#djkt

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Portraits of Charlotte Režná as Ich and Felicita Victoria Prokešová as Mrs. Danvers from DJKT Rebecca

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Jesus Christ Superstar // DJKT Pilsen, CZE (2023-)

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Jesus Christ Superstar DJKT

Since it's the time for the annual JCS celebration I thought I could share some of my notes from the production from Pilsen (which is insanely good omg) so here is my rant that no one asked for:)

Need to say, this version is set in modern times, the set has this metal construction and fence with grafitti

At the beginning JC and Judas come to the stage, Judas in red tartan shirt, turban and electronic cigarette (which he smokes throughout the whole play), and Jesus has full-white outfit (tank top, skinny jeans and long coat) and has a tablet with which he operates screens that are on the stage

Insteresting addition is the Virgin Mary. Her look resembles old cute granny. Every now and then she shows up during few scenes and look at her son with worry, most of the time Jesus ignores her but Judas often notices her.

Mary Magdalene says she will cool Jesus' face, he lays in her lap and she seems almost scared to touch him. Judas comes to annoy them and when he sings: „...woman of her kind“ he says "woman" with air quotes, she doesn't seem impressed

What I found really sweet is that when the light own on the JC camp and This Jesus Must Die starts, you can see in the dark that Jesus, Judas and Mary sit together by a tent and talk, Judas shows Mary something on his phone, they share a bottle... I just think its cute

This production even includes Then we are decided which I haven't seen in any other cz version and during this song Annas bring Caiphas (who's in wheelchair) on the stage and THEN starts to undress him to wash him. (my mum, who had no idea this song even existed looked like she started to question her entire existence and the audience was very distraught) I was fighting for my life cause I tried not to burst out laughing

I like that in this version they don't exclude Judas from the Apostles that much, like he was one of them even if he had different opinions. I just feel like some versions they portray him as a complete outcast, so I really appreciate that here he's part of the crowd in Hosanna and shows support for JC.

After Hosanna, Simon says: „this is not enough“ and calls out Peter („Péťo!“, miluju) and other apostles, incuding Judas, as they bow to Jesus and start to dance. Judas is a bit uncertain and throughout the song this feeling grows. When Simon pulls out posters with JC on them, Judas is taken aback and shows them to Jesus. He also shares few worried glances with Mary. Everyone marches with the posters held up high , all of them are full of energy and excitement, only Judas has doubt and fear in his eyes.

The crowd freezes as Jesus sing Poor Jerusalem, only Judas (and Mary if I recall correctly) watches and listens to JC.

In the temple, when beggars ask for hep from JC, he doesn't even try to heal them anyhow. He seems overstimulated.

During I Don't Know How to Love Him, Jesus sits on the side of the stage, hugging his knees. He cries, he's having panic attack, he's going through a crisis, the crushing weight of expectations and fate is too much for him. As Mary sings a footage of Virgin Mary holding baby Jesus play on the screens.

The Last Supper, before the song starts Jesus washes feet of few apostles, Mary and Judas, who's very much in distress and begs him to stop. Once the boys start to argue, they get really close, they hold each others faces and scream at each other from like 2 cm. They hug tightly, separate for a second and start to scream again. Then Judas runs away and leaves Jesus.

Judas returns with soldiers and Jesus meets his gaze, they stare at each other for quite some time. Judas comes closer, gently puts his hand on Jesus' cheek and kisses him ON. THE. MOUTH. (I almost died, the guy next to me must have thought I had a heart attack, the audience gasped even heard some disgusted sighs)

The guard take Jesus, for the rest of the song Jesus sadly looks at Judas with love and forgiveness.

At the Trial before Pilate, Jesus is shoved into cage, stripped of his clothes, yes we see the whole backside (looking respectfully), and then they give him electric shocks. So while on one side of the stage you see JC's bloody ass on the other side you got Pilate being embraced/held from back by his half naked bodyguard for some reason (I was like ??? what did I miss)

The well-known fanfares of Superstar start and Judas, in a new red turban and smoking cigarette, accompanied by three soul girls in red with huge wings arrive on the stage. He looks like he's having the time of his life, he's being silly, smiling and dancing along with the girls. Meanwhile Jesus heads on his way of sorrows. A woman comes and wipes his bloodied face in cloth and later looks at it with utter fascination (veil of Veronica). Jesus falls under the weight of the cross and a man comes to help (Simon of Cyrene). He crosses path with Virgin Mary and meets her eyes, filled with utter sorrow, Judas watches their encounter from the back, then says fuck it and dances infront of them. At some point he blows smog from his cigarette into Jesus' face.

During Crucifixion, Mary Magdalene looks like she's suffering more than Mother Mary, seems like she knew that this was gonna happen and accepted the inevitable

John 19:41 starts with deadly silence. The apostles take down the dead body and hand him to his mother, creating pieta. She holds his body and looks like only then she realizes what happened and cries. They lay the body, put it on the stage and cover it with cloth (shroud of Turin). There's this really cool "magic trick" when Jesus disappears under the cloth. Everyone on stage looks up with seriousness on their faces. Slightly stronger light shines on Mary Magdalene and Virgin Mary and they're the only ones smiling.

There are many more little moments I noticed but I think these are the most interesting ones. I may talk about it more some other time, or about other productions.

yeah so anyway thanks for coming to my ted talk

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Pavel Režný (Der Tod/Smrt), Pavel Klimenda (Rudolf) and Michaela Štiková Gemrotová (Elisabeth) from the 1st Czech production of Elisabeth during the recent Muzikál Expres 35 anniversary concert

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DJKT Elisabeth (2019-23) truly said "we'll give as much variety as we can" with how they allowed their actors to just create their own unique takes on the characters

An Elisabeth who is truly only in search of her own freedom and no one else mattered to her vs. An Elisabeth who was also secretly deeply in love with Tod the entire time

A Tod who was cold, omnipotent, stoic and toying with everyone like a cat with a mouse vs. A Tod who was desperately trying to figure out all the feelings he's experiencing for the first time and fighting with his inner angst over who he is

A Lucheni who was slowly going mad over repeating the story over and over again, but who secretly somewhat empathised with the characters in their suffering vs. A Lucheni who was just pure fed up with having to go through the show again and who was making this everybody's problem as well

A Franz Joseph who was not on the brightest side, but who so visibly tried to care for everyone around him, but also was stifled by his overbearing mother and by courtly protocol to the point of him constantly having to question himself over what is right to do and what he feels like he should do

A Rudolf who was a pure personification of trauma and looked like he would break down into tears any second, but who so desperately fought for survival in a world that is slowly going into ruin vs. A Rudolf who was so traumatized by Gondrecourt, that all the military training left him on the outside hiding behind the mask of a proper soldier, yet on the inside, he's fighting so hard between choosing the stuggle and continuous fight for a better world and just giving up

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"I've been changed, yes, really changed"

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Lucie Prágerová (Ich) and Markéta Pešková (Mrs. Danvers) from the poster photoshoot for the upcoming DJKT production of Rebecca

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*me, seeing Pavel in his costume for Mamma Mia*: Pavel, you SLUT