‘Superstar’ returns to San Francisco
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s plan to turn the last weeks of the life of Jesus Christ into a stage musical got off to a challenging start. Unable to attract enough financial backing to make it a go, the pair instead produced a double album, “Jesus Christ Superstar,” based on the concept. Buoyed by such classic songs as the title track and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” (reworked from a song Lloyd Webber and Rice wrote for an earlier musical) “Superstar” was a hit, selling more than 7million copies and opening the doors for the 1971stage show that, of course, went on to become an international hit and spawn a successful film.
So when it came time to mount a 50th anniversary production, the producers went back to the “Brown Album” (so titled because of its iconic brown cover) for inspiration. The result is a somewhat stripped-down, less theatrical version of the show that emphasizes the classic songs and feels somewhat like a cross between a stage musical and a concert.
“It’s nothing like any other production,” director Timothy Sheader told the Bay Area News Group in 2019. “It’s not the big staging that people might expect. So, definitely come with an open mind and see something different.”
The show, which premiered in London in 2016, was last in the Bay Area for a short stint at the Center for the Performing Arts in San Jose two years ago. Now it’s back to reopen San Francisco’s Golden Gate Theatre as part of the BroadwaySF fall season.
Details: Through Nov. 7; Taylor and Market streets, San Francisco; $56-$256(subject to change); 888-746-1799, broadwaysf.com.