Would have been a 10 but too many commercials. Will be looking to purchase the commercial free edition.

I thoroughly enjoyed this Easter Sunday night 2018 presentation. That this was done live on tv made it all the more impressive.There are many comments lamenting the commercials. It becomes obvious that commercial were needed for scene changes since the se6t was large and central to the stage. There were not small sets for different scenes....most everything was done center-stage, and things needed to be converted to different settings.I applaud the musical components. The musicians were wonderful and recreated the well-known soundtrack LIVE. The singing was equally impressive. The intensity of the sung music by different actors effectively portrayed their character's mindset and psychology. I believe each of the main actors was well matched in voice and psychology to the characters they portrayed.I've seen the 1970's movie countless times, so I know the lyrics and the music by heart. There were some lyric changes. At a few times during the production, the solo singing was drowned out by audience applause. That being said, the audience excitement contributed energy to the presentation and helped the viewer feel this was closer to the historical events which happened in front of supportive and enemy crowds. I don'r think the audience participation was too excessive to adversely effect the production.I noted a few minor glitches....Alice Cooper signalling twice for his music to begin (this might have been an intentional over-cue to demonstrate the personality he was portraying in the over-the-top Herod.). During the scourging of the portrayed Christ, actors were running past and signalling each of the 39 scourges........it seemed some of the lashes happened without a particular actor running by and serving those lashes.I have seen 2 live productions of JCS---both of which had Ted Neeley. Those two productions differed in their own representations of the crowd, of Herod, of the Zealots, etc. It is interesting to see how each production takes the story and presents it in a fresh way. Lastly, when I watched on Easter Sunday night, I sat with my 93 year old Mom. She enjoyed the spectacle, but it was difficult for her to hear the lyrics through the rock music. I'll always remember, for this production, being a live singer/personal subtitler for her. She knows the story of the passion well, so the assistance I provided helped her also enjoy the presentation. Some people like/love this version of the passion story. others hate this version. Each year i tend to watch all of the filmed productions.......King of Kings (silent), king of Kings, The greatest Story ever Told, Jesus of Nazareth. This and the 1970's version will also now be future traditional viewing for me. Given the age of the actual Biblical characters, and knowing human nature, I think this version of the passion story makes real the human perspective of the events of the passion. I'd recommend this version for its vibrance, its adherence to the Biblical story, its artistic and musical beauty, its conveyed emotions, and its excitement. Kudos.

I bought the original Rock Opera back in the 70's (on vinyl) and played it endlessly. Needless to say when I watch the live broadcast I was expecting some of the voices to be the same or similar but alas they were not. I thought the main characters did not have the range that Ian Gillan, Murray Head, and Yvonne Elliman had they were super. I really like John Legend but sorry it was just not the same. The thing that really bothered me was the constant crowd noise why in the world pay a whole bunch of money only not to be able to hear it over your screaming? That ruined it for me.

The performances blew me away. Singing and acting were loaded with emotion that puts this production at the top. I am an opera fan and JC Superstar is very much in the genre of opera. My favorites are in order, Jesus, Judas, Caiaphas and Pilate. Everyone was good, but these performances stand out. I hope that this is released as a video for purchase. I would have given this a 10 except for the commercials. We recorded it. Therefore, we zipped through the commercials. Nevertheless, the interruption was frustrating.