Chalky and Frank, what did / do you think of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'?

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

Chalky, I do recognise your light-hearted / tongue in cheek manner and I appreciate you bringing these programmes to my attention. You are OK by me mate.

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

Howoldboy,
It seems that the Pharisees wanted Jesus dead but did not want to be seen as responsible for that. So they passed him over to Herod, King of Judea in the expectation / hope that he would implement their wishes. Herod was a 'puppet' King appointed by the Romans. He was in a weak position and thus with him not finding Jesus to be guilty of anything and Herod himself being afraid to implement such wishes Jesus was returned to sender. I think that in the original 1973 film this position of Herod being a weak man was such that he was portrayed in an overly 'camp' context, which I thought was poor, although the actual words of Herod's song are scornfully witty.

In my opinion 'Herod's Song' is done better in tone in the 2000 film albeit the setting of the whole production is in the modern era. In this version Herod is seen to be a blusterer, without power. Jesus looks on, not feeling immediately threatened and thinking "What an utter d­ick Herod is". The piano and brass still make it sound a bit 'camp' but the performance is more blusteringly aggressive in tone and confrontation.

You will recognise 'Herod' in this 2000 film version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaOfBQ5uw6M&ab_channel=JesusChristSupersta r

[howoldboy]

Howoldboy,
It seems that the Pharisees wanted Jesus dead but did not want to be seen as responsible for that. So they passed him over to Herod, King of Judea in the expectation / hope that he would implement their wishes. Herod was a 'puppet' King appointed by the Romans. He was in a weak position and thus with him not finding Jesus to be guilty of anything and Herod himself being afraid to implement such wishes Jesus was returned to sender. I think that in the original 1973 film this position of Herod being a weak man was such that he was portrayed in an overly 'camp' context, which I thought was poor, although the actual words of Herod's song are scornfully witty.

In my opinion 'Herod's Song' is done better in tone in the 2000 film albeit the setting of the whole production is in the modern era. In this version Herod is seen to be a blusterer, without power. Jesus looks on, not feeling immediately threatened and thinking "What an utter d*ick Herod is". The piano and brass still make it sound a bit 'camp' but the performance is more blusteringly aggressive in tone and confrontation.

You will recognise 'Herod' in this 2000 film version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaOfBQ5uw6M&ab_channel=JesusChristSupersta r

Until you posted this I didn't even know that a film version had been made in 2000. I will try to watch it now.

I always liked Rik Mayall (particularly as Alan B'stard) but it would probably be fairer for me to compare and contrast this version after watching the full film.

When I first saw the stage show, Herod was portrayed very much like the 1973 film and I must admit that, within the overall context of the show, the song/performance didn't seem to fit.

I felt exactly the same when I first saw the innkeeper perform Master of the House in Les Miserables.

However, in retrospect, both songs are introduced at a time in the shows when the overall mood is getting quite dark and the few minutes of comedic relief they provide is probably much needed to avoid everything getting too heavy.

Having accepted this, I now enjoy both.

Interesting stuff. Thanks Stefan.

[Chauncey]

Chalky, I do recognise your light-hearted / tongue in cheek manner and I appreciate you bringing these programmes to my attention. You are OK by me mate.

No problem Stefan,just thought that I would bring them to your attention 👍

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

Chalky, I admire the musicianship of Claudia Hirschfeld. She does not use any of the tricks that you can do on an organ such as stored rythms and 'pressing one key plays several notes / chords'. With her it is all her hands and feet. I do not care that a keyboard can be a piano one moment, a trumpet the next and then a guitar. To me musicianship is making the best of one pressing of a key issuing one note.

Claudia playing 'Music' originally by John Miles https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgACwGkWde0

Star Wars Theme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5djMNiopDM

Villamartin [mellow] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASICBa2YF0s

[Chauncey]

Are you totally sure that she's not getting "help" from the organ because there's a lot going on there especially the Star Wars clip and in Music she's even doing it in high heels,I bet that you can't do that eh Rick Wakeman? TBF he probably did do it in high heels back in the early 70's thinking about it,anyway she's very talented but I've just got a feeling that there's an orchestra behind the curtains helping out or summat but I'm not taking anything away from her musicial abilities

Do you like Star Wars,Star Trek or science fiction stuff as you come over as a type of Sheldon Cooper character in your posts? (and that's a compliment btw)

[griff]

Rick once did it eating a curry.

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

Chalky,
If there was an orchestra behind a curtain there would be no need for her to be there at all.
In the Music video there is a 'heavenly choir' sound at the end but all the actual music is by her hands and feet.
Similarly in Star Wars the weird 'sci-fi' sound is a setting but all the actual music is by her hands and feet.
Even on my organ there is a 'violin' and an 'orchestral strings' capability but these have to be genuinely played.
Each keyboard can be instantly switched to be another instrument numerous times within a single tune. In fact
each key board can be split to be 2 instruments, one on the left side and another on the right. My single keyboard
organ has this facility. There is also a 'key shift' facility in which the keyboard can be moved up or down by one octive,
which would be useful for a professional playing unusually high or low key tunes. The normal piano full 88 key range
would be enough for nearly everyone else the whole time. Indeed my 76 key organ has got far too much for me at the
moment.

She plays in ordinary Wersi music shops, where there is no room for an orchestra, in high heels because
she does not use her heels, as shown here in this crass Elvis Presley medley :-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7mkTIYGDzk&ab_channel=G%C3%A1borCserna

I am impressed that you think that she is cheating. It shows how much of an incredible musician she really is.

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

That was not in a shop but this is. She plays 'Ticio Tico' and then that crass Elvis Presley medley.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpBVF3Vp1AM&ab_channel=%D0%AD%D0%BC%D0%B8% D0%BD%D0%AD%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD

Note her hand several times either switching the keyboard instrument or octave shifting.

[_Stefan_Kuntz]

Here is someone else who I admire, Laura Currie. She is the newest, youngest member of the UOGB.

It is completely her video. She does everything. She plays the instruments, sings, she made every aspect of the video. Nobody else did anything.

Dedicated Follower Of Fashion
https://youtu.be/MuERXXhXsIs

Johnny B Goode with the owner / leader of the UOGB
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BnEoNzM7eKQ&ab_channel=LauraCurrie