#jcs2022

[pepegle]

[juudaz]

Some notes on Jesus Christ Superstar (Swedish production 2022)

First I just wanna apologise for the extremely poor quality of the photos, hope you still find them interesting. My phone’s camera is no the best.

What I really enjoyed:

- First and foremost: Dilfssssss *cough couch* what I mean is... I love Peter Jöback and Ola Salo, they looked absolutely GORGEOUS. I only wished their hairs were long(er)...

- The High Priest’s and Pharisees’ makeup game was ON POINT

Look at those eyebrows! Magnificent! I also really liked their costumes. All the costumes of the show were a nice mix of modern and like “accurate” style. (I don’t know how to explain that, sorry)

- Caiaphas’s voice was amazing (as usual). Maybe a bit higher than in some other productions but still super nice!

- ANNAS MY LOVE OMG!!! He was so smol and angy and bratty all the time!! XD And he walked like a lil gremlin all crouchy and stuff?! I love him, protect him at all costs

- Caiaphas was played by Kristoffer Hellström and Annas by David Lindström

What are those faces, I can’t

- SIMON THE ZEALOT WAS PLAYED BY A WOMAN

I repeat she was played by a woman!!!! (by Janna Yngwe I think?)

My gay heart almost exploded!! I wanna be her and I wanna be with her (sadly, I didn’t get any good photos of her, damn my camera)

- Mary’s voice was phenomenal, 10/10. She was played by the singer Janice. She was so pretty!

- The outfits were a really nice mix between modern and the “og” 1973 movie outfits. Like you could very easily tell who was a priest and who was a king etc. But then the outfits had like a little modern twist to them, e.g. Simon’s leather body harness-thing.

I LOVED Judas’s final outfit. With all the fringes it felt like an homage to what Judas wears in the 1973 movie. Except now it was also sparkly golden.

Overall the “outfit gayness” was like around 6/10. Chest hairs visible? Yes. Shiny and sparkle? Yes. But it could’ve been more gay. (I’m looking at you 2014 Swedish production) 

Daddy... I mean *cough* Ola!<3

- The set was interesting. At the start of the show all the support pillars(? idk what they are called) were lying on the ground and slowly one by one they were raised to the ceiling as part of the choreography. In fact (my queen) Simon the Zealot climbed up one of them during “Simon the Zealot”.

Look at her go!<3

Also, at all times there were 1-3 wild ensemble cameramen running around and filming the main actors with their little cameras. Most of the time what they were filming was being showed on the big screens at the back of the stage. It was interesting to see the scenes play out from multiple directions and a bit more close up.

- The Temple song was ummmm quite something... omg. The ensemble was strip teasing, grinding and twerking in front of the aforementioned little cameras they had there and that was quite something to experience..

- King Herods omg, the outfit, the SLIPPERS, the pig!!

(that’s exactly what I had written in my notes and tbh it’s quite accurate)

I always love to see the different ways different productions do King Herod. The more erratic, the better, imho. And this one was no different. Anton Lundqvist did an amazing job!

First of all, he was only wearing a pair of swimming shorts? And on his feet he had SLIPPERS that looked like TIGERS?? He also had a sparkly blue cape with a sparkly golden H on the back. (that he at one point used as the swimming pool) Not only was it all very shiny and glorious, it also reminded me of the Swedish flag. I think he also had messy over-lined red lips?

And then there was the giant inflatable pig?? First King Herod just sat on it but at the end he threw a tantrum and threw the pig around...

Also, that blue little sled you can see in the second picture? That was part of the “change my water into wine”-thing but at the end King Herod sat in it and one from the ensamble dragged him off stage as if he was a kid refusing to walk. XD

- Pilate did in fact spit everywhere during “Trial by Pilate”. That passionate monologue at the end would not be the same without all the spitting. (No papayas tho) XD His and the Roman soldiers’ costumes were also pretty interesting with all the cutouts. (Pilate was played by Patrik Martinsson)

- Disco ball Jesus. Yes, you read that right. When Jesus was crucified, Mary pulled some rope that revealed a weird reflective thing on Jesus’s chest? And then some lights were shined to it and he looked like a disco ball. Amazing.

What I wish was better:

- As I mentioned before, Jesus and Judas’s hairs should have been longer!

- Peter was wayyyy too chill about everything that’s happening around him. I wished he’d shown more emotion, especially during “Could we start again please?”. (As with everything) I once again like to compare everything to the 2012 UK Arena Tour production, but just because I think that version of Peter showed soooo much more emotion and actually seemed distressed about denying Jesus etc.

- The betrayal kiss was PATHETIC!! Pathetic, I tell ya!!

Dear Swedish productions of JCS, in 2014 you gave us (one) of the best betrayal kisses known to mankind and now what?? Just a little peck on the cheek??? Like c’mon!! And It was Ola Salo himself as Judas! I was very disappointed to say the least.

I think that concludes my little review of the 2022 Swedish Production of Jesus Christ Superstar. If you read the whole thing, awesome and thank you! I hope there aren’t many spelling mistakes. I have some extra photos I took, so I might share them here later.

[pepegle]