Jesus Christ Superstar, Barbican review: So much fun even atheists will be converted

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Jesus Christ Superstar isn’t the only Andrew Lloyd Webber revival opening this week that suggests an early-career formula: biblical stories, catchy riffs and copious amounts of eyeliner.

On Thursday, Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat opens at the Palladium — but it’s yet to be seen if it will create as many converts as this Evening Standard Award-winning production. It’s so fun that even atheists will enjoy it.

Originally a concept album, the musical follows Jesus’s final days (and there were some ups and downs for sure). There’s a touch of A Star Is Born to Timothy Sheader’s swaggering production, which transfers from Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre to the Barbican. Arming the Son of God with an acoustic guitar, it points to our increasingly hysterical search for a saviour in an era of false populist idols.

As Jesus, Robert Tripolino brings an impish charm, which later brims over into frightened fragility; Sallay Garnett’s Mary Magdalene has a soulful dignity (Jesus didn't have many female friends). Matt Cardle pops up in a small role as Pilate; the 2010 X Factor winner still hasn’t convinced me how he managed to beat One Direction, but has a good go. The singing is uniformly excellent, if occasionally drowned out by the face-meltingly loud guitars.

Tom Scutt’s adapted design manages to make us feel like we’re still outside amid the trees, and Drew McOnie’s fast and furious choreography makes dancing with religious adulation seem cool rather than the character trait of someone in a Louis Theroux documentary.

The star of the show, though, is Ricardo Afonso as Judas. Given that Tyrone Huntley picked up the Evening Standard Emerging Talent Award for his performance in 2016, he has big shoes to fill. And he does. Watching over the action, he makes blasphemy seem like basic logic, and those pipes... forget Gethsemane, they could pack out Glasto.

Until August 24 (020 7638 8891; barbican.org.uk)

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