Bigger Than Jesus filling pews again
REVIVAL
Bigger Than Jesus is being revived by its creators at the Factory Theatre. This review originally appeared in the Star on Nov. 19, 2004.
Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Actually, I take that back. Rick Miller and Daniel Brooks know exactly what they’re doing in BiggerThan Jesus
at the Factory Theatre, and the final result manages to be extremely entertaining as well as highly provocative. Only seldom does it slip into the “ abstract shit” that it pretends to despise, but I’m willing to let that go, because — as Jesus always told us — it’s good to forgive. The evening is billed as being created jointly by Miller and Brooks, with Miller serving as solo performer and Brooks as director.
Using the structure of the Roman Catholic mass as a framework, they take us on a mixedmedia journey that they describe as “ a universal multi- dimensional celebration of spirit.”
Along the way, they delight us with everything from an extraordinarily inventive use of live feed from video cameras ( the fine work of Ben Chaisson) to a recreation of the Last Supper, wittily staged with toy figures of Jesus, Darth Vader, the Tin Man and George W. Bush.
No, it’s not a piece for fundamentalists — of either religion or theatre.
Bigger Than Jesus
could as easily be called The Fashion of the Christ, because it takes a long, hard look at the world’s obsession with Christianity over the past 2,000 years and how the son of Joseph and Mary changed from a political revolutionary to a religious icon . . . with a little help from his friends. The Beatles allusion is apt on several levels, not just for the way the show’s title references John Lennon’s famous quote about his group’s popularity surpassing that of the Messiah, but because of a fascinating sequence where the authors of the Gospels are equated to the Fab Four.
Paul McCartney, for example, was Luke, “ the one everybody loved. They also both went on to subsequent activities: Luke to The Acts of the Apostles, Paul to Band On The Run.”
There are times when the work becomes a bit too impressed with its own scholarship and erudition, but even at those moments, the energy of Miller the performer rides to the rescue. He knows how to play a stereotype at full throttle without ever letting it dribble into a mere cartoon. His energy is prodigious, his magnetism unquestionable and his versatility inspiring. To cap the Last Supper scene, he launches into a perfect takeoff of “ Gethsemane” from Jesus Christ Superstar
and manages to wickedly send up Andrew Lloyd Webber’s heavy- breathing crescendos and Tim Rice’s pop platitudes while singing in a voice that’s thrilling to hear.
Will a non- Christian audience find it all as compelling as this lapsed Catholic did?
I’m not sure. But I’d like to believe that the overall themes of Bigger Than Jesus
are big enough to intrigue any audience.