Performances of Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s special concert version of the venue’s multi-award-winning production of Jesus Christ Superstar will be relayed ‘live’ to thousands of additional ticket holders from 19 August 2020.
Tickets costing £20 are now on sale for Superstar On-Screen, an initiative that will allow up to 5,000 extra audience members to enjoy the eagerly-anticipated production via a giant screen erected on the venue’s lawn. Tickets will initially be available for matinee and evening performances from 19-30 August.
To reflect the new safety measures already in place for the venue, the lawn will be divided in 1.2msq areas for each individual ticketholder ensuring social distancing. Tickets will be unreserved. Supplied by Blue-I Theatre Technology Ltd, five high definition cameras will relay the production to an LED screen.
Selected MOREoutdoor Mondays comedy events will also be available On-Screen at half the auditorium price.
Announcing the screenings, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s executive director William Village said: “With the support of everyone involved, we are delighted to have found a way to enable an extended audience to experience live theatre this summer.
“Government guidance has required us to reduce the capacity of our auditorium by over two-thirds. For an unfunded theatre, this makes financing the ambitious, award-winning, large-scale musical reinventions for which we are known almost impossible.
“The live relay will help us attempt to make this revival economically viable, but innovative add-ons such as these are not a panacea for the industry. The future of theatre across the country and the livelihoods of our world-class creative talent and workforce remain in serious peril. Theatres urgently need to be allowed to open safely at full capacity as other industries have begun to, so that we can fully play our part in the nation’s economic and social recovery.”
As previously announced the lead roles have been double cast for the concert with the production’s original Jesus, singer songwriter Declan Bennett sharing the title role with the star of the production’s North American tour, Pepe Nufrio. Tyrone Huntley is due to re-visit his award-winning portrayal of Judas in the original 2016 production while the actor who took on the role in the Barbican transfer production, Ricardo Afonso, is the alternate Judas. Singer/songwriter Anoushka Lucas and Maimuna Memon will reprise their Open Air Theatre performances as Mary Magdalene.
To make the production economically viable with capacity at the 1,256-seat venue reduced to 390 to meet Government guidance on social distancing, there will be nine performances a week across the concert’s six-week run. The double-casting will allow for different combinations of the lead actors at alternate performances.
Running for six weeks from this Friday (14 August) until Sunday 27 September, Jesus Christ Superstar: The Concert will also feature David Thaxton (Pilate), Shaq Taylor (Herod), Ivan De Freitas (Caiaphas), Nathan Amzi (Annas), Phil King (Peter), Cedric Neal (Simon) and Genesis Lynea, Rosa O’Reilly, Elliotte Williams-N’Dure (Soul Singers).
Daniel Bailey, Dale Evans, Rosie Fletcher, Josh Hawkins, Stevie Hutchinson, Billy Nevers, Charlotte Riby, Tinovimbanashe Sibanda, Barnaby Thompson and Tara Young will complete the cast.
The concert version of the hit production features a creative team led by the original’s director, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s artistic director Timothy Sheader. Set and costume design is by Tom Scutt (after the set design for Evita by Soutra Gilmour), with choreography by Drew McOnie, musical supervision by Tom Deering, lighting design by Lee Curran and sound design by Nick Lidster for Autograph. Barbara Houseman is the production’s associate director, voice and text, Kate Waters is the fight director, Denzel Westley Sanderson is the co-direct and casting is by Will Burton and David Grindrod.
The Regent’s Park production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s much-loved musical was a spectacular success when it debuted in 2016. The production went on to win the Evening Standard Award for Best Musical and the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. It also received a further five Olivier Award nominations, for Best Theatre Choreography, Best Lighting, Best Sound, Outstanding Achievement in Music and Best Actor in a Musical (for Tyrone Huntley).
Following on from two sell-out runs at the Open Air Theatre, the audience and crowd-pleasing original production of Jesus Christ Superstar played successful seasons at the Lyric Opera of Chicago and London’s Barbican before embarking on a three-year tour of North America.
Angela Thomas
SHARE THIS POST:
Comments are closed.