Sometimes those anniversary reunions work out really nicely. Here are four celebrities whom I had never met before, all of whom were on my list, but had never made an autograph show appearance that I knew of. Their ‘coming’ out correlated to the 4o-year anniversary of the release of the motion picture version of Jesus Christ Superstar, which was released in 1973. I have seen the film, and seen it live a couple of times, but my first exposure – and my favorite interpretation – was with the concept album that was released in 1970.
The first portion of the reunion came on April 20, 2013 at the Hollywood Show in Los Angeles. Ted Neeley was not on that original album, but he has since become the most closely identified with the role of Jesus Christ when he took on that role for the 1973 film version. He later did some live shows, and then when the show was revived in the 1990’s – when I saw it twice.
I had heard that he had a bit of a ‘Jesus complex’ after playing the role for so long, but that didn’t seem to be quite the case – although he most certainly did spend as much time as any fan wanted to spend with him. Consequently his line took quite some time despite the fact that there were less than ten people waiting at the time. But I most certainly had no complaints about finally getting my chance to meet this film and Broadway legend.
I wasn’t sure if he’d sign his ‘character’ name for the $25, and although he said he would, he actually only signed “J.C.” It was five bucks for a photo with him, and well worth it, especially considering he posed with Carolyn as well.
Barry Dennen was in fact featured as Pontius Pilate on that original concept album and went on to star in the film, as well as the Broadway shows that preceded it. However by the time I saw the play, Dennis DeYoung of rock band Styx fame had taken over the role. With all due respect to Barry, Dennis was a definite draw for me, since I am a lifelong Styx fan.
Although most of his roles were relatively minor, Dennen went on to have roles in quite a few notable films. Among them: Fiddler on the Roof, The Dark Crystal, Superman III, Batman, The Shining, Trading Places, and Titanic.
He was only charging $20 for an autograph and I had him sign the same photo as Ted Neeley. His photos ops were free, and he posed for one with Carolyn. He’d come a long way since his days of sentencing Christ to death.
These were the only two actors from Jesus Christ Superstar who appeared at the Hollywood Show, but a few months later they both made another Hollywood Show appearance on September 7, 2013 in Chicago, Illinois (and subsequently Chiller that fall), this time bringing along two other stars of the film.
The first was Yvonne Elliman, who had starred on the original concept album and the film in the role of Mary Magdalene, as well as the first four years of the Broadway run. Again, by the time I saw the show in the 90’s, the role had gone to Syreeta and Irene Cara.
I actually knew Yvonne Elliman from something else even more – her version of the Bee Gees’ If I Can’t Have You, which reached the number one spot on the Billboard charts.
She had adopted Ted Neeley’s pricing and went with the $25 fee for the autograph, and $5 for the photo op. It was reasonable and she was very nice, putting a nice song lyric on my photo, and posing with Carolyn for free (noting the contrast between their hair colors).
Last and certainly not least was Josh Mostel. His involvement with Jesus Christ Superstar was rather limited comparatively speaking, as he only played King Herod once – in the film version, where he admittedly has a scene-stealing number. He never played the role on Broadway nor does he appear on the concept album.
But actually Josh Mostel was a guy I had long wanted to meet for other reasons. In truth, I didn’t even realize that it was him playing King Herod. I was more familiar with his many character roles in such films as City Slickers, Billy Madison, Harry and Tonto, Radio Days, and Sophie’s Choice to just name a few. In fact I mentioned just having seen him in the latter film.
My friend Steve Cox sent along three items to have him sign (plus one for Yvonne) since his appearance was so rare. (In fact, he was the only one who didn’t go on to appear at the Chiller show), so I threw quite a bit of business to Mr. Mostel that day.
Ultimately, I went ahead and went with the Jesus Christ Superstar photo that he was selling, so that I would have a unified theme form my autograph collection. He went with the 25 + 5 pricing structure as well.
I feel quite blessed (no pun intended) to have gotten this opportunity to meet these four members of the cast of this fabulous film. Now that the 40th anniversary has come and gone, I’m guessing that this opportunity won’t be presenting itself again.
Celebrity encounters from the Spring 2013 Hollywood Show will continue…
Celebrity encounters from the 2013 Hollywood Show in Chicago will continue…
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