The gospel according to Judas

Judas is one of the most famous backstabbers known to man. He is famous for his betrayal of Jesus and setting him up for his brutal crucifixion, but to play Judas is a performer’s dream and a chance to get caught up in his twisted reasons for doing what h

The musical Jesus Christ Superstar, written by renowned writing team Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, stunned the world in 1970s, because it dared to shed a human light on one of the most hated figures in history. It was controversial then and still is controversial today for giving Judas that unsettling chance to tell his side of the story.

Renditions of the production have passed through Broadway In Chicago many times before, but this version promises to be different. Ted Neeley, who originally played Jesus in the 1973 Norman Jewison film adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, does the part again in this very special stage tour, which opens in Chicago next week.

Corey Glover, 43, former lead singer of the Grammy winning, platinum-selling rock band Living Colour (Cult of Personality) makes his theatrical debut playing the tormented Judas. Another thing that made Superstar controversial in the 70s was the fact that a Black man was cast in the role of Judas.

The late Carl Anderson played Judas in the 1973 film, and actor Ben Vereen first portrayed the infamous character on stage. Now, Glover says he gets to finally do his dream job. Glover said he caught his love for music and acting by watching the movie as a kid. He said that the role is less about race when it comes to playing Judas. For him, it isn’t about being the African American Judas. “It was about the part.

It was more about being able to sing this part more than anything else,” Glover told the Defender. “This was a role I wanted to play. Rather if I was blue, black or green, it didn’t matter. I always wanted to do this role.” The hard rock singer said this interpretation of the passion of Jesus Christ not only puts a human face on Judas and Jesus, but it captures the essence of what it means to live each day. It tells the story of Jesus rising to popularity through the eyes of his friends, and then there were the haters, of course.

“This is a human story. This is a real story. You can place this story at any point of time in history and everybody is going through this sort of thing,” Glover said. “The point of the story is that everybody goes through a rise and a fall. Things go up and they go down.” He explained that he believes the Judas and Jesus relationship had much more depth, so this particular show portrays the characters as much more complex individuals dealing with difficult life choices. Things that you may not hear on Sunday morning, he said.

“We are talking about a real life situation. Where people are dealing with people in a real sort of way. Judas was not this onedimensional person that just didn’t care and just was a traitor. He was a good friend trying to figure out what was going on with his friend, and his friend was not giving him any answers and he chose a different path.” Updated versions of the show have jazzed up the scenes adding leather, lace, camouflage army clothes and other modern spins on many of the numbers to tie it into the 21st century.

However, Glover said this version of Superstar is a little simpler allowing the music and lyrics to take center stage. “It’s interpretational. The last production was a little more modern. It was a lot more things going on that were very contemporary, where this one sort of doesn’t do that. It’s a very simple sort of thing. It let’s the audience imagine things as oppose to handing things to them,” Glover said.

Glover has several solo artist albums and has acted on television and in films including Oliver Stone’s Platoon. Glover reunited with his Living Colour band mates for a reunion tour in 2001. Jesus Christ Superstar is in Chicago for a limited oneweek engagement at the Cadillac Palace Theatre, 151 W. Randolph St., February 19%uFFFD24.

Individual tickets range in price from $22.50- $70 and are available at all Broadway In Chicago box offices and at all Ticketmaster outlets.