Christie Beaulieu, Kyle Martin, and Maria Clemente
The Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra unveiled their new rendition of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Superstar at the Regent Theatre in Arlington, Massachusetts this weekend. Last night’s show found the URO breathing new life into those songs with nods to everything from funk and soul to hip hop to hard rock. Lights and smoke too helped keep this production solidly rooted in a rock concert vibe.
Opening with the “Overture,” the core band played an eerie melody that forebode the drama, tension, and mystery that was about to unfold in their rock concert version of this musical. While the music had more of a classic rock edge than something orchestrated as a Broadway musical, the performers did inject much of the acting and characterization.
URO leader Sal Clemente continued the feverish edge as he sang “Heaven On Their Minds,” the part narrated by Judas. Clemente belted out all of the angst his character begins with while the URO band kept it tight, even though they had three guitarists, two keyboardists, and by that point and 11 part chorus on stage with him
Clemente and the singers portraying Jesus and Mary Magdalene, Kyle Martin and Fatima Elmi, came on strong, delivering a funky, soulful take on “What’s The Buzz?” A 1970s hippie vibe was present in the three singers’ easygoing delivery with help from a funky bass line and bluesy piano. The message came across with those elements of American roots music played up much more than in the original recording.
Laura Connors
The Jesus-Judas exchange during “Strange Thing Mystifying” was immediate, tense as each singer belted their side of an argument with fierce determination. Elmi, meanwhile, sang with a rich, empowered voice on “Everything’s Alright,” her vocal caressing her lyrical contributions to this scene. It didn’t hurt that there was an edgy, fuzzy guitar from Clinton Degan providing a backbone to their exchange. It was one of many moments when Degan and or guitarist Matt Sullivan would power the narrative arc of a scene with their incendiary six string work.
The next scene, “This Jesus Must Die,” featuring Caiaphas(Andrew Schwartz) and Annas(Degan) benefited from fantastic interplay between those two characters, the priests, and the huge chorus behind them. As portrayed by Schwartz, Caiaphas was suitably eerie and menacing as he contemplated the Jesus threat to local order.
Segue into one of the night’s best performances. Christie Beaulieu turned up the funky, R&B heat with her sultry, rangy take on “Simon Zealotes” From the synthesized horns that clarion this number to Beaulieu’s powerful expression of Simon’s passion and ambition to the huge chorus that punctuated this tune, the whole swinging number came to glorious three dimensional life. Jesus’ retort, “Poor Jerusalem” may have been only a brief part of this show, but it was also Martin’s most beautiful expression of Christ’s inner turmoil. He hit his high notes with tender, heavenly prettiness and ended with a deep expression of existential angst.
“Pilate’s Dream” was one of a few numbers that were handled with a singer-songwriter flair, letting the song breathe with sparse accompaniment. Clemente’s acoustic guitar reached into the depth of this dream song’s dire caution as singer Anthony Correia pulled the audience into the abyss of his upcoming choices. Intensity was the name of the game during “The Temple” scene. Dynamic shifts between the singers here successfully married the storyline to a heightened rock and roll moment.
This show’s first key theme song “I Don’t Know How To Love Him” was beautifully rendered by Elmi as a sentimental ballad. Owing to all of the creativity flowing throw this production, it was another pleasant surprise when URO injected a hip hop beat and a smoldering electric guitar line beneath the vocal. This gave Elmi space to project Mary’s glorious new self-revelation as well as a power ballad push behind her rich, gospel-like vocal. Degan’s lead guitar grinded out the melodic phrase with ecstatic expression.
Jeff Munson, Andrew Schwartz, Clinton Degan
The first act ended with Judas belting like a worried madman on “Damned For All Time/Blood Money,” a number handled as a hard rocking blast, returning the show back to the kind of driving rock it opened with. The second act opened with the full chorus crooning at “The Last Supper.” The wide sound created by all of those singers was astounding followed by another uncannily tense Jesus and Judas exchange. Jesus’ soliloquy song “Gethsemane(I Only Want To Say)” allowed Martin to display his finer talents, using dynamic shifts and tone to indicate Jesus’ inner doubts among his dire circumstances during this critical juncture in his story. The crowd during “The Arrest” were a rambunctious representation of the modern day press before Caiaphas and Annas take over. A frightened, desperate “Peter’s Denial” got a soulful turn from singer Laura Connors. Yes. Girls can play Peter too.
“King Herod’s Song” was, as usual, a playful, showboating mockery of Christ. Only this version went over the top with its Broadway, gospel, and ragtime mash up. Vocalist Jeff Munson was fantastic too, spirited, rollicking, and loaded with personality. The best exchanges during last night’s show were between Christ and Pilate. Featuring Anthony Correia as Pilate, these dialogues were a dire mix of despair and muted hope.
Always an enjoyable rock opera romp, the Ultrasonic Rock Orchestra brought out more of the rock and roll edge within this musical telling of the last days in the life of Jesus Christ. Some fine experimentations with hip hop beats, funk, and even electronica heralded a fresh new testament. See it Sunday, November 8 at 2:00 p.m., Friday, November 13 and Saturday November 14 at 8:00 p.m. at Arlington’s Regent Theatre.
http://www.regenttheatre.com/details/uro_presents_jesus_christ_superstar
