By SHARON EBERSON
Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s 2025 Jesus Christ Superstar opens with the leather-clad Treasure Treasure as Judas, frozen in the spotlight with an electric guitar. That album cover-worthy pose sets the stage for a visually stunning rock ’n’ religion opera that has been an Easter season staple for more than 55 years.
The Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice work has been a recurring favorite for PMT, and it continues to evolve. The latest incarnation, co-directed/choreographed by Lucas Fedele, Danny Herman and Rocker Verastique, opened Thursday, April 3, at the Byham Theater. Ambitious in scope and loaded with local talent, the production buzzes with as much rock energy as a musical about the last days of Jesus Christ’s life on Earth allows.
Among the large cast, a dozen performers also play instruments, mostly organically and most notably violinist Kamilah Lay as the soulful Mary Magdalene.
It’s also fitting that Brecken Newton Farrell as Jesus is first to strum those familiar chords of the chorus, Jesus Christ … Superstar … Do you think you’re what they say you are?
Farrell, who has played the role previously for PMT, has the look of a hair band frontman and a heavy metal yell — it’s Jesus as the rock star who inspired megafans, as the show’s title implies.
The lithe Treasure brings supple movement and powerful pop/rock vocals to Judas, the ultimate name in betrayal. Judas first comes to Jesus with a warning, that “I don’t understand why you let the things you did get so out of hand.”
Treasure is particularly poignant when finally expressing, “I don’t know how to love him.”
The large ensemble of followers, including some of the youngest students from the PMT Conservatory, at times moves as a swarm, in lock step, and at other times, with individual purpose, but seemingly, not a step out of place.
The directors make use of the entire theater, from aisles to the rafters. The Byham stage is fitted in many ways like a larger New Hazlett Theater, with tiers against a brick back wall. Scaffolding on both sides create a modern, urban atmosphere, and find the band, led by music director Dr. Francesca Tortorello, at eye level with the balcony.
(Image: Matt Polk)
Maintaining the spectacle for both crowd scenes and solos, while also allowing audience members to follow performers on multiple levels, has to be among long-time PMT lighting designer Forrest Trimble’s best work. Likewise kudos to scenic designer Todd Nonn along with sound designer Eric Collins and technical designer Jonathan T. Sage, in a production that scales heights and rarely stands still.
The ensemble is outfitted by Jeremy Eiben in a nod to the 1960s, from jeans and hippie peasant looks to biker leather.
Assuming the Bible story is known to all who enter, it also helps to know the lyrics of a rock opera that hit Broadway in 1971, after the enormous popularity of the themed album. Some of the songs became radio hits, including “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” sung and played on the violin movingly by Lay. It’s the rare song that had concurrent recordings reach the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 (by Helen Reddy and Yvonne Elliman), and rarer still to have it surprise you, in this case with an instrumental break.
Another standout among many was Justus Wheatley (Carnegie Mellon, Class of 2028) as Simon, donning the look of Jimi Hendrix and impressing with a Broadway belt, and grace and agility in his step.
In a cast of dozens, there are the notable baritones of Nathaniel Yost and Paul Lutty III, encouraging Judas’ betrayal, along with Dylan Pal and Matty Thornton.
Erin Klocke, a senior dance major at Point Park University, serves as dance captain in a show where action ranges from literal leaps and bounds to subtle, finely tuned precision.
The second act of Jesus Christ Superstar, which begins with “The Last Supper,” is unsparing physically and vocally for Farrell’s Jesus, and often brutal to watch.
Amid the heavy leadup to the Crucifixion, Jesus Christ Superstar provides a bit of a break with “King Herod’s Song.” Taylor Issac Gray as the over-the-top Herod – a glittery combo of Elton John and Liberace at the piano – mugs up a storm, mocks “the King of the Jews,” and oversees a gold-clad, four-piece band for the bouncy number, providing comic relief among the architects of Jesus’ downfall.
Much of the second act, however, is heartbreaking and violent, including the lashes Jesus is subjected to from his previous followers. Pilate, played by Paul Binotto as a bit of slick game-show host, makes a last-ditch attempt to let the stoic Jesus speak for himself, but to no avail. Farrell’s Jesus suffers believably, expressing any doubts only to the Heavens.
The final spectacle of the night is a cross made up of lights that stretches the full height of the stage, a visual expression of the monumental event that changed the world, and fitting ending to a visually impressive, rockin’ production of a musical theater classic.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pittsburgh Musical Theater presents Jesus Christ Superstar, through April 13, 2025, at the Byham Theater, Downtown. Tickets: https://pmt.culturaldistrict.org/production/96718/jesus-christ-superstar or call 412-456-6666.
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