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Among my numerous occupations is producing and hosting a weekly public affairs program for Harrisburg's Christian radio station, WKBO 1230 AM.
This weekend, the program, called "Hymns & Happenings" will feature an interview with Ted Neeley, who played Jesus in the 1973 film, Jesus Christ Superstar.
It will be broadcast at 10 AM (EST) on Saturday, October 8, and again at 2 PM (EST) on Sunday, October 9. The radio station is live-streamed at www.wkbo.net, for any of you brave souls who may want to hear it.
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I remember the Overture from the original cast album, a superb combination of a symphony orchestra counterpointed against a rock beat (it's the "B" side of Yvonne Elliman's "I Don't Know How To Love Him"; interestingly, both her version and Helen Reddy's cover version were on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart at the same time; ironically both the original cast album's label Decca and Helen Reddy's label Capitol are now part of Universal Music).
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Among my numerous occupations is producing and hosting a weekly public affairs program for Harrisburg's Christian radio station, WKBO 1230 AM.
This weekend, the program, called "Hymns & Happenings" will feature an interview with Ted Neeley, who played Jesus in the 1973 film, Jesus Christ Superstar.
It will be broadcast at 10 AM (EST) on Saturday, October 8, and again at 2 PM (EST) on Sunday, October 9. The radio station is live-streamed at www.wkbo.net, for any of you brave souls who may want to hear it.
Have been a huge fan of the US "Brown Cover " albums. With Ian Gillan as Jesus. Superior voices and instrumentation. Did not like the movie or the soundtrack; the same with other versions have heard, always go back to the brown album.
By the way Franck Pourcel has an instrumental version of "Getshemane" (LP L'Enfant Roi) that is absolutely fantastic.
Thanks for the info on your broadcast.
Best wishes
Alex
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Thank you so much for sharing that video, msmith. Agnetha's voice is tremendous! "Everything's Alright" is my very favorite song from Superstar.
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HEY, ZOOB!!
Yes! Lois and Richard Carruth were in Israel in 1972, at work on this film, having just completed Fiddler On The Roof, also for director Norman Jewison.
Lois received screen credit (as Lois LaSalle) in this film. She worked very closely with all of the singers on location during the shoot.
She told me that director Jewison was quite attracted to her, and got kinda' frisky with her behind the scenes. She was flattered by his attentions, but in love with Richard, so Jewison's forward pass was incomplete. 
She also told me that Ted Neeley was absolutely the "most Christ-like individual" she had ever met.
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To the best of my recollection, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR was the first film that I ever saw in stereo, via a 35mm print at a suburban mall theater near Baltimore. A real ear-opener to how much better movie sound could be.
"Jesus Christ Superstar" began as a two-part concept album by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, released in Great Britain in 1970. Rice had long been interested in the point of view of Judas Iscariot and was further inspired by Bob Dylan’s song “With God on Our Side.” Although the album was not a success in England, upon its release in America it became hugely popular and immediately produced several hit songs. Webber and Rice came to America for a 1970 concert tour, during which, producer Robert Stigwood and Beatles associate Peter Brown quickly secured the management rights to the property, guaranteeing a percentage of all earnings over the following eight years.
Soon after the tour, a play based on the album opened on Broadway on 12 October 1971, moving to the London stage in 1972. It proved a long-running hit in both Britain and the U.S. Norman Jewison originally conceived of the film adaptation in Yugoslavia, while filming FIDDLER ON THE ROOF. Barry Dennen, who played “Mendel” in FIDDLER and went on to star as “Pontius Pilate” in the Broadway and film versions of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, presented the album to Jewison. After listening to the recording obsessively, Jewison began to visualize a film version, and contacted Universal Studios, which at that point held the theatrical rights, committing himself outright as director. Rice was originally hired to write the film’s screenplay, but after turning in an expensive, epic-scope version, was fired. The final script, co-written by Melvyn Bragg and Jewison, marked the director’s sole writing credit.
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Once again, I thank you, Mr. DiMucci, for your wonderful historical background knowledge.
I plan to utilize some of it in my interview with Ted Neeley tomorrow afternoon.
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Over 3,000 actors and dancers auditioned for the film. Although most of the actors cast were neophytes, many of the key players had appeared in stage versions of "Jesus Christ Superstar." Barry Dennen ("Pontius Pilate"), Yvonne Elliman (“Mary Magdalene”), Robert Bingham (“Caiaphas”) and Kurt Yaghjian (“Annas”) had originated their roles on Broadway. Carl Anderson had been the Broadway understudy for Ben Vereen as “Judas.” The role of Jesus marked the first film role for Ted Neeley, who went on to recreate the role throughout his career, as did Anderson, who died of leukemia in 2004.
Controversies over the production of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR began prior to shooting, when Orthodox Jews in the Israeli Parliament raised opposition to a Christian production being filmed in the Jewish state. Although the government offered no official support, the Israeli Film Centre helped pave the way for the production. While the stage version of "Jesus Christ Superstar" had elicited condemnation from some Christian groups (who were concerned with the portrayal of Christ as a flawed human and Judas as sympathetic), the film engendered more controversy from Jewish associations. Most objected to the depiction of the Jews as the killers of Christ, while Pontius Pilate hesitates to crucify him.
The National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, representing nine Jewish groups and ninety-three human relations agencies, accused Universal and Jewison of distorting the Biblical story and enflaming anti-Semitism. In addition, the American Jewish Committee labeled the film dangerous and denounced it in a press conference. They furthermore objected to the images of modern army vehicles in the scenes in which Judas considers betraying Christ, which the Committee felt implicated Israel as a militaristic state. Finally, both black and Jewish groups protested the casting of a black actor as Judas, noting the villainous nature of the role and the possibility of exacerbating rifts in black-Jewish relations.
In Rome, Roman Catholics demonstrated at the film’s opening, not realizing that the Pope had signaled his official approval of the film, as reported in a February 1974 Parade item. In addition, popular singer Glen Campbell released a single challenging the film, entitled “I Knew Jesus Before He Was a Superstar.”
Jewison responded to the debates in a July 1973 Hollywood Reporter article, stating that he was shocked by the allegations and that the film was meant merely as entertainment, with color-blind casting. In a July 1973 Los Angeles Times article on the controversies, Jewison added, “Young people are not concerned with the prejudices of the past.” Elsewhere, Jewison stated that his vision for the film was one of timelessness. To achieve this, he mixed period details, such as the locations and some costumes, with contemporary features such as haircuts, language and weaponry.
The various protests and responses did not hurt the film’s box-office success, however; it rose to number eight on the year's box office charts, and it was Universal’s top money-maker of 1973.
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I had the 1970 album on 8-track as a teenager and played it many times. But I never saw the movie.
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Today, I recorded my telephone interview with Ted Neeley.
He is in Denver, Colorado right now, and I am in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
What a wonderful time I had interviewing this man!
We immediately hit it off, and our interview was just like a conversation between two old friends.
Ted is funny, warm, very real, and a truly sweet individual.
This Sunday, I'll meet him face-to-face at the presentation of the digitally-remastered "Jesus Christ Superstar".
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Today, I recorded my telephone interview with Ted Neeley.
He is in Denver, Colorado right now, and I am in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
What a wonderful time I had interviewing this man!
We immediately hit it off, and our interview was just like a conversation between two old friends.
Ted is funny, warm, very real, and a truly sweet individual.
This Sunday, I'll meet him face-to-face at the presentation of the digitally-remastered "Jesus Christ Superstar".
That's great! I regret I missed the showing a week ago in Seattle when he was here presenting JCS.
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