How did this horrible movie get such a high rating? They literally RAPED almost every single song in this production. Guy playing Jesus could hit the notes but had no emotion, Judas was atrocious, Pilate was too deep for my likings, and Simon looked like he was creaming his pants at certain notes. And Annas looked like Captain Chemo. Mary Magdalene was good though!
shareI don't necessarily agree with you about Simon (He's called Zealotes for a reason, after all) and Pilate was serviceable enough - my main problem with this film is that it lacks any kind of subtlety.
The key to a great performance of JCS is to realise that everyone (except, possibly, Herod) is a hero - they're all doing exactly what they think is necessary, even the priests.
But they turned pretty much everyone but Pilate into either whining, petulant children or moustache-twirling villains.
I agree except with the one who played Judas, and Pilate, I think both of them did a GREAT JOB.
Actually I prefer this one than the 1973 version.
The comparisons to the 1973 version are somewhat inevitable, so I'll just give it a go. There are two categories for each character: acting and singing
_______Acting|Singing
Jesus___2000*|1973
Mary_____1973|2000
Peter____2000|2000
Judas____1973|1973
Pilate___1973|2000
Caiaphas_2000|2000
Annas____1973|2000
Simon____1973|1973
Apostles_2000|1973
Crowd____1973|1973
Lepers___1973|1973
Herod will not be joining this chart this evening due to the fact that I just can't stand him at all in JCS, in either version.
*I only give the better actor to Glenn Carter because I believed the relationship he had with Jerome's Judas better, which is important. Other than that, they were fairly close with Neely potentially taking it for "Gethsemane."
"I'm the RA, and as the RA, I'm supposed to be the fun-sucker. I *beep* the sun."
-Abe Christiansen
Upon reviewing the 1973 "Everything's All Right," I have altered my assessment of the acting prowess of Ted Neely. He did have good chemistry with Judas; it was just much more subtle. With that, Neely takes both singing and acting.
"I'm the RA, and as the RA, I'm supposed to be the fun-sucker. I *beep* the sun."
-Abe Christiansen
The weirdest thing is that Jërõmè "balding Quentin Tarantino-looking creep" Prâdón couldn't sing good enough to be Judas, so they overdubbed him... with someone else who couldn't sing!
Anyhow, I agree, this version is absolutely atrocious. Even the few singers that doesn't suck (like Pilate) still have this weird tone shifts and strange delivery that just about destroys every performance.
Mary Magdalene is about the only one who doesn't come off as really bad, but that's just because she's got the most boring songs. Also, the sets are really boring
The 1973 version is better in every single way.