By Michael Coveney
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Lyricist Tim Rice.
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Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's collaboration on "Jesus Christ Superstar" was a milestone in musical theater history. The show was first released
as a double record album in October, 1970 and opened one year later on
Broadway, amid immense ballyhoo, before hitting the West End stage in
London in August, 1972. It was an instant hit, and eventually became the
longest-running musical in London theater history, though its longevity has
since been surpassed by both "Cats" and "Starlight Express," also with music by
Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Tim and Andrew had met in 1965, when Tim had written to his future partner suggesting they try and write pop songs together. He was almost four years older than the composer, and trying to make his way in the music business while studying law.
They immediately responded to each other's talent and, in the Lloyd Webber
family home in South Kensington, surrounded by cats and non-stop music,
they composed songs and wrote a musical (never performed) about the
philanthropist Dr. Barnardo, who founded a home for orphans in the East End
of London. They followed up with "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor
Dreamcoat," a pop oratorio for schoolchildren, though it would not become
a commercial hit until after the success of "Superstar."
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Jerome Pradon as Judas Iscariot.
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"Superstar" started with the title song. The last months of 1969 were taken
over by their excitement in recording and releasing this song, which was
inspired by Tim Rice's fascination with Judas Iscariot, and, in particular,
with Bob Dylan's great song "With God on Our Side." Andrew had hit on a
suitably stirring tune while rushing down the Fulham Road to buy an old
Ricky Nelson album.
Tim had spotted a picture of Tom Jones with a caption that read: "Tom Jones,
the World's Number One Superstar," and he thought, why not stick that in?
"And of course, 'Jesus Christ Superstar' is a brilliant title. We were a bit
shocked about what we'd done, just as Andrew had been a bit worried about
'Joseph' being too slangy. But of course, it was its being precisely that --
slangy and funny -- that made it work."
In London, Rice and Lloyd Webber were finding their way around the new
post-Beatles music scene. They wore flowered shirts and flared trousers,
and their hair flopped around their ears. They were seen at fashionable
parties, and photographed at the Ascot races, with pretty girls on their
arms. They were part of the new pop era.
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Renee Castle portrays Mary Magdalene.
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The album was totally original, totally exhilarating. The music had
tremendous energy, which, blending with Rice's cynical, quizzical lyrics,
never stood still for a minute. Lloyd Webber's taste for unusual time
signatures made a stunning debut in Mary's "Everything's Alright," a number
that bowls along, five syncopated beats in a bar, like an undulating
hillside or gentle wave.
There was the majestic entrance to Jerusalem -- "Hosanna Heysanna Sanna
Sanna Ho, Sanna Hey Sanna Ho Sanna, Hey JC, JC won't you fight for me?
Sanna Ho Sanna Hey Superstar" -- the concerted soul shout of "Christ you
know I love you," and the howling anguish of the vulnerable hero in the
Garden of Gethsemane. And as Jesus died on the cross, the orchestra
gathered in a sweeping and melancholy melody.
But it was the subject matter as much as the music that caused the stir
that followed the album's release. In 1966, John Lennon declared that the
Beatles were more popular than Jesus, and there was even a short time when
it seemed possible he might make the most of both reputations, by taking the
lead in the stage version of "Superstar."
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Andrew Lloyd Webber.
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Rice and Lloyd Webber had arrived. Rice reacted to the sudden rush of fame
and fortune with a feeling that he had better make the most of it, because
it might not last. "'Superstar' was so big, but looking back we probably
didn't make as much money as we should have done, though we still made an
awful lot."
Andrew remembers crossing a road in Knightsbridge with Tim around this time,
and Tim saying to him, "The big problem with you, Andrew, is that whatever
you try and do, you are always going to be thought, because of the way your
mind works, to be selfish. I get away with it because I'm the other side of
the coin." That is, the kind of guy who doesn't seem to care about
anything.
I am not at all sure that Tim didn't care about anything. It just didn't
show as much. And he certainly had no taste for the corporate wrangling and
empire building that Andrew was soon going in for in a big way. They were a
remarkable couple, these "Superstar" boys, immensely gifted and clever, and
they now had the world at their feet.
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