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Jon English puts in as Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar

Mike's Pith & Wind - Jesus Christ
Maria and I started watching the recording I made of the recent English production of Jesus Christ Superstar this evening. Neither of had seen the original Australian production back in the ‘70s, so it’s been quite a revelation. Everybody’s familiar with the story, of course, and some of the songs – M thinks I Don’t Know How to Love Him was a hit for Debra Byrne back then and somebody else’s version of Everything’s All Right (Try Not to Get Worried) is also known to me – but the focus on Judas in the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical is not how the New Testament story has it.
Tim Minchin plays the role of Judas in this production, the part that the late Jon English so famously played in the Australian ‘70s’ version, and so I suppose there’s some kind of symmetry there if you like to look for those kinds of things.
Minchin sings fabulously. Most of the lead singing roles are pitched challengingly, challengingly high mostly, but in one case very low too, and Minchin sails through the tricky wordiness that Judas is assigned with clarity and a fierce relish that extracts the absolute maximum from every phrase.
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised, but in saying that I haven’t followed what Minchin has produced so famously in recent years, culminating in the smash hit musical, Matilda, of course. Truth be told I slightly resent his success, which sounds so small of me I wonder why I said it. read more

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Dick's Toolbox - Poor fella my country
As a New Zealander it may considered impolite of me to write about the situation of the aboriginal population of this country. But let me go ahead anyway as it should matter to everybody especially as the issue of Constitutional Recognition, and potentially a Treaty, are being considered but will, undoubtedly, be consigned to the ‘Too Hard Basket’. Apparently there are members of the government who don’t believe that anything should change since the arrival of the first white man.
The indigenous population of any country always gets badly treated but there is little doubt that the first inhabitants of this country, who had lived in relative peace for perhaps sixty thousand years, have been, and continue to be, treated particularly atrociously. The oldest continuing civilisation that we know of is shattered through little or no fault of their own.
Comparison with the New Zealand Maori makes for a disheartening history as the Treaty.. read more