Hallelujah! Jesus Christ Superstar will be NBC’s next live musical, the network revealed in a statement on Wednesday, May 10.
“As we continue to expand the profile of our live musicals, we are thrilled to be partnering with Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice to bring a new live staging of the iconic Jesus Christ Superstar to NBC,” said Robert Greenblatt, chairman of NBC Entertainment. “Casting has just begun, but we want to fill out this classic show with as many recording artists as possible to give proper voice to what is the original rock opera score.”
Jesus Christ Superstar was originally conceived in 1970 as a concept album that reached the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. The songs were eventually reimagined into a rock opera for Broadway. The musical, which was nominated for various Tony awards, opened in 1971 and starred Jeff Fenholt as Jesus and Ben Vereen as Judas. Two years later, in 1973, Universal pictures released a Golden Globe-nominated film adaptation that grossed $24.5 million at the box office.
Since then, Jesus Christ Superstar has been revived many times across the globe and on Broadway, including Tony-nominated reboots in 2000 and 2012.
NBC’s version — which follows in the footsteps of other live specials such as Peter Pan Live, The Wiz Live and Hairspray Live — will premiere on Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018.
