For over 50 years, “Jesus Christ Superstar” has told the story of the last week of Jesus Christ’s life through the eyes of Judas Iscariot, but the rock opera has never been performed at the Wagon Wheel Center for the Arts.
Until this summer.
And the cast is excited about performing the sung-through show, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, about some of the most famous people in history.

  

 Taylor Okey
  

Taylor Okey plays Jesus in the Wagon Wheel production. His first connection to “Jesus Christ Superstar” was in high school when he sang “Gethsemane” in a solo competition.
“I had been connected to the show that way, but other than that, over time I gained a love for the show and, so, when the opportunity presented itself - I live in New York City so it meant leaving my home for a month and I was like, ‘Absolutely!’ No question. No question at all,” he said.
What he’s always loved about the show is the “humanization it does, particularly to Jesus, because I’m drawn to playing characters who are conflicted and who are layered with so many different emotions all at the same time, because that’s what I think it means to be human. We’re never, as humans, we’re never just one thing,” he said.
Jesus knows his fate to come, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t apprehension, fear or terror in that, Okey said, “But at the same time, there has to be this sense of joy because he is leading with love and professing love to others. So for me, that’s why I’ve always been so drawn to this story and this character in general.”

    Hannah Ervin
  

Hannah Ervin is playing Mary Magdalene in the show and this is her first time appearing in a production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
“When I was auditioning for the season at Wagon Wheel, it was definitely not the show I was pitching myself for, so when (Artistic Director) Scott (Michaels) gave me the opportunity to play Mary, I was like really pleasantly surprised and thankful,” she said. “But, it’s been a really interesting journey for sure to explore this material. I wasn’t super familiar with it before I was cast. And after I started listening to it, it has been really educational.”
She stated it was one of Webber’s best pieces ever written, and Okey added it was his first.
“It’s a really stunning piece of theater in my opinion,” Ervin said. “I’ve had a really great time working on it. I’m really proud of it.”

    Kira Lace Hawkins
  

Kira Lace Hawkins, who is taking on the role of Pontius Pilate, did a production of the show in high school, playing a soul girl.
“I’m particularly pleased to play Pilate. From vacation Bible school days up to now, I’ve found him a really interesting character,” she said. “... My husband has always found him to be kind of a weak character who went with the mob mentality and ended up going with that, but I’ve always felt that conflict of Pilate who really tries, really tries to get Jesus off the hook. And, of course, in the Bible, he then pits him up against a known bad criminal (and asks), ‘Do you choose Jesus or do you choose Barabbas?’ So, we don’t say that in this (show), but that conflict has always resonated with me and I’ve always seen Pilate as a sympathetic character, so I’m very honored and pleased to play her.”
Of course, with the actors playing some of the most well-known figures in history, the roles may come with a level of expectation from some of the audience.
“Arguably, these characters in this story are, regardless of your religious affiliation and faith background, some of the most famous of all times. Everybody knows this story, and I think the best way to come into the show and to understand what you’re getting into is, we’re taking these people who we all know off the page and making them fully fleshed out, three-dimensional people,” Okey said. “The story is told through the eyes of Judas’ experience, and I think through that, Mary Magdalene, Pontius Pilate - all of these characters - you’re getting a more in-depth, humanized version of these people and this story that we all know.”
Hawkins said, “And it’s interesting, too, because we certainly see a lot from Jesus’ perspective as well. Obviously, there’s a song called ‘Gethsemane’ that happens in the Garden of Gethsemane and we really get to hear an artist’s interpretation of what Jesus might have been feeling at that time.”
The song “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” offers a perspective from Mary Magdalene, Hawkins said.
Ervin acknowledged that a lot of people may be less familiar with Mary Magdalene, one of Jesus’ earliest followers who witnessed his crucifixion and was one of the first people to learn of his resurrection.
“I don’t think people talk a lot about the role of Mary Magdalene in Jesus’ life historically. But in our production, she plays opposite to Jesus, there’s like a little love interest thing going on between them. And, I also think that she’s a really interesting character in the show because she’s the most balanced of any of the characters. She has a really consistent tambor and sort of keeps the peace of the show, so when Jesus and Judas are fighting on stage, or there’s an upset, she’s the one that restores the peace, so she has a really interesting leadership role,” Ervin said.
Hawkins said what is known about Mary Magdalene from the Bible is that Jesus received criticism for the kindness that he showed her, the tax collectors and all of the people on the outskirts of society that Jesus really was intentional about including and showing the love of God to.
“I think it’s really awesome and interesting to have Mary have such an important role in the show,” she said.
Piggy-backing off that, Okey said, “I think it’s an important message. For me coming into the character, I think spreading God’s love and spreading Christ’s love is a huge center of what I wanted to convey in this character, and there’s a line early in the show where Judas calls out Jesus for the kindness and the love that he shows her. And, whether that be romantic love or just a person-to-person, human-to-human love is up for interpretation, but he called Jesus out for it and Jesus automatically says, ‘He who casts the first stone,’ and I think that’s so important in this relationship and how you understand the character is just that.”
While some may see the musical as controversial, Hawkins has been preparing an education packet on the show and found in some of her research that the anticipation of controversy has always been more than the actual controversy that appears.
“Of course, it’s always going to be sensitive when you are doing anything with any religion. It’s a sensitive topic. It’s so deeply felt by individuals,” she said. Alluding to one of Pilate’s lines in the show, she quoted, “But what is truth? Not easy to define. We both have truths. Are yours the same as mine?”
Hawkins said what they’re doing is presenting a work of art. “While we understand that it might make some people angry, it might make some people really excited, our job as artists is to simply put it out there and allow people to experience it for themselves and for some people, strengthen their beliefs, for some people come away with a few questions that could then have some discoveries. That’s the power of art. That’s exactly what we hope to do,” she said.
As far back as the 1973 film version of the musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar” has featured diverse casting, though Hawkins acknowledged that she’s raised a few eyebrows when she told them she was playing Pilate. Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea and best known for being the official who presided over Jesus’ trial and ordered his crucifixion.
“I think that it strengthens what we’re trying to do, which is to tell an artist’s viewpoint of this story and make it into our version of a work of art, rather than, we are not putting these historical/Biblical people - and what we believe is true - up on stage,” Hawkins said.
Ervin stated, “I think it’s really important to understand, from an audience’s perspective, especially for people who are religious to know when they’re coming here that what we are putting up is not Biblical and it’s not supposed to be and that’s not the point. The point is to honestly present a question about - I think Jesus is so interesting because it really looks at Jesus in the way that we view a modern celebrity, the relationship between the celebrity and the people. We’re using the vehicle of the Biblical story, but it’s not supposed to be this is the truth, this is what’s written in the Bible, this is what we believed happened. It’s not that.”
She said having Pilate played by a woman has a really unique impact for the audience as the most powerful political figure in the show is being played by a woman.
“Pilate is complicated. Pilate is one of the most complicated characters we see because there’s a level of sort of sympathy that she extends to Jesus, even throughout the trial by Pilate,” Ervin said.
Okey said a really easy comparison for 2023 would be the musical “Hamilton.”
“‘Hamilton’ is a cast entirely of non-white humans and they are portraying historically, arguably, people what we all consider who are white Founding Fathers. They’re all played by people of color, and that is an artistic representation, artistic telling of a historical tale,” Okey said.
Portraying Jesus as a celebrity in “Jesus Christ Superstar” is what is known in the industry as a framing device, he said.
“They’re using the story of Christ and his final days as a framing device to kind of tell the tale of a celebrity and how things can get out of control really, really quickly and how things can take a turn for the worse really, really quickly,” Okey stated. “And I think, something that I love about this story, sitting back and watching it, you realize how many times history has repeated itself. How many times have we seen a political, historical celebrity figure - their power, their celebrity gets out of hand and it ends in catastrophe and it ends in trauma.”
He said it’s a tale as old as time that gets repeated over and over again.
“Jesus Christ Superstar” is at the Wagon Wheel from July 13 to 22. Tickets may be purchased at the box office, by phone or online.