Big changes transpired between April this year and last weekend when Stuart Nash and the Nairobi Performing Arts Studio teamed up again with the Kenya Cultural Centre to restage Jesus Christ Superstar.
The changes virtually transformed the Andrew Lloyd Webber classic. They brought qualitative revisions in everything from the casting to the lighting and sound. Only a rather drab backdrop did a disservice to the show.
Otherwise, the revival of Superstar was a seriously improved production. The big change was the switch in Jesus Christ’s casting as Martin Githinji performed with a passion and fire that just wasn’t there previously. The big surprise was how well Martin sings given he’s best known for his acting.
Nice Githinji was also new to the cast and best known as an actor despite her having a stunning singing voice. She was also more credible as Mary Magdalene than her predecessor.
She came across as a sensual woman struggling to reform, and seriously troubled by the humbling, soulful love that she feels for this man, Jesus.
We felt the depth of the Magdalene’s quandary when she sang ‘I don’t know how to love him,’ a song surprisingly re-echoed by Judas (Mugambi Nthiga) after his willful betrayal of Jesus, and before he went on to hang himself. Mugambi sang his heart out (as he did in April), although his mike sadly couldn’t pick up all the nuances of his voice on Sunday night.
Nonetheless, he’s a powerful actor who threw himself into his role, embodying a vindictive villainy that eventually led to a terrible death.
Mkamzee Mwatela’s performance as Herod was brief but dazzling, and marvelously backed up by a well-choreographed crew of acrobatic dancers who were also triple-cast as both wild ones inside the temple before Jesus threw them all out and cops who thrashed Jesus 39 times and also stood guard over his crucifixion.
The chorus cum followers of Jesus also seemed more assured and together as a team. In part this was because the sound system was more attuned to the actors’ needs. One could actually hear the subtleties of what most of the cast was singing about.
Another reason for the show’s improvement this second time round was the lighting which was so much more focused and carefully controlled than it had been before.
For instance, when Peter (Fanuel Mulwa) denied Jesus three times, each moment of naysaying was highlighted by both a well-timed spotlight and a bright flashlight beamed at Peter’s face.
The one exception was the darkness imposed on the Priests who played such an important role in Jesus’s demise but could hardly be seen due to a combination of poor lighting and smoke which was used far too often in the play.
The other vital point that came through more clearly this time round was the rationale for Jesus’s rage. In fact, Lloyd Webber’s Jesus is an angry man. He knows what the future holds for him and he’s pissed off at his Father for compelling him to face down death.
But he also knows that Judas is a traitor and his disciples don’t understand him either. That’s why they slept in Gethsemane.
His outrage is best seen when he throws out the money changers and wild ones from the temple and reckons how only God understands why he’s doing what he does.
At the same time, Magdalene becomes a pivotal character in the show, serving as a soothing influence to cool off his heated wrath.
My one problem with JC Superstar is not the performance itself. It’s Webber’s script which is not only anti-climactic: Jesus is taken down from the cross and boom, the end.
It’s also the theology underpinning Webber’s view of JC’s life [and death] which according to the scriptural text actually ends with his resurrection and ascension, not simply with his death.
Meanwhile, Martin Kigondu and Prevail Arts Company will stage Martin’s new script, provocatively entitled What Happens in the Night for two evenings only: October 7 at La Rustique in Nanyuki and October 14 at Daystar University. The drama develops around a political family who’s got a member in the media.
Finally, Storymoja Festival 2017 is strong on stage productions, opening with Zimbabwean actor Kevin Hanssen performing his one man show on Charles Dickens on Wednesday, September 27.
His countryman, Mike Kudakwashe does stand-up comedy and the two join Maina Olwenya and Omwoma Mboga Saturday night to restage Silvia Cassini’s play A Man Like You followed by Sitawa’s Room of Lost Names.
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Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
