| Diocesan News

Ted Neeley, who plays Jesus in the revival of the musical playing at the DuPont Theatre in Wilmington, Del., Oct. 27-29, was in the original New York cast and remembers the uproar.

“I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” a hit from the rock opera album released by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice before their show was ever staged, infuriated people who believed “Jesus Christ Superstar” depicted a physical relationship between Christ and his friend.

“Broadway was picketed and New York thought we were going to destroy the culture there,” Neeley recalled in mid-October, 35 years to the day from the anniversary of opening night. Interviewed by phone by The Dialog, the Wilmington diocesan newspaper, from New London, Ontario, where the show was playing, Neeley said “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” triggered different interpretations of the word “love,” but he said nowhere in the show is it suggested that Christ’s and Mary’s relationship “is anything other than a friend to a friend.”

Neeley, now 63, didn’t play the title character on opening night 35 years ago; he was credited as “reporter/leper/Jesus Christ understudy.” But his decades-long relationship to the musical includes playing Christ in the 1973 film version directed by Norman Jewison. He reprised the role in a theater revival that toured from 1992-97. The current “farewell tour” is a new production that’s been on the road for nearly three months.

The difference over 35 years in audience perception is that “since then, this show has become a blueprint for teaching the religious ethic of Christ,” Neeley said.

“I just talked to people in Abilene, Texas, who are attending a seminary in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, and they feel the show broadens the scope of teaching religion to children.”

Occasionally, Neeley said, the show plays in places - such as in the Southern Bible Belt - where “people feel we’re doing things we shouldn’t do.”

That’s because Christ in the show is depicted through the perspective of the people around him - Judas Iscariot, Mary Magdalene, Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas, Annas -who see a man before them, not the Son of God.

The human nature of Jesus wasn’t part of Neeley’s Southern Baptist upbringing, he said. “I grew up embracing the Bible; the Bible to me was the most important book. I was constantly involved in all aspects of the church, and finding out the idea of Jesus as man was very confusing to me.” But looking into the nature of Jesus as a man “embellished my respect and belief for Jesus as the son of God.”

Neeley said he now sees Christ as fully God and fully human, a belief Catholics share.

The actor doesn’t see himself as Southern Baptist now.

“I’m pretty much part of a universal religious experience,” Neeley said. “I’ve been to pretty much every kind of church there is because of this show.”

Neeley believes the movie version of “Jesus Christ Superstar” accounts for the longstanding popularity of the stage production. The show “touches everybody,” he said. “No matter how religious or nonreligious you think you are, you walk away with tears in your eyes.”

Before walking away, audience members often visit with Neeley backstage. “I am the most embraced and hugged human being on the face of the Earth,” he said with a laugh. Nearly every night, fans backstage will talk about their faith “until 3 o’clock in the morning.”

“I am still overwhelmed by the experience,” Neeley said. “Here I am, a rock-and-roll drummer from Ranger, Texas, who was cast because he could hit the high notes. I’m the grateful recipient of this magnificent experience that has enriched my life.”