Seen it live twice...
...and on tv once, still fresh and funny, i recommend that everyone see this
shareI heard it was pretty offensive and like thousands of people were protesting it...
shareyeah, as an atheist i noticed that it wasnt making fun of relgion but making fun of people who make fun of religion, showing that its just daft and ends in tragedy.
Protestors, jeez, no matter what they protest i still hate them: 'Lets go outside their main HQ and shout and hold signs'...sure, like that will help. You just end up looking like an idiot who needs to develop a sense of humour.
Anyway it was a good show, try and see it if u can
The BBC received lots of complaints, but most of these were received by email and were generated by automated mailer programs.
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Aliens? Us!? Is this one of your Earth "jokes"?
www.lostskeleton.com
Also, 50,000 of the 58,000 comments were recieved BEFORE the show aired, by people believing hearsay and who never SAW the bloody thing!
I mean headlines like:
1)"it glamourises the Ku Klux Klan"
2)"it portrays Jesus in a nappy!"
and
3)"it mocks the Holy Trinity/Christianity"
these three things were often quoted BEFORE the show came out, and even afterwards, proving that people hadnt seen it!
ANSWERS:
1) The Klan come on and do a tap dance, which makes the situation ridiculous, you cant honestly take this seriously can you?
2) No, the character Montel wears a nappy, in act 2 the actor who plays Montel then plays Jesus, but when he does, he wears ROBES, not a nappy!
3) The trinity are not mocked! Sure there are insults in there between them, ie Jesus being angry at Adam and Eve for wanting a 2nd chance despite taking the path of vanity and ambition, and blowing it. Jesus sings about how he had to redeem humanity, honestly, and not mocking. Mary sings of her anger at Jesus not being there for her after his death. God sings how its difficult being him, "millions of voices making all the wrong choices, then turning around and blaming me", Satan regretting his fall from heaven, and wanting to reconcile with heaven etc. All that stuff is done honestly, not mocking.
People see and believe what they want, if they saw the show as a satire and an amazing piece of musical theatre with some delicious music and amazing characters and actors (ie David Bedella as the warm up guy and Satan is an amazing actor, with a fantastic voice!), and actually took the time to SEE the show, they'd see it differently! I cant believe anyone would take this seriously!
Montel does indeed wear a nappy as Jesus. That's the point.
What I love about JSTO is its irreverence. If ever there was a religion that needed taking down a peg or two, it's Christianity.
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Aliens? Us!? Is this one of your Earth "jokes"?
www.lostskeleton.com
Uh no... have you actually watched the show? The character Montel wears a nappy/diaper in Act 1. In Act 2 "Jesus" is played by Montel/the actor who plays Montel, however when he is playing Jesus, he is NOT wearing a nappy/diaper, he is wearing traditional loincloth robes. Watch it again, you'll see!
shareYes. I saw the show five times at the theatre. I worked at the National Theatre when it was being performed there. My friend was in the chorus after the cast change at the Cambridge Theatre and I have the recording on tape. I know this show!
Come on. Jesus's costume is obviously a nappy styled to look like a loincloth. Put it this way - if it's not a nappy, if Jesus isn't supposed to be compared to Montel, why is the same actor used to portray both characters, while wearing virtually identical costumes?
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Aliens? Us!? Is this one of your Earth "jokes"?
www.lostskeleton.com
He's supposed to be compared to Montel, true, because it's in Jerry's imagination, and each costume is just slightly different in his mind (look at Irene/Mary and Jonathan/Satan)
But it is a loincloth, you can claim its a nappy styled like a loincloth if you want, but its a loincloth in my opinion, and people were whining about Jesus being shown in a nappy, they were obviously referring to Montel in part 1 having not seen the show, you must admit that people were just trying to slate the show with this bit of mis-information! I dont see why you want to argue about it if you also want to defend the show.
Jesus in a nappy is the whole point of having the same character play both Montel and Jesus. It's a major joke! The first time I saw Jesus enter as an adult baby, it was hilarious. I don't understand why you don't see that comparison - the writers are trying to be offensive, remember.
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Aliens? Us!? Is this one of your Earth "jokes"?
www.lostskeleton.com
My point is simply that Montel as Jesus does not wear an obvious nappy like in Act One, he wears stylised loincloths/robes, you can debate that this is a nappy if you want, but to anyone else who saw it, it looked like robes, and on purpose so you could seperate Montel from Jesus a little (a costume change, like the other characters).
I dont understand why you are arguing with me, when I'm DEFENDING the show against Bible Bashers who spout "Jesus is shown in a nappy" in attack despite having not seen the show, when Jesus ISNT shown in a nappy, just the guy who plays a baby in Act One plays Jesus in Act Two, but not in a nappy.
" The BBC received lots of complaints, but most of these were received by email and were generated by automated mailer programs "
I didn't know this. Only 8,000.00 complaints after? A lot, but not as many as beforehand...
Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.
"the writers are trying to be offensive, remember."
NO THEY'RE NOT! BUY THE DVD LISTEN TO THE AUDIO COMMENTARY! WATCH THE DOCUMENTARIES!
Richard Thomas and Stewart Lee clearly state that they are not trying to offend at all (in fact Richard Thomas is a Christian of reasonably devout faith), only uptight people could find this offensive as it is!
In the Second Act Jesus is wearing a loincloth, this has been clearly stated by Richard Thomas, Stewart Lee, Leah Archer (costume designer), Nick Hynter (Head of National Theatre at the time of Jerry's National Theatre run) and Wilis Morgan (Original Cast and Tour Cast Montel) innumerable times! If you can't get this through your thick skull that for all eternity your are fired and flambeed, baked and sauteed, steamed and stewed, barbecued, grilled and roasted, lightly toasted, then... then... then... FUC - KED UP THE ASS WITH BARBED WIRE!
By the way, I know Victoria's Secret: She's a slut!
Wow, you're quite abusive.
Anyway, the point is that the writers wanted the audience to compare the characters of Montel and Jesus, by having them portrayed by the same actor and wearing a very similar costume. Similarly, parallels are drawn between the characters of Dwight and Shawntel/Adam and Eve; and Shawntel's mother/Mary. The parallels are strong.
And don't presume to tell me what Nick Hytner said about this issue. I work at the National (yes really) and know that NH is a deliberately provocative man, artistically speaking.
I don't have a thick skull, and as for the rest of your uncalled-for abuse, I think you have some rage issues you may need to work on.
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Aliens? Us!? Is this one of your Earth "jokes"?
"Anyway, the point is that the writers wanted the audience to compare the characters of Montel and Jesus, by having them portrayed by the same actor and wearing a very similar costume. Similarly, parallels are drawn between the characters of Dwight and Shawntel/Adam and Eve; and Shawntel's mother/Mary. The parallels are strong."
Yes they wanted to draw parallels otherwise different people would have played the characters. The parallel between Montel and Jesus is that they are indeed childish ("Grow up for Chritst's sake and put come fuc king clothes on!") however the beauty of the parallels is that they are drawn bu the actor playing the characters and not their physical appearance or clothing. Throughout the entire second act Jesus acts as a petulant child would, that is the parallel, not the loincloth. Jesus can be seen wearing nought but a similar loincloth.
"And don't presume to tell me what Nick Hytner said about this issue. I work at the National (yes really) and know that NH is a deliberately provocative man, artistically speaking."
Really? Well I'm going to be doing some work down at the National in July for the Shell Connections Festival, maybe you can introduce yourself...
"I don't have a thick skull, and as for the rest of your uncalled-for abuse, I think you have some rage issues you may need to work on."
Clearly you're not as involved with the show as I thought, otherwise you would've been aware that my final torrent of abuse was a joke from the show!
By the way, I know Victoria's Secret: She's a slut!
Of course I know you were quoting the show, don't be silly. But also, don't be rude.
Which of the groups will you be working with for Shell Connections?
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Aliens? Us!? Is this one of your Earth "jokes"?
"Which of the groups will you be working with for Shell Connections?"
Well to be fair I may not actually be wroking there. Depends if the group I am directing gets through. But I will certainly be there at the National all of that week to watch the shows (and of course do the classic director trdemark of watching another group perform your company's piece and criticising every single little thing. Directorial Schadenfreude I suppose!).
By the way, I know Victoria's Secret: She's a slut!
One actor is cheaper than two.
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