Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera. Andrew Lloyd Webber (Phantom of the Opera) wrote the music and Tim Rice (The Lion King) wrote the lyrics to the songs. The opera tells the story of the last week of Jesus's life, focusing on the relationships and conflicts between Jesus, Judas, Mary Magdalene, and the Roman authorities.
The story is told through the eyes of Judas Iscariot and displays his internal struggle around his betrayal of Jesus.
It is performed through a contemporary lens with modernized costumes and sets.
Upon its release, the album immediately became a global hit. A live stage action show premiered on Broadway in 1971 and has inspired numerous stage productions, a 1973 film, and a 2018 live TV concert starring John Legend, Brandon Victor Dixon, and Sara Bareilles.
[JESUS]
The end
Is just a little harder when brought about by friends
For all you care, this wine could be my blood
For all you care, this bread could be my body
The end!
This is my blood you drink
This is my body you eat
If you would remember me when you eat and drink
I must be mad thinking I'll be remembered, yes
I must be out of my head!
Look at your blank faces! My name will mean nothing
Ten minutes after I'm dead!
One of you denies me
One of you betrays me
[APOSTLES]
Not I! Who could? Impossible!
[JESUS]
Peter will deny me in just a few hours
Three times will deny me - and that's not all I see
One of you here dining, one of my twelve chosen
Will leave to betray me -
[JUDAS]
Cut out the dramatics! You know very well who -
[JESUS]
Why don't you go do it?
[JUDAS]
You want me to do it?
[JESUS]
Hurry, they're waiting
[JUDAS]
If you knew why I do it...
[JESUS]
I don't care why you do it!
[JUDAS]
To think I admired you, for now I despise you
[JESUS]
You liar - you Judas
[JUDAS]
You want me to do it!
What if I just stayed here and ruined your ambition?
Christ, you deserve it!
[JESUS]
Hurry, you fool, hurry and go
Save me your speeches, I don't wanna know - GO!
[APOSTLES]
Look at all my trials and tribulations
Sinking in a gentle pool of wine
What's that in the bread it's gone to my head
Till 'this morning' is 'this evening', life is fine
Always hoped that I'd be an apostle
Knew that I would make it if I tried
Then when we retire we can write the gospels
So they'll all talk about us when we die
[JUDAS]
You sad pathetic man - see where you've brought us to
Our ideals die around us, all because of you
And now the saddest cut of all:
Someone has to turn you in
Like a common criminal, like a wounded animal
A jaded mandarin
A jaded mandarin
Like a jaded faded jaded faded jaded mandarin
[JESUS]
Get out! They're waiting! Get out!
They're waiting, oh, they're waiting for you, oh
[JUDAS]
Every time I look at you, I don't understand
Why you let the things you did get so out of hand
You'd have managed better if you'd had it planned, oh
[APOSTLES]
Look at all my trials and tribulations
Sinking in a gentle pool of wine
Don't disturb me now; I can see the answers
Till 'this evening' is 'this morning', life is fine
Always hoped that I'd be an apostle
Knew that I would make it if I tried
Then when we retire we can write the gospels
So they'll still talk about us when we've died
[JUDAS]
Now, if I help you, it matters that you see
These sordid kinds of things are coming hard to me
It's taken me some time to work out what to do
I weighed the whole thing up before I came to you
I have no thought at all about my own reward
I really didn't come here of my own accord
Just don't say I'm
D@mned for all time
I came because I had to, I'm the one who saw
Jesus can't control them like he did before!
And furthermore, I know that Jesus thinks so, too
Jesus wouldn't mind that I was here with you
I have no thought at all about my own reward
I really didn't come here of my own accord
Just don't say I'm
D@mned for all time
Annas, you're a friend - a worldly man and wise
Caiaphas, my friend, I know you sympathise
Why are we the prophets? Why are we the ones
Who see the sad solution - know what must be done?
I have no thought at all about my own reward
I really didn't come here of my own accord
d@mned for all time
Cut the protesting, forget the excuses
We want information; get up off the floor
[CAIAPHAS]
We have the papers, we need to arrest him
You know his movements, we know the law
[ANNAS]
Your help in this matter won't go unrewarded
[CAIAPHAS]
We'll pay you in silver - cash on the nail
We just need to know where the soldiers can find him
[ANNAS]
With no crowd around him
[CAIAPHAS]
Then we can't fail
[JUDAS]
I don't need your blood money!
[CAIAPHAS]
Oh, that doesn't matter - our expenses are good
[JUDAS]
I don't want your blood money!
[ANNAS]
But you might as well take it; we think that you should
[CAIAPHAS]
Think of the things you can do with that money
Choose any charity - give to the poor
We've noted your motives - we've noted your feelings
This isn't blood money, it's a fee, nothing-
Fee, nothing- fee, nothing more
[JUDAS]
I've grown a goitre by dwelling in this den–
As cats from stagnant streams in Lombardy,
Or in what other land they hap to be–
Which drives the belly close beneath the chin:
My beard turns up to heaven; my nape falls in,
Fixed on my spine: my breast-bone visibly
Grows like a harp: a rich embroidery
Bedews my face from brush-drops thick and thin.
My loins into my paunch like levers grind:
My buttock like a crupper bears my weight;
My feet unguided wander to and fro;
In front my skin grows loose and long; behind,
By bending it becomes more taut and strait;
Crosswise I strain me like a Syrian bow:
Whence false and quaint, I know,
Must be the fruit of squinting brain and eye;
For ill can aim the gun that bends awry.
Come then, Giovanni, try
To succor my dead pictures and my fame;
Since foul I fare and painting is my shame.
~poem by Michelangelo on the painting of the Sistine Chapel ceiling
the Senakulo of the Philippines