Organization

Stage director

Massimo Romeo Piparo

Set designer

Giancarlo Muselli

Lighting designer

Daniele Cepriani

Choreographer

Roberto Croce

Sound designer

Stefano Gorini

Conductor

Emanuele Friello

I Teatri di Reggio Emilia

Jesus Christ Superstar

Reggio Emilia

Italy

Teatro Municipale Valli

Jesus Christ Superstar Lloyd Webber

Public

Approved

The story of a myth that overwhelms spectators of all ages with its passion, a man-symbol who makes spirituality his revolutionary flag, a unique character in the history of musical theater: the famous work of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice it does not undergo the signs of time, indeed at each performance it renews its own myth, infecting with ever increasing enthusiasm the hundreds of thousands of spectators who, in Europe and in Italy, have chosen to go and see it. And if after almost 3 decades of success this show continues to excite spectators of all ages, passing from generation to generation, the credit goes to a mix of winning factors: first of all the great artistic and productive work of Massimo Romeo Piparo and of his team,

Reading the Gospels it almost seems obvious that the background music should be Rock. That the most suitable setting is a desert with some static architectural elements animated by the power of music alone. That the right time for their representation is the 70s. Yet before Jesus Christ Superstar this was not the case. This is why the work of Webber and Rice has entered the Myth.
And that Myth must absolutely not be desecrated, re-interpreted, elaborated: it must be respected, honored, celebrated.
Today that Myth becomes reality through Ted Neeley: a lesson in life and professionalism for all of us Italian artists. After 40 years, his humility, his simplicity and at the same time his boundless strength, his contagious passion are a vivid example of the stature that an artist must have to become a myth.
Thanks to him I retrace 20 years of study dedicated to this Opera and I put my most mature and accomplished version of this masterpiece of musical theater.
And so, with the same emotion of the first day of reruns in that distant 1994, every evening the magical rite is renewed that gives us the idea of ​​an eternal myth. Its confrontation with the same reason for being: on the one hand the people, on the other those who govern it. All at the same time architects and victims of a betrayal committed out of love by those who "live for death" and whose role will be fulfilled only when, having abandoned the institutional role of guardian of a life partnership, they offer and procure death for themselves.
An eternal myth for a people that still today has not stopped undergoing its martyrdom but has seen a multiplication of direct or indirect martyrs: people continue to die because elsewhere, in this land, that's how it is decided.
Do not try to find signs in this staging, nor comparisons with epochs, historical phases: there is the eternal, timeless sense of anguish for a humanity that has always chosen its own messiahs to then send them to martyrdom, creates its own myths to then destroy them, profess their ideology to promptly deny it

English

Jesus Christ Superstar by Lloyd Webber, From (2022/2022), Directed by Massimo Romeo Piparo,, Conductor Emanuele Friello, Teatro Municipale Valli, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Performance credits (Cast & Crew )

Crew

Program, About & Synopsis

Photos

Further reading

Performance Dates & Venues

Venues