LEGEND HAS IT
Singer/songwriter leads cast of live airing of “Jesus Christ Superstar”
JOHN Legend has won an Oscar, a Tony and 10 Grammy Awards.
But his greatest challenge awaits him Sunday night at the Marcy Avenue Armory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. He’s playing Jesus. Legend has the title role in NBC’s staging of “Jesus Christ Superstar” (8 p.m.), one of the live productions that have become one of NBC’s trademarks.
“I’ve been in musicals when I was in high school but never as big of a role. I was excited for the challenge,” says Legend, 39. He’s sitting in the basement of a church on Columbus Avenue, having just rehearsed “Gethsemane,” the most demanding number in the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd-Webber and Tim Rice, which debuted as a concept album in 1970 before moving to Broadway a year later.
“This is where Jesus realizes he’s headed toward his crucifixion. It ends on a very high note for most singers,” says musical director Nigel Wright, who has worked with Lloyd Webber on musicals ranging from “Evita” to “Sunset Boulevard.” “This Jesus has to fall apart.”
Singing the score has stretched Legend’s range beyond the music he usually performs. “I think this is the biggest range of notes I’ll do. It’s a powerful rock opera,” he says. “Big moments, big notes.”
The church basement has been transformed into a rehearsal space for the company of 44 players, who have been learning the show here before moving out to the armory as the premiere draws closer. An architectural model on display along one wall offers a snapshot of what viewers will see — a Roman ruin motif with scaffolding for 32 musicians, including a seven-piece rock band.
Executive producer Neil Meron who, along with Craig Zadan, has been the major force in bringing “The Sound of Music Live!” among other musicals, to the network, says Legend was cast because “we needed a Jesus who could get right up there and [sing] falsetto and . . . we hired Harvey Mason Jr. who is our music producer. He was the one who said. ‘What about John? ’”
Several logistical problems needed to be worked out to make Legend available, mainly shifting the “JCS” rehearsals around 10 concerts in Asia he was already schedule to do.
“Craig and I put our heads together,” Meron says. “We asked, ‘What if we did something special for John and start rehearsals in mid-February, have John learn the staging and get him up on all the music? He can get updates by video. He will have tracks that he can rehearse to. And then we have a Jesus understudy, Justin Matthew Sargent. He will be able to walk through it and John can see videos of him.”
Similar adjustments have been made for the show’s other two stars, “Waitress” star Sara Bareilles, who, as Mary Madgalene, sings “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” the show’s breakout hit — and rocker Alice Cooper, who is reprising his role as King Herod from a 1996 London stage production. Like Legend, he was on tour while the live show was taking shape.
“I get two days rehearsal time,” says Cooper. “That’s all I’m going to need for this.” The singer, who has just turned 70, couldn’t resist another opportunity to play the evil king of Galilee. “I said it was perfect typecasting. Very rarely do I get asked to play the hero!”
Twelve hundred people selected by NBC and an “audience consultant” will watch the live show Sunday night at the cavernous armory. What exactly does an audience consultant do?
“We get the kind of audience we think would enjoy it,” says Meron. “They’re like casting consultants. We may ask [the audience] to dress a certain way like we did with ‘Hairspray.’ ”