Phillips Center to host timeless play "Jesus Christ Superstar"

November 13, 2006

GAINESVILLE — “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the groundbreaking theatrical masterpiece by legendary writing team Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, is coming to the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts at 7:30 p.m., Nov. 24.

The first collaboration between Webber and Rice to be performed on the professional stage, “Jesus Christ Superstar” is one of the most popular and enduring works ever created for the musical theater. Featuring such notable songs as “Superstar,” “Everything’s Alright” and “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” “Jesus Christ Superstar” earned five Tony award nominations.

Internationally beloved star Ted Neeley, best known for his Golden Globe nominated role as Jesus in the Norman Jewison film “Superstar,” will be headlining this tour. While Neeley has enjoyed a distinguished career in resident theaters throughout the United States, appearing in a wide variety of productions from “Hair” to the works of Samuel Beckett, he is world-renowned for the title role in “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

Featured in the role of Judas will be Corey Glover, best-known as the lead singer of the Grammy winning, platinum selling rock band Living Colour. Glover also has issued albums as a solo artist and acted in television and movies, including Oliver Stone’s “Platoon.” “Jesus Christ Superstar” marks Glover’s theatrical debut.

Director Dallett Norris (“Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” “Can-Can,” “South Pacific”) says: “What could be better than having Ted Neeley, so grand in the film, on board as we delve into Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s brilliant musical telling of this timeless story. Their idea of setting this tale in terms that immediately resonate with today’s audiences is revolutionary. Here we are, 21 centuries later, and it is oh, so clear. We need the message of this story now more than ever.”

Tickets are available by calling the Phillips Center Box Office at (352) 392-2787 or (800) 905-ARTS (toll-free within Florida) or by calling Ticketmaster at (904) 353-3309.