Jesus Christ Superstar

ADC Cambridge June 2025, Festival Players

This 1970 rock opera, with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, is iconic – appropriate, one feels, for a story about a much-worshipped and admired individual.

Director and set designer Suzanne Emerson’s vision is immediately clear in the perfect set. The stage thrusts forward and expands without wings or backdrop so the theatre walls are visible, while truss archways with bucket lights emit rock stadium vibes. The on-stage band place music at the heart of this production and the wildly talented musical directors (Sam Kirby and Joe Griffiths) and cast are more than up to the challenge. The powerful opening bars, by solo guitarist Dan Hall, make it clear we are in for an epic experience.

Loosely based on the Gospels’ accounts of the Passion – the last week before Jesus’ execution – the production explores the psychology and emotional fallout of these events on a range of key characters.

The ensemble are impossibly strong vocally – they replicate the mob spectacularly well, their energy and characterisations are believable and intense with some revealing facial expressions. Laura Saunders (choreography) has drilled them well, with some really tight, precise moves and a range of distinct styles across the show, making it consistently visually interesting. King Herod (Jonathan Rosten)’s backing dancers are just wonderful.

Andrew Ruddick’s Judas storms the stage with real attitude against Jesus – his powerful, angst-ridden, gritty voice suits the rock stadium feel and he’s a force to be reckoned with when Jesus (Vikki Jones) hits the stage. The gender-blind casting really works: a female Jesus’ vulnerabilities feel more exposed; we perhaps feel more empathy for her as she’s being variously mobbed, betrayed, flogged an excruciating 39 times and crucified. The flogging scene is very effective – agonising to witness, with sound (Nick Hall), light (Luke Marino) and Jones’ vocals creating a piercing atmosphere.

Jones’ infinite vocal skills are fully matched by her acting in this role – in Act 2 she’s a tornado of anger matching Judas’, and her Gethsemane gives me goosebumps at least 16 times: extraordinary. The fear in her eyes, the exhaustion, desperation amid the inevitability and futility of all the struggles is utterly visceral and heart-rending.

Despite the show bearing his name, it’s clear Jesus is not leading or choosing events but is subject and victim to the power of others (and of course, destiny). This Jesus is visibly bemused by the love and then the hate he receives from the crowds – it says so much about our modern society which loves to deify and then destroy ‘celebrities’ – and about those who have power; without their followers, do they still wield it?

Mary (Emma Vieceli) is the only character to show Jesus any compassion at any time. Vieceli is simply stunning – her interpretation of I Don’t Know How to Love him is the best I’ve ever seen or heard; extremely tender and perplexed, and completely her own, with some beautiful vocal decoration adding even more interest and personality.

Despite a very well-known plot, Jesus Christ Superstar nonetheless has some rather more opaque elements to it – and this production is the most sense they’ve ever made to me. The storytelling is immaculate. Every member of the cast is utterly committed to their character; faces and bodies consistently work hard to make clear the complex emotions inside the story. The struggles of Peter (Luke Thomas) and Judas before they deny and betray Jesus are visible, credible and devastating. That we can feel empathy for a man whose name is synonymous with betrayal is testament to Ruddick’s acting. Peter’s harmonising with Mary in Could We Start Again Please? is simply divine – they make a truly beautiful sound together and the emotions are heightened further by a slow-motion insight into how Jesus is faring in prison: a deeply affecting moment.

Matt Wilkinson as Caiaphas hits all the low, low notes and is very contained in his demands for Jesus’ death, believing it’s necessary for a greater good. Annas (Lucy Kivlin) and the priests are absolutely terrifying, with some characterfully evil solo lines. Rich Evans and Michael Broom, too, display some first-class acting through song in their respective roles as Pilate and Simon.

Overall, Festival Player’s Jesus Christ Superstar is an extremely human production that makes clear the inner turmoil that results in the actions with which we’re so familiar. And it’s only the results that are remembered and recorded in history. It suggests a separation between a perceived evil deed and an ‘evil person’ – which, for me, inspires compassion and curiosity, rather than judgement, when we encounter them in history or in our lives. 

Photos credit Paul Ashley