ponsibility for Jesus suffering and crucifixion to the Jewish priesthood, and found evidence of anti-Semitism in nearly every line. It received mixed reviews. Clive Barnes, an Englishman writing for the New York Times, criticised most of the show, [Mr Rice] does not have a very happy ear for the English language. There is a certain air of dogged doggerel about his phrases that too often sound like a deflated priest.# This was not the most flattering of reviews yet it did not hamper the success of the show. However, Douglas Watt from the Daily News gave a much pleasanter review, Jesus Christ Superstar, ... is so stunningly effective a theatrical experience that I am still finding it difficult to compose my thoughts about it. It is, in short, a triumph.# The main criticism of Superstar was the comparison of Jesus with a pop star on the decline. Yet this was an effective tool in conveying the message. The questions the characters in the show were asking Jesus, were questions that a large portion of society have wondered themselves. Evita (Appendix 1 - E) followed the unlikely, if real-life, drama of a woman of doubtful virtue who became the wife of a virulent fascist who rose to become his countrys dictator. Despite the real-life Evita Perons many shortcomings, she was greatly admired by many of her countrymen and women. Similarly, despite Tim Rices suitably acerbic lyrics, Evita became a paean of praise for a woman who had little to her credit other than the strength and determination to bring about her largely immoral ambitions. Its success was echoed in the USA where it became one of the earliest amongst a wave of British stage musicals that helped reverse the transatlantic tide. Tim Rice believed that the only way to capture the melodramatic, almost unbelievable, glamorous and ruthlessly populist characteristics of Eva Peron was through a musical. The subject matter, Eva Peron, was not new but it was fresh to theatre goers. Here there ...
