Last week, thinking about Emma Stone at the Oscars, I wrote about how many things would have to go wrong to constitute a bad day. Today I’m contemplating the opposite – you know when things are shaping up to give you a really good day? So far today, the weather is way better than expected, I’m completely feeling my outfit, I got something for half price when I was fully prepared to pay full, and now? Behold the semi-surprise convergence of all my favourite things:
I mean, I knew Jesus Christ Superstar was the latest addition to the live musical lineup. I probably knew that Sara Bareilles and John Legend were in it, although it didn’t register until now, so did I really? But I didn’t know I was going to be so excited by the idea of a white T-shirt John Legend Jesus. I somehow didn’t know about Alice Cooper as King Herod, which promises to be ridiculously entertaining. And I definitely didn’t know that I was going to get full-on goosebumps as a result of I Don’t Know How To Love Him.
There are nerd things, and there are musical-theatre nerd things, but this one seems like a particularly deep Venn diagram aimed directly at me. Isn’t it nice how narcissism works?
Jesus Christ Superstar was written in 1970, and by the time I was cluing into musical theatre as a 90s kid and teen, Andrew Lloyd Webber was most famous for ‘bringing Donny Osmond back’ in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (yes, I know it too is from the late 60s/70s, just go with me here), or for arranging the social calendar of everyone’s mom via Phantom/Evita/Sunset Boulevard, depending which revival or touring company was nearest you.
But if you were just discovering the musical theatre form and it was a long stretch between productions, you probably had some sort of compilation tape like I did, which you were probably trying to hide from your friends – and I can’t be the only one for whom I Don’t Know How To Love Him was more of a ‘I think I have a crush on someone but I have no idea what to do with that revelation’ anthem than anything more sophisticated, right? If there’s anything 13-year-old girls need, it’s big sweeping anthems to give voice to their feelings.
So Sara Bareilles is exactly the right fit here, because you know this musical theatre woman has been through the feelings and the over-identifying. And of course, I am always delighted to let John Legend’s ridiculous level of suave surprise me in a new way.
But, as I also wrote last week, part of the glory of live television is that it’s live. Anything can happen. So of course I’ll be watching on Easter Sunday to see what happens, how the songs sound, and whether there are any places where you can ‘tell’, as this production is different than any of the live productions that have gone before: there’s one very important X factor…
The Chrissy Teigen effect!
One of the most prolific and hilarious tweeters of our time is going to be compelled to watch the live show, either from backstage or from a television. On the one hand she’s fundamentally supportive – on the other hand she loves to heckle John Legend, like it’s part of her brand.
Is she going to point out when he makes ridiculous faces? Or is she going to fangirl? Is she going to pretend she doesn’t understand the story? And, in a question that is partly breathless hyperbole and partly actual strategy question, has NBC contracted her to tweet about it for the duration? Because if anyone can drive viewers from Twitter to live TV, it’s her… which I’m sure she’s pointed out to her husband more than once.
