This article was first published in the Right to the Point newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox each week.
As we draw closer to Lent, the six-week period that many Christians observe leading up to Easter, it’s not unusual to see promotions for upcoming productions of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the Broadway musical and film based on events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion.
What is unusual, however, is to see an announcement that Jesus will be played by a woman who most recently played the green witch in “Wicked.”
Cynthia Erivo, a British actor and singer, announced her upcoming role on Instagram, setting off a wave of outrage on social media. To some, having a woman, especially a woman who identifies as queer, portray Jesus in the musical is a form of blasphemy, Hollywood’s latest snub to people of faith. Others are troubled by any production that reduces the exalted domain of the divine to mere entertainment.
And yet those celebrating, or attempting to justify, the casting argue that, since its debut in 1971, “Jesus Christ Superstar” has always pushed at the boundaries of what is socially acceptable in the moment.
Ted Neeley, who played the title role on Broadway and in the 1973 film, recently pointed out that even the fact that the character of Jesus was singing was controversial in the 1970s; the cast was told not to engage with protesters lest tension turn to violence. But Neeley said that often the people who were upset hadn’t seen the show and some changed their opinion after watching it. Many Christians accept “Superstar” as another Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical that plays fast and loose with history, like the duo’s treatment of Eva and Juan Peron in “Evita.” And some even find the score meaningful on a spiritual level.
I am a religious person who grew up loving “Superstar” — my mother took me to to see the film at a drive-through theater when it came out, and my Sunday school class listened to the music during Lent the next year. My own children grew up listening to the soundtrack, which is what passes for “Lent music” in my household. My youngest son played Pontius Pilate in a middle-school production of the show, and we once met Neeley and other cast members who still travel the U.S. interacting with audiences at showings of the film.
Yet I also understand why so many of my fellow Christians have serious objections to the show, once derided by a producer who rejected it as “the worst idea in history” for a musical.
People whose opinions I respect are troubled by anything that makes light of sacred things, or makes secular that which is divine. This is not to say that every representation of Christ on a screen is problematic; the TV series “The Chosen,” for example, has been applauded by people of faith, as has Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ,” because they represent Christ respectfully and in line with the Savior of the Gospels.
But imagined storylines, particularly accompanied by dancers in short skirts and rock music, stray too far from the Bible for many people, and, it can be argued, violate the Third Commandment, “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.”
All this goes to show that our differing perceptions of “Jesus Christ Superstar” is influenced by factors other than the actual music. But the casting of Erivo has thrust the boundaries of blasphemy back into the public conversation in a way that is more nuanced than other controversies, such as the LGBTQ group The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, whose antics dressed as nuns mock the Catholic faith.
On the social media platform X, Christian Toto, the host of the “Hollywood in Toto” podcast, joked that Erivo had been cast only because transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney had not been available. In an email exchange, he told me that Erivo is “a richly talented performer” but he sees her casting as “an attempt to draw controversy and mock people of faith.”
“Many conservatives are exhausted by these provocative acts. It shows a deepening chasm between artists and audiences. Who was clamoring for this kind of radical casting switch? More than a few folks noted that this kind of subversive take wouldn’t be attempted on other religions.”
Meanwhile, the conversation raises a larger question: Is it time for people of faith to rethink the free publicity we give to such performances by expressing anger on social media? Like the controversy over the Sisters of Perpetual Mercy being honored at the LA Dodgers’ Pride Night in 2023, which led to weeks of publicity for the group, it sometimes seems as though people of faith are being baited in order to get national attention for the very thing we’re protesting. While on one hand, it seems wrong to let offenses go unremarked in an increasingly coarse and secular society, there’s an argument to be made that sometimes the best option is to ignore it. It’s worth thinking about, anyway.
The 5 things you did last week
Whatever you think about Elon Musk and his rampage through Washington, D.C., he is a man who inspires a million memes.
In the wake of his now infamous email to federal employees asking that they summarize five things they had done the previous week with bullet points, people who approve of the DOGE strategy of exposing government inefficiency and waste — to include stay-at-home moms and truck drivers — took to social media with their own lists.
With several agencies since walking back the assignment, Musk’s order may have more lasting value as a meme than a legal basis for termination, but it was fascinating to watch the outcry over a request that should have taken less than 5 minutes to do. The response was reminiscent of a scene from the TV show “The Office,” when a new manager congenially asks an employee what he does, and the employee panics and hides.
As more than one attorney wrote on X, lawyers have to account for every single minute of their day in order to bill clients. Others noted that most high-performing employees in any field would have been thrilled with the opportunity to showcase their work to their higher-ups.
While there is a troubling human cost in what DOGE is doing (and may ultimately be a political one, too), the uproar over Musk’s simple request for now gives credence to what he and his boss have been saying: a hard conversation about the size and efficiency of our federal government is long overdue.
Recommended reading
With the images of recent plane crashes still fresh, even frequent fliers are a little bit nervous these days. Jay Evensen reminds us that we should be more worried about traveling on the interstate: “The fatality rate for air travel in 2022 was .003 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, compared to 0.57 for cars and trucks. Imagine if those statistics were reversed. What types of investigations would be underway? Would airports be closed pending safety assurances?”
Don’t be spooked: Flying is safe
Leah Libresco Sargeant weighs in on the debate over what to call the growing number of Americans who have not been married and have no children: “When we have a societal discomfort with a certain state in life, stigma follows whatever new, ‘neutral’ word we coin to refer to it. Linguist Stephen Pinker called this the ‘euphemism treadmill,’ where each new word coined to replace a slur eventually becomes contaminated by the culture and becomes impossible to use kindly.”
The challenges confronting the ‘kinless’ are more than semantics
A Notre Dame student confessed publicly that he was afraid he was becoming addicted to pornography. That admission gave way to an organization that provides accountability and support for other young men, Mariya Manzhos writes: “Social media algorithms are designed to feed users more of what captures their attention, reinforcing their interests and keeping them engaged for as long as possible. This means that even a brief interaction with explicit content can lead to an endless stream of similar material, making it difficult to escape.”
Meet the 23-year-old crusader helping young men battle pornography addiction
Postcard from Manhattan
I am writing this from New York City, where I’m attending a conference of writers and editors. Contrary to what my social media algorithms have been telling me for the past year, Manhattan has not become the new Gotham.
Walking in and near Times Square, I was struck by how much I’ve allowed headlines about subway violence, and assorted negative social media posts, to color my opinion of a city I haven’t visited in a couple of years. We passed an energetic and cheerful demonstration in support of Ukraine in Times Square, the streets were (fairly) clean, the crowds were (generally) friendly and the smells from the food carts amazing. Volunteers were handing out coffee and snacks outside a church. A shopkeeper was feeding birdseed to pigeons. I’m not sure I’ll ever agree with our president that New York is the best city in the world, but it’s still a keeper — even the theater district.