‘Glorious glitter bomb’: Critics loved ‘Jesus Christ Superstar,’ but much of religious America was unimpressed
New York isn’t thought of as an exceptionally Christian town. But as I sat in the Marcy Armory on Easter Sunday night live-tweeting NBC’s broadcast of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” you could have fooled me.
More than 1,000 audience members whooped, clapped and even wept as John Legend portrayed Jesus, Sara Bareilles played Mary Magdalene and Alice Cooper took on the role of Herod in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s religious rock opera. Entertainment Weekly called it a “glorious glitter bomb,” Deadline said the performance was “just how Jesus would have wanted it,” and the New York Times even hailed it as “a conceptual and artistic triumph.”
But as I scrolled through social media this morning, it became stunningly clear that many across America’s heartland were not as celebratory as the adoring New York crowd in attendance.