Hollywood Bowl – August 3, 2025
Holy cow, what a great show!!!!
As you may have noticed, I am a fan of this musical. I’m not sure why – I’m not religious and not really a fan of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s work, but I love Jesus Christ Superstar. Every year they produce one musical at the Hollywood Bowl. I’ve seen some good ones there (notably Chicago with Drew Carey as Amos). They always cast celebrities (like Wayne Brady in Kinky Boots) and most of the time the celebrities can sing. They are always well-attended. Julie was afraid of some shows at the Bowl that she wanted to see this summer selling out so we decided to do a “choose your own” package during the presale. She picked a few she thought might sell out and I said, “I am getting JCSS.” She didn’t really want to see it and was frankly a little offended by the choice of Cynthia Erivo to play the title roll. I kept saying, “Doesn’t matter – Judas carries the show.” When they announced Adam Lambert as Judas I was elated! I knew this was going to be a great show. And then it just kept getting better with the announcement of Josh Gad to play King Herod…followed by the disappointment of learning he had Covid and was dropping out…followed by the excitement of John Stamos replacing him…and back to the elation of learning he tested negative and would resume his role on the night we were there.
I made it to the Culver City bus in 15 minutes. Sunday traffic can be so pleasant. Then again, it makes it so much worse when it takes 45 minutes to get there when you know it should only take 15. I think we made it on time for the first bus and were to the Bowl by about 5:30. Julie ended up not getting there until 7:20, so maybe it’s time for me to stop rushing for the first bus. I found a seat around the tree near the main gate to wait for her and the crush of people was intense. When we got off the bus, the line of people waiting for the Amex line went all the way past the restroom and up the walkway toward where the buses let off. There were just soooo many people there. As I waited for Julie though, the area cleared out. I have to admire the efficiency of the Bowl. At one point while I was sitting, a Bowl worker climbed up onto the bench next to me and started shouting directions to people – pointing them to open ticket scanners and directing them up to the side gate. When Julie got there, she tried to motion me to the Amex line and I beckoned her to the main gate. There were ticket takers standing at the ready with no line and I really didn’t feel like climbing all the stairs. We got to our seats with just a few minutes to spare and the woman sitting next to me was annoyed to have to let me get by and then pointed out where her seat was so I wouldn’t cross the invisible line. Sigh. Honestly considering how packed it was, it felt a little roomier than the last sold out show we attended. Maybe we just had skinny people in our row.
I had been warned to take an edible because we were sure people were going to be annoying but it turned out to be unnecessary (which is good, since I didn’t take one!). Once the show started everyone was on their best behavior. Really! No one was more shocked than me. There was no singing along. The woman in front of me stood up a few times in her excitement, but sat back down fairly quickly. People weren’t milling in the aisles and continually getting up to go to the bathroom. Cynthia Erivo, Adam Lambert and the rest had everyone’s undivided attention from the moment the overture began to the final curtain call.
To say this show was great is a vast understatement. It was everything Jesus Christ Superstar should be and so much more. Cynthia Erivo silenced all of the doubters (including Julie) with her incredible performance. Adam Lambert proved he can act as well as he sings, and that’s saying something because his singing is sublime. Phillippa Soo’s beautiful renditions of Everything’s Alright and I Don’t Know How To Love Him were a lovely counter to Lambert’s power. It was like giving us a chance to rest (along with Jesus) as the story moved along. But honestly EVERYONE was SO good! Zachary James with his looming presence and operatic voice slayed as Caiaphas and Brian Justin Crum brought so much life to Annas. Raúl Esparza absolutely knocked the Pontius Pilate part out of the park – to the point where Julie asked me after the show who played Pontius Pilate because he was so good. I’m sure John Stamos did a great job King Herod, but that part was made for Josh Gad (ALW and Tim Rice just didn’t know at the time). I can’t imagine anyone doing it better than he did. And I would be remiss if I didn’t also give a shout out to Tyrone Huntley (Simon) who totally held his own among this amazing cast. In any other show, his Simon’s Zealots would have been the performance everyone was talking about.
They were filming. They kept the cameras relatively out of the way, but they were there. So the next question is will this performance (or a compilation of the 3 performances) be released on streaming platforms, or will this show perhaps embark on a national arena tour – it’s far too big for Broadway and would never work in theaters that small, or is this it? Or do I just live the rest of my life happy because I got to see this show, and compare every other show to it? I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, buy those tickets, my friends, and go to those shows. You never know when you are going to be treated to something as powerful as this production of Jesus Christ Superstar.