For those who have seen the 1971 production

I've seen some pictures of the high priests wearing some kind of headgear that made them look like cousins of The Cat In The Hat.

Plus, I've seen that shot of Jesus rising out of the giant chalice.

Honestly. What was Tom O'Horgan thinking with all that over-the-top stuff? JCS works best as a stripped-down drama.

O'Horgan (director of the stage production of Hair) wasn't Lloyd Webber and Rice's first choice for director. They'd originally signed Frank Corsaro, who was pretty well seasoned in both straight theater and opera direction. But then he got badly injured in a car accident and had to recover, so they went with O'Horgan. One wonders what Corsaro would have done with it.

You can see a couple of pictures from the production, with some explanations of them, here:

http://www.orlok.com/hair/holding/prepost/tom/JSC-PhotosLife.html

I can't help but contrast the very first time I ever saw JCS. It was at a local community theater with a good rep for shows. The background was minimalist; the costumes were a nice sort of straddle between ancient and modern. The crucifixion was effective: the stage was in almost total darkness with red laser points where the nails were supposed to be on Jesus and the two thieves. I was so impressed with it that I rented the movie from the local library only a few days later.

(This production also put "Superstar" AFTER the crucifixion and, during it, had Jesus re-enter the stage through a door in the back stage wall. Not an interpretation for JCS purists, since ALW meant to leave the question of the resurrection up to the audience, but it worked okay. As far as productions that tack on the resurrection go, it was WAY less clumsy than another one I saw...at the tail end of the show, only Mary Magdalene was left onstage, and at the very last minute, an angel walked onstage and spoke (yes, spoke), "Why are you weeping? He is risen. Spread the news!")