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| Jesus Christ Superstar: A Resurrection |
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| Written by Hillary Meister | |
Oh Come All Ye Faithful
What's a nice Jewish boy from Boston doing playing the role of Judas in the performance of Jesus Christ Superstar: A Resurrection?"I don't know," ponders Michael Lorant, drummer of Atlanta's Big Fish Ensemble. "I associated with him, I guess." Several years ago Lorant told his Indigo Girl pal Amy Ray about his dream of recording his favorite album, the entire rock opera soundtrack of Jesus Christ Superstar. Amy would play Jesus, he joked, and her fellow Indigo Girl Emily Saliers would play Mary. Never did he suspect Ray would take him seriously and offer to release the project on her record label, Daemon. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as the second coming, all proceeds of which will benefit Georgians Against Gun Violence, Washington, D.C.'s Center to Prevent Handgun Violence, and the Urban Training Organization of Atlanta. Three years ago Lorant turned his attention to gun control issues after getting mugged and shot in Atlanta's Little Five Points district. Now, with this release, he can offer tithings for the cause. Hallelujah! 
As word of the project spread through Atlanta and Athens, musicians
crawled out of the closet to proclaim their love for the original Superstar
album, the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice rock opera featuring music by
Bad Finger and Deep Purple's Ian Gillan as Jesus. Eventually, Lorant
gathered over 75 contributors and coerced friend, musician and producer
Rob Gal into engineering the entire project. You can't throw a CD in
the Atlanta area without hitting a musician who performs on Superstar.
Besides Big Fish Ensemble and the Indigo Girls, lots of local bands
(Uncle Green, Five-Eight, Engine, Opal Foxx Quartet) and vocalists
(Anne Richmond Boston, Kelly Hogan) came out for the resurrection. The
all-star cast is set to perform Superstar at Atlanta's Variety Playhouse on November 26.But there are always those sticklers for gender identification who may wince at the thought of a female playing Jesus. "I don't want to make people think that Jesus is half woman half man or anything," Ray says, explaining her idea of creating an androgynous role. "The point is -- his dealings with people are not based on sexuality." "I wasn't doing this album to be blasphemous," adds Lorant. "I just really love the story. I wasn't expecting that anyone would care about it. I think it has all the elements -- it's kind of a tribute album, it's kind of a celebration of that rock dinosaur '70s thing, it's got all the all-stars in the local scene..." "The reason why Jesus Christ Superstar is so important," offers Ray, "is because it's transcending time periods." "I get the weird feeling that this is going to be pretty big," Lorant concludes. "I don't really care that much. I just want to have fun."
--Hillary Meister
Click here to see the original clipping of this story , which ran in Huh magazine. Click here to learn more about the album and purchase it from Daemon Records. |
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© 2008 by Hillary Meister - Developed by Hillary Meister
photos and articles by Hillary Meister unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.
photos and articles by Hillary Meister unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.