and good friend of the director Michelle Johansson.