I watched tonight with family and we all thought it was the best of the NBC live musicals. Anyone else?
Outstanding! Loved the choreography. And the set/live audience worked really well.
They are showing it 2 hours behind the East coast schedule on the West Coast. So we are just 30 minutes into it here. But I played in the pit orchestra for it in HS, so I know everything that is coming. 
Brandon Victor Dixon is stunning as Judas! =D>
West Coast viewer here – this is SO GOOD!!!
Oh my gosh, that was so much fun. I love the music from Superstar —some pits are less fun (music gets old as you rehearse it), but not this one. One of my HS buddies who did tech for our community production in the late 70s was online chatting tonight, too. I love how the pit was stationed up in the scaffolding. And so much energy and interaction with the audience!
Liked it very much. I’m such a nerd I pulled up the lyrics and followed along on the computer. Alice Cooper was fantastic.
I really hated the commercials. I wish they’d have had much longer blocks of the production and then maybe several blocks of commercials (like intermission?).
By far my favorite of the live musicals - I think the conceptual/concert type staging translates so much better on tv than trying to create a more traditional theater experience
Loved it! I especially loved watching it with a room full of graduating MTs! They pay attention to things I would not otherwise notice (or wouldn’t really comment on). Really enjoyed the set and the costuming! I agree with @twoinanddone - the commercials were SO annoying. I have no idea what technical requirements would preclude the network from doing the show with an intermission-style break but that would certainly be preferable.
I LOVED IT!! I knew two people in the cast so THAT was really FUN!! I agree the commercials disrupted the flow… but the commercials pay for the show. If they had an intermission style show filled with commercials who would be watching that? Plus there were several advertisers who aired their commercial multiple times… all about the bucks!
I love everything from Andrew Lloyd Webber and even more that I grew up with this 1970 rock opera. If you didn’t already know the music, it could be confusing which character was who. That said I think Sarah Bareilles stole the show. Alice Cooper was good, and John Legend’s singing was great. Of course Dixon was fantastic. I read a lot of the reviews, and I agree with all that the choreography was too over the top and at times distracting. The costuming could be confusing. The ending was fantastic, fading to white light, and like one critic said, “I felt I was there at Jesus’s crucifixion and ascent into heaven.” Overall, job well done. So glad they brought this rock opera out of moth balls.
Excellent-I watched with a brother in law who is not a fan of theater and even he loved it. I had kind of given up on the NBC live musicals as I have not enjoyed any of the others so far, but this renewed my faith!
Missed seeing the broadcast last night, and I’m so so so happy that NBC posted it online!
I really enjoyed it,very fun to watch. We’re a theater family. One of my kids was in the ensemble of a regional award winning production of JCS so I probably know the show better than most. And I’ve seen it several times on stage with different casts.
I would have preferred less commercials and less creative camera work. I thought John Legend was an interesting choice for the lead because he’s actually a baritone with a good falsetto. It was actually kind of nice for my baritone teen to see that ability and range. I enjoyed his take on it! I thought Alice Cooper seemed kind of a diva but I found his performance amusing! I thought the back stage cam during commercial breaks was kind of weird. The overall artistic presentation was close to the version my kid was in. I did wonder about the sound mixing. There were a few short solos where I was wondering if the singer could hear the backing well.
I much prefer seeing live musicals and our regional productions are usually tour quality or close, but this was a very fun diversion for a holiday evening! Ironically, I have not seen any of the other live NBC musicals but maybe we didn’t miss anything.
Oh - I did think the choreography was a little weird too and it didn’t seem solidly learned either. I loved the costuming for this show.
And ha, it is different watching with theater people. #TheatreGeeksUnite
I missed it but my husband said it was really good. He said John Legend was excellent. Hopefully they will repeat it like they have done with others and I can see it.
I am not really familiar with the plot (being Jewish and all that) and only knew a couple of the songs, but my H was familiar with it from his folk mass days. That said, we both enjoyed the show. I have only ever heard John Legend sing once before (on last year’s Oscars) and was very impressed with his voice, but the guy who played Judas blew me away. His voice was amazing. H was disappointed that Alice Cooper didn’t ham it up enough in Herod’s Song. One thing I noticed and H didn’t, was that at the end, Judas was dressed in a silver lame type top, as if to echo the 30 pieces of silver he took.
I personally enjoyed Hairspray more but that’s because I like the music better.
My wife wanted to watch. She had not seen before. I saw a version of this show a long time ago when I was in college, so I told her I’d check it out with her.
I left after 10 minutes. Thought it was terrible.
They could’ve named it Jesus Christ Hipster instead.
I thought the outfits and over the top hairdos and tattoos were laughable. "Lets try to be edgy and crazy for the millennials! We know they like ripped jeans and nose piercings! "
So anyways, my wife watched the whole thing and she liked it, said it was better than the other NBC musicals she has seen.
loved Sara B her voice is perfect for that music, Brandon Dixon was a amazing, Alice Cooper underwhelming, John Legend is a singer first, so not the best actor imho but fine. Norm Lewis…perfect. I also thought the Pontius P guy Ben Daniels was good. Oh and the guy who played Annas, Jin Ha was very good. lol ok I think I hit everyone!
I couldn’t find a reading on what Andrew Lloyd Webber thought about the performance, did anyone else?
@Rightcoaster “they could’ve named it Jesus Christ Hipster instead” - that’s kind of the point …