ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 6, 1996 TAG: 9612090002
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MADELYN ROSENBERG STAFF WRITER
As acting roles go, this is probably as big as it gets: "Starring Ted Neeley as Jesus."
Well, OK, George Burns played God in a few movies. But besides that...
Neeley, who had the role of "understudy for Jesus" when "Jesus Christ Superstar" hit Broadway in 1971, got the title role in Norman Jewison's movie version in 1973.
He'll resurrect that role Sunday night when the traveling production stops at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium.
Neeley started singing the part of Jesus again in 1992. It was supposed to be a three-month stint to mark the 20-year anniversary of the film.
"And here we are, four years later, doing the same tour," said Neeley, who has performed the show more than 1,000 times now.
The show, you see, has attracted quite a following. Just as people have flocked to see their favorite aging rock stars (``Styx and Kansas and so on,'' Neeley said), so have they flocked to see the live production of what's being billed as the last tour for "Jesus Christ Superstar." To see Neeley, at 50, still playing Jesus, who died at 33.
"People are just so overwhelmed," Neeley said during a telephone interview from Connecticut. "I had no idea. People everywhere in this country have literally made this a part of their lives. They have film festivals in their homes and bring in family and friends to see it. They sing every lyric and every melody. They often show up at the theater dressed in full costume."
It's not his steady singing voice that compels people to do this, Neeley said, though there is a Ted Neeley fan club and there are at least six World Wide Web sites dedicated to Neeley and the movie.
So what's the buzz?
"It's the subject matter," the actor said. "They find it very dear to their hearts."
The show - a rock opera - depicts the last seven days of the life of Jesus of Nazareth. The project was a combined effort of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, who used the King James and Catholic versions of the Bible and Bishop Fulton J. Sheen's "Life of Christ" as texts.
"Jesus Christ Superstar," released as a record album in 1970, eventually sold more than 2 million copies.
The play was introduced to Broadway in 1971 to applause and accusations.
While the actors, producers and fans found it a new way to get young people hip to the story of Jesus as told by his friends, others labeled the theatrical interpretation sacrilege.
Neeley had to walk through picket lines to get into the theater.
"I would ask people if they'd seen the show," Neeley said of those days. "They would say, 'No, but it's blasphemy.' I would offer them tickets. Those who would come in loved it."
Today, there are still people who take the lyrics out of context, he said, still people who call it sacrilege. Particularly under fire is what some view as a suggested sexual relationship between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. (Neeley said he has never interpreted the play in that context.)
In some towns he's played recently, billboards and ads have warned congregations to stay away from the production.
Usually, Neeley said, the protests end up drawing more interest to the show, and ticket sales go up.
"There's nothing wrong with this show, except something someone chooses to rewrite," Neeley said, his defense sounding like a sermon. "Everything about this piece is as historically correct as it can be. I was born and raised in a tiny town in Texas. Church was as important a part of life as having breakfast every day."
His goal, he said, is to embrace and nurture religious beliefs, not to undermine them.
In the play, Jesus maintains a classical costume down to his sandals. "I try to look like the true, Biblical essence of ... Jesus, so much so that some people think I am," Neeley said.
Most of the troupe is outfitted for modern times; the members appear as a wandering group of modern-day actors who stop for a while to put on a play.
In the '70s, when the film was produced on location in Israel, the chorus wore lightweight bell-bottoms in the desert.
This version is distinctly '90s, Neeley said, though he didn't give away too much - just that fiber optics and other technology are included in the set. And that King Herod, as he was in the play and movie, is "especially outrageous."
Neeley's own role, meanwhile, seems to have typecast him for all eternity. It's his only famous role, though he also has appeared in productions of "Hair," "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Tommy," the other definitive rock opera. He's also a composer and is developing a new production, "Pandemonium," for Broadway.
That show should have opened in September, according to his original plan. But when his current tour continued, so did he. "When we see the final curtain for this show, that's next in line," Neeley said. He felt he owed "Jesus Christ Superstar" too much to quit. "I met my wife as a result of that film, and that created my family. I'm so devoted to this piece. It's part of my life."
And his audience's. "There are people who have seen the show 50 or 60 times," Neeley said.
Often, he meets with fans after the curtain has closed, sometimes talking until 2:30 a.m. "I love to see how lives have been affected by this wonderful piece of theater," he said.
He's played at all kinds of venues, from smaller auditoriums to 20,000-seat ice hockey arenas.
"It's more enjoyable when it's smaller and I can see people's faces," he said. "When we play ice arenas, people call us the Christcapades."
"Jesus Christ Superstar" stops at the Roanoke Civic Center auditorium Sunday, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $24.50 and $34.50, available through the box office or Ticketmaster locations. For information, call 981-1201. To charge by phone, call 343-8100.
THE "SUPERSTAR" SCOOP
Before writing "Jesus Christ Superstar," the authors considered developing a musical based on the Cuban missile crisis.
The play earned five Tony nominations the year it opened.
The single "I Don't Know How to Love Him" went to No. 28 on the Billboard charts in 1971. Helen Reddy came out with a version later that year that climbed to No. 13.
By the time the play opened, the album had netted $16.5million.
When the play first came out, the Anti-Defamation League feared it would put a strain on relations between Christians and Jews. The Rev. Billy Graham called it "blasphemy."
LENGTH: Long : 126 linesby CNB