A Black, queer Jesus ‘sings her face off,' and L.A. cheers

Los Angeles Times

4 hours ago

They called her revelatory, even legendary. They marveled at her voice and her power. The harshest critics were gentle, only wondering if the star of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' could have hit an even higher high note in the show's most gripping moment.
It felt like Cynthia Erivo owned Los Angeles last weekend, her groundbreaking Jesus jousting with Adam Lambert's Judas and an all-star cast to sell out the 17,500-seat Hollywood Bowl for three straight nights. It felt like they could have sold out another 30.
I went to Friday's opening night with my wife, who sang along with the show's soaring anthems, just as she has since she got the album in the 1970s. When they weren't whooping and shouting 'brava,' many in the euphoric crowd swayed along, hands held high in praise.
The show was also so-L.A. for what it wasn't: a scene of controversy or hard feelings.
While there had been a few recriminations from the political right when the producers named Erivo as their Jesus earlier this year, the naysayers seemed to take the weekend off.
So there was Erivo — just like any other 5-foot-1, queer Black woman portraying the son of God — wrapped in the City of Angels' warmest embrace.
Her most riveting moment came during 'Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say)' the song that explores Jesus' ambivalence at having to give up his life for God and the greater good.
Virtually doubled over by the force of her rendition, the audience rewarded the diminutive Jesus with a two-minute standing ovation. Erivo remained composed, until she wasn't. As the audience's adulation continued to swell, she touched her hand to her heart, new tears dripping onto the stage.
Her gesture felt like a sign of gratitude, 'having just conquered a beloved number that was previously unavailable to her as a female actor,' Playbill's critic said.
Like Erivo, Lambert reveled in the moment, meeting his pre-performance prediction that the cast would 'sing the house down.'
When it debuted on Broadway in 1971, traditionalists found many reasons to loathe 'JCS.' They rejected its infusion of slang into a holy setting, the suggestion of a romantic connection between Jesus and Mary Magdalene, the lack of a resurrection, and more.
Lambert noted that the world has changed enough that a rock opera about Jesus no longer feels provocative. 'Working with the identity of the casting is sort of the new edge,' Lambert, a former 'American Idol' star, who is gay, told an interviewer from USA Today.
Last weekend, more than 50,000 people showed their love for that edge.
'Why not?' Erivo said in an interview before the performance. 'You can't please everyone. It is legitimately a three-day performance at the Hollywood Bowl where I get to sing my face off. So hopefully they will come and realize, 'Oh, it's a musical, the gayest place on Earth.''
Read the review from our theater critic: 'Jesus Christ Superstar' transcends in starry Hollywood Bowl celebration led by divine Cynthia Erivo.
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