Greensboro Daily News [1 pg] August 23, 1971

[This article is typed out because the microfilm was too distorted to scan for this website]

Rock Opera And Cast Get Standing Ovations

By Harvey Harris

Daily News Religion Writer

A crowd of 10,926 gave the cast of "Jesus Christ Superstar" 28 standing ovations Sunday night after the highly acclaimed and controversial rock opera was staged in the Greensboro Coliseum.
Then, led by the cast and 32-piece orchestra, the loudly-cheering audience clapped hands and joined in singing the theme from the opera.
The opera was produced on a 66-foot stage, with floodlights used throughout the production to divide it into many smaller stages and make possible a fast-paced, action-packed musical drama focusing on the seven days before Christ's crucifixion.

Jeff Fenholt, Carl Anderson and Yvonne Elliman sang and acted with emotion and a depth of feeling the roles of Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene.
These three performers received the longest and loudest ovations at curtain-call time.
Others receiving long and loud ovations included Bob Bingham who played the high priest Caiphas, Lyle Countryman as Pontius Pilate, Alan Martin as King Herod, Mike Ward as Peter, Phil Jethro as Annas, Eric Mercury as Simon Zealotes and Susan Allanson as the maid by the fire.
The opera had come under attack by some groups of preachers in the Carolinas during recent days, but the entire audience was highly receptive and enthusiastic.

Fenholt described the crowd as one of the best on this tour, which opened July 12 in Pittsburg.
The star said he believes these stagings of the rock opera are "helping all generations, not just youth, get together on religion and get a better understanding of their faith asthey are given a good look at God."
He said the controversy surrounding the rock opera is being caused by "people who haven't seen or heard it, and don't understand it."

Anderson said he believes "the rock music and emotion-packed drama makes Christ's agony burst to life, grabbing audiences by by the heart."
The Hawaiian native who played Mary Magdalene, Yvonne Elliman, said this makes the story of Christ "more real, more believable" than the "plaster saint portrayal seen in passion plays and movies."
The music and drama grabbed the huge audience in the Coliseum, and they found it believable, meaningful and "an unforgettable expience" as a group of college students explained their feelings about the opera.
They agreed with the rock opera's stars that rock music is "the music of today, the music that captivates the minds and souls of today's young people."

In spite of the huge orchestra, the cast of 20 performers and a smaller combo that joined in vivid musical scenes, the rock opera focused on the three figures of Jesus, Judas, and Mary Magdalene.
The huge and elaborate lighting system brought attention to the individual actors, focusing on their gestures and words they sang. This made the dramatic effect "very compelling, individualistic and set each scene apart." In the way Anderson explains rock music grabs audiences.
Some of the rock opera's most dramatic moments were when the floodlights were focused on a single facet, such as the hours Christ spent on the cross.

One of the most powerful, booming voices in the cast belongs to Bob Bingham, the Caiphas of the rock opera, and this helped make Christ's betrayal and the final events leading up to the crucifixion most agonizing and terrifying.

As he struggled during the last days with his apostles, Christ told of his struggle "for three years, seems like 30" and he later said it felt more like 90 years.
Miss Elliman got one of the opera's biggest ovations when she sang the words of Mary Magdalene that vaulted her to the top of the hit recordings with one of the rock opera's biggest hit, "I Don't Knoiw How To Love Him."
Anderson in the role of Judas, as a dissillusioned idealist, who kept telling Caiphas, "I don't want money," received the biggest ovation after the rock opera.

He made the biggest hit with the crowd, and his sympathetic portrayal of Judas, caught up in circumstances beyond his control, captivated his audience.
Cheered on by applause from the huge Coliseum audience, Anderson grabbed the microphone and led the big audience like a gigantic choir in singing the rock opera's theme.
The cheering and enthusiastic applause contiued long after the cast had finished making their many bows and left thestage, and after the orchestra put away its intruments.