‘Jesus Christ Superstar' at 5th Avenue Theatre has Seattle rock stars

Tensions run high when a revolution hangs in the balance.

In a rehearsal room beneath The 5th Avenue Theatre, the fire in Judas' eyes isn't hatred or hostility; it's desperation boiling toward rage. How can Jesus be getting distracted?

Cameron Miles Lavi-Jones, known to Seattle rock fans as the frontman of King Youngblood, watches as Jesus of Nazareth (local actor Alexander Kilian) follows the gentle lead of Mary Magdalene, played by Molly Sides, lead singer of Seattle rock band Thunderpussy.

This trio stars in The 5th's May 2-17 production of "Jesus Christ Superstar," colliding their different creative sensibilities in pursuit of explosive art.

"I wanted to make (a production) that felt like it was for here and for now," said The 5th's Executive and Artistic Director Bill Berry, who helms the production. Marrying Seattle's musical theater talent with its deep rock-music bench, he said, felt like a natural pairing for this show with legit rock roots.

Now these artists, along with a talented creative team and ensemble cast that includes Mari Nelson, Mark Siano and Cassi Q Kohl, are fomenting revolutions big and small, onstage and off. By pushing one another to new points of artistic bravery and building bridges between local art scenes, they're working to make both a great show and a stronger cultural community.

"I feel like Molly and I are ambassadors to bridge some of the gaps that I've always wanted to see bridged, not just in the Seattle music scene but the larger Seattle art scene," Lavi-Jones said. "I said yes because I knew I was going to be in a room of good people doing important things, and that's what I want to do."

In the beginning

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's rock musical, which traces the last week in the life of Jesus Christ, began as a 1970 concept album featuring Deep Purple's Ian Gillan as Jesus, Murray Head as Judas and Yvonne Elliman as Mary Magdalene.

The album tanked in the U.K. but took off in the U.S., and reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard top albums chart in 1971. A theatrical version debuted on Broadway that same year, and a popular 1973 film version directed by Norman Jewison solidified the show's place in pop culture.

The sound is '70s rock, but the story is, obviously, much older.

"(‘Superstar') is very much about Jesus as a man," Kilian said. "And from that perspective, it's a lot easier to attach the fear and anxiety and stress of being a person in the public eye, having a lot of pressure on you, or feeling like you're an impostor in a room. That's applicable to everyone, regardless of the level at which you've experienced it."

Kilian, who captivated audiences at The 5th as Moritz in "Spring Awakening," said his favorite musicals "are musicals that don't sound like musicals." Even in rehearsal, this trio's individual vocal textures weave together into something rich, wild and compelling. Rock music celebrates unique voices, whereas modern musical theater trains toward ensemble-ready sameness in tone and timbre.

And "Superstar" requires some vocals. In the show's first solo number, "Heaven on Their Minds," Judas hurls warnings with a powerful rock wail. Mary must convey overpowering devotion that belies the melodic simplicity of "I Don't Know How to Love Him," and Jesus' song "Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)" remains one of the toughest tenor rock ballads in musical theater.

Sides hasn't done a traditional musical since high school, but she's been commanding stages since forming her band in 2014. "It's all one," she said, of her life as a performer. "When I started Thunderpussy, it wasn't just about the music, it was about the experience, the theatrics, the fun, the invitation to just disappear for a moment."

Even so, early in the "Superstar" rehearsal process, she definitely had moments of "Am I supposed to be here?" Sides said. But Berry and her castmates were all so encouraging, building a new artistic vocabulary and pushing her and Lavi-Jones to give their most audacious, risk-taking performances.

"It's such a great reminder in life to just keep trying - and keep failing - to find the thing that works and that connects to you," Sides said. "This process feels like it's not just a play, it's about how we can connect as a whole new ensemble and community."

For Lavi-Jones, figuring out how to inhabit Judas has come with a lot of catharsis.

"Doing this has given me an opportunity to reclaim a lot of experiences, not just of being wildly misunderstood - and there's a real power in getting close to those emotions and humanizing them - but in themes of brotherhood and trying to do something so much bigger than yourself," he said.

And musical theater is, definitionally, about building something bigger than yourself. After coming from the music world, which relies heavily on self-producing and a DIY attitude, seeing the sheer number of people who come together to make a show happen was a humbling experience for Sides.

"So many people make magic behind the curtain," she said. "That's why these spaces are so important, where all of our personal experiences can come together and (we can) have conversations for the first time about a story that now belongs to all of us."

Art as revolution

Particular challenges come with telling a story that so many people know, or think they know. But for the show's characters, the ending of "Jesus Christ Superstar" isn't inevitable.

"Nobody in this story knows how it turns out," Berry said. Nobody knows for sure if Jesus is the messiah or not, even Jesus himself, but they're all dedicated to changing the world for the better. "I think of it as - and I mean this in a good way - the soap opera behind the scenes of a revolution," he said. "And the politics and interpersonal things happening that are getting in the way of the movement or helping the movement succeed."

Stories of social unrest and uprising possess perennial relevance, as does the pairing of rock music and rebellion, but both feel particularly potent right now.

"Powerful art is supposed to reflect the times we're in, and requires people to think about their own role in the ways we're trying to change the world," Lavi-Jones said. "Maybe it's looking after your neighbor a little bit differently. Maybe it's having tough conversations with people you love. But I'll know that I've done my job if people walk away thinking about how many different lanes there are to a revolution."

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