Jesus Christ Superstar: stage vs screen

Jesus Christ Superstar began as a 1970 concept album by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, then opened on Broadway on October 12, 1971, and became Norman Jewison's 1973 film starring Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, and Yvonne Elliman. NBC also aired a live concert version in 2018. The film is sung throughout, like the stage show, but it frames the story differently and changes some music. These are the main differences.

Stage

Broadway musical (1971)

Screen

Jesus Christ Superstar (1973), directed by Norman Jewison

1. A troupe of actors frames the story

The film opens with a theatrical troupe arriving by bus in the Negev Desert to perform a modern re-enactment of the Passion. Carl Anderson, already in character as Judas, wanders off while the others unpack props and costumes. This frame belongs to the film: the Broadway production, directed by Tom O'Horgan at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, was a sung-through telling of the final week of Jesus's life with no such wrapper.

2. Shot in Israel, with modern machinery

Jewison filmed on location at more than 20 sites, including the caves of Beit Guvrin, Herodium, and the ruined Nabataean city of Avdat. The film mixes ancient landscapes with modern touches: soldiers carry machine guns, thieves trade grenades, guns, and drugs, and Judas runs into tanks and fighter jets. Most characters wear 1960s and 70s clothes and dance in the style of the era, while Jesus alone wears period robes.

3. A new song for the priests

"Then We Are Decided," in which Caiaphas and Annas talk through their fears about Jesus, was written for the film. It was not on the 1970 concept album. The film also keeps "Could We Start Again, Please?," a song added for the Broadway production that the album did not have.

4. Trimmed and reworded numbers

The film shortens the reprise of "Everything's Alright," which Mary sings before "I Don't Know How to Love Him," to its closing lines. A few lyrics were changed too: "Heal yourselves!" becomes "Leave me alone!" The film also keeps the longer "Trial Before Pilate," with extra lines in which Pilate rebukes the crowd, first used on Broadway.

5. Gethsemane is intercut with paintings

During "Gethsemane," as Jesus questions God's plan and finally accepts his fate, the film cuts to a montage of images from 27 well-known paintings of the crucifixion, including works by Goya and Tintoretto. The images are a film-only device: they interrupt Jesus's prayer with famous artists' views of the death he is about to face, something a stage production has no easy way to do.

6. Judas's death, with one lyric changed

Both versions follow the same beats: a Judas overwhelmed by regret blames God for making him the betrayer and hangs himself, and his spirit later returns to question the meaning of Jesus's death in "Superstar." The film changes one line in "Judas' Death": Caiaphas's "What you have done will be the saving of Israel" becomes "the saving of everyone."

7. Mostly Broadway alumni, not the original leads

Neeley, Anderson, Elliman, Barry Dennen (Pilate), and Bob Bingham (Caiaphas) all had Broadway roots. But the film's Jesus and Judas were not the Broadway originals: Jeff Fenholt created Jesus and Ben Vereen created Judas in 1971, while Neeley was an understudy and Anderson took over Judas when Vereen was ill. Elliman had also played Mary Magdalene on the 1970 album.

8. An ending at the empty cross

The stage show ends with the crucifixion and then Jesus's body being taken down and buried, in the instrumental "John 19:41," with no resurrection. The film stops after the crucifixion. The troupe boards its bus, and only Barry Dennen, Yvonne Elliman, and Carl Anderson seem to notice that the actor who played Jesus is missing. The last shot is the cross against the setting sun, which some viewers read as a hint of resurrection, though Jewison said it was not planned that way.

Jesus Christ Superstar movie vs musical: FAQs