So here’s a thought experiment. Imagine you are transported back in time to first-century Palestine, when “Jesus Christ Superstar” is set. Imagine the sights and the sounds of that world. What would you see? What would you hear? What would you feel?
Obviously, you are a stranger in a strange land. I mean, it would be REALLY strange. From our 21st century perspective, it is virtually impossible to put ourselves in that world. Everything is so radically different. How then do you “get into character” when the world that character inhabits is so completely foreign to our own?
This little essay is meant to be a primer –
a very brief primer – on the “life and times” of Jesus. Hopefully, it will help you better inhabit
your character and your motivation. It
is a surface-level presentation of that strange world – maybe enough
information to be dangerous on stage.
If you want to know more about this topic area, I am really down with that. I am card-carrying Bible history and language nerd who thinks that Jesus of Nazareth and his times are utterly amazing and worth getting to know with everything that you have. (Yeah, maybe a little like Rain Man, but without his social awareness and effervescent personality!) I am always ready to grab a coffee with anyone who wants to talk more about the topic. And although I am a self-styled nerd, I am by no means an expert or the only person who “gets it”. I happen to love the subject matter and geek out in talking about it. Which is why I am writing it in a blog instead of getting in your face and over-enthusiastically telling you about it.
Feel free to scroll on by and ignore. Or if you want to learn a couple of things about the strange land and strange people of the world we're portraying on the stage, this might be an okay way to spend a few minutes. Or more.
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