Jesus Christ Superstar

Trivia: Yvonne Elliman and Barry Dennen, as Mary Magdalene and Pontius Pilate, respectively, are the only cast members who appeared on the concept album, in the original staging of the show on Broadway, and in the feature film.

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Jesus Christ Superstar trivia picture

Trivia: Ted Neely met his wife Leyann on location. She can be seen during the "Simon Zealot" song, the brunette dressed in brown.

Trivia: At Carl Anderson's (Judas) funeral Ted Neely (Jesus) performed the song "Gethsemane", which had been Anderson's favorite piece from the musical.

Jesus Christ Superstar trivia picture

Trivia: When the apostles sit down to dine at the Last Supper they strike a pose imitating the famous painting by Leonardo DaVinci.

Trivia: Although all of the singing had been recorded before shooting began and the actors were lip-syncing, Carl Anderson (Judas) and Ted Neely (Jesus) sang with full intensity during the takes. The actors chose to do so because merely lip-syncing would not give the emotion and intensity their scenes required.

Trivia: The song "Then We Are Decided" was written for the film, and has never been used in any subsequent regular production, although it was performed in the 2013 Arena tour.

Trivia: Ted Neeley originally wanted to try out for the part of Judas but Noman Jewison told him to try out "for the other guy" and he did and has been playing Jesus ever since.

Cowsrus

Trivia: In addition to Yvonne Elliman and Barry Dennen, Ted Neeley, Carl Anderson, and Bob Bingham also appeared in the stage production on Broadway. Neeley and Anderson were understudies for the roles of Jesus and Judas, respectively, and Bingham was the lead Caiaphas.

Cubs Fan

Trivia: Ted Neely was performing in the musical "Tommy" while Norman Jewison was casting for the film. Since he was unable to go to an audition Neely called Jewison's agent and asked him if Jewison could attend a performance of "Tommy" and watch him perform. Jewison drove to Los Angeles from Palm Springs and attended the one performance which didn't include Ted Neely.

Trivia: Ian Gillan, the lead vocalist of Deep Purple, played Jesus on the original 1970 concept album. He was offered the chance to play the role in the film, but after a financial disagreement, he decided to continue with Deep Purple on their scheduled tour.

Cubs Fan

Trivia: Philip Toubus, who plays Saint Peter, later had a prominent career as a pornographic actor and director.

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Trivia: Although he had a prolific career on stage, this was the only feature film Bob Bingham made. He retired from show business shortly after its release, and later managed a zipper factory.

Cubs Fan

Audio problem: During the song "Judas' Death", Caiaphas sings the line "What you have done will be the saving of everyone", but his mouth is saying " the saving of Israel", the song's original lyric. (01:24:00)

Cubs Fan

More mistakes in Jesus Christ Superstar

Jesus: Why waste your breath moaning at the crowd? Nothing can be done to stop the shouting! If every tongue were stilled, the noise would still continue! The rocks and stones themselves would start to sing.

More quotes from Jesus Christ Superstar

Question: What does Judas mean when he calls Christ a "jaded Mandarin"?

Answer: Judas is accusing Jesus of being an worn out public official, someone that perhaps has to be ousted out of office.

ChiChi

More questions & answers from Jesus Christ Superstar

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