Rocker Alice Cooper has signed on to star as King Herod in NBC鈥檚 live broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar, which will air Easter Sunday (April 1, 2018). Cooper鈥檚 wildly over-the-top stage persona previously caught the eye and ear of Superstar writers Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in 2000, when he was asked to record 鈥淜ing Herod鈥檚 Song鈥� as part of a London cast recording release.
鈥淎lice Cooper, whose theatricality is the stuff of legend, is the perfect rock star to play Herod in our live production,鈥� said Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment in a statement. 鈥淎ndrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote a showstopping musical number for Herod and we all look forward to the 鈥楰ing of Shock Rock鈥� taking on the King of Judea. As the casting for Superstar ramps up, we can feel the excitement building for this brand new concert experience of what has long been considered the original rock musical.鈥�
No further casting has been announced.
NBC has also revealed that Jesus Christ Superstar Live! will be directed by British theatre director David Leveaux, a five-time Tony Award nominee known for his work on the 2003 Broadway revival of Nine with Antonio Banderas, as well as the 2005 revival of The Glass Menagerie starring Jessica Lange.
Jesus Christ Superstar Live! will be produced by Lloyd Webber, Rice, Marc Platt, , and along with Universal Television, The Really Useful Group, Marc Platt Productions and Zadan/Meron Productions.
The broadcast follows NBC鈥檚 previous live productions of The Sound of Music, Peter Pan, The Wiz, and, most recently, .
Jesus Christ Superstar was conceived as a concept album that hit No. 1 on the Billboard charts, and eventually made its way to the stage in 1971. The frequently-revived rock musical is based on the final week of Jesus鈥� life.
The 1971 musical opened at the Mark Hellinger Theatre on Broadway and starred Jeff Fenholt as Jesus and as Judas. It was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical for Vereen. Lloyd Webber won a Drama Desk Award for Most Promising Composer.
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The At This Performance鈥� concert series is an ongoing salute to Broadway and Off-Broadway standbys, understudies, and alternates.
There are rush and lottery options for the production starring Denzel Washington and Jake Gyllenhaal.
The piece stars Obie Award winner Jodie Markell as propagandist filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, whose work in service of the Nazis defined the visual identity of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich.
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Jasmine Amy Rogers stars as Betty Boop in the new David Foster musical at the Broadhurst Theatre.
Based on Abby Chava Stein's memoir, Emil Weinstein's play centers on the trans child of a dynastic Hasidic rabbinical family.
The Jason Robert Brown musical opened its long-awaited Broadway run April 6.
The Broadway alum's golden vocals brought Old Deuteronomy from Cats and the Lion from The Wiz to life, along with Oogie Boogie in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
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