Could We Start Again, Please?

So back in the Summer of 2003 I was asked by my church – Pea Ridge United Methodist Church – to direct “Jesus Christ Superstar.” At that point I had directed two shows for the First Stage (Children's) Theatre Company, so tackling an “adult” show sounded like a good challenge – besides, it was a good way to give back to my church (assuming the show made money).

Auditions brought out some great talent, including Eric Wilson (Judas), Autumn Seavey (Mary Magdalene), Len LaCara (Herod), Brandon Giles (Simon Zealotes) and Anthony Donta (Caiphas), to name a few – but we came to the end of the auditions and didn’t have anyone to play Jesus… until the last person walked in. Michael Naglee was perfect for the role – a terrific singer and actor, he was the man for the part, and brought along the experience and leadership you need in any show.

The show is also special because it involved my whole family, with wife Jeanette and her sister Sherri playing “Soul Girls,” youngest son Evan was “Peter” and oldest son Justin my (unofficial) assistant director. The whole cast came together and overcame many obstacles to learn the (often difficult) music for the show.

It wasn’t an easy show to put together (in fact, in many ways it was the most difficult I’ve ever tackled), but thanks to the talented cast and some hard work by band leader Quinn Ballard (and his orchestra), choreographer Melissa McGuffin, set design and construction by Brandon Giles, and costume assistance by Denise LaCara (among others), it somehow came together and ended up being (in my humble opinion) a darn good show. Like most community theatre performances, it might lack the extravagant costumes and towering sets of the professional show, but it made up for it with spirit, energy and raw talent.

At the end of the show, we followed the lead of other community versions and added a sequence to represent the resurrection (which wasn’t easy – the effect didn’t come together until the dress rehearsal). I’ll be curious to see if Wednesday’s show does the same. But as I said in the program at the time, “The story of Jesus is too big to be captured in a single play, and too powerful to be brought down by a sometimes-controversial interpretation.”