JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE DESIGN PROCESS
VISUAL REFERENCES
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” was composed and released as a concept album in 1970 before it was ever performed in a theater. For the NBC live broadcast production, David Leveaux (the director) and I agreed early on in the process that we wanted this to be part rock opera, part rock concert, part musical theater, as well as an art installation and television broadcast. The goal was to be in the present moment (2018), the present space (The Marcy Avenue Armory in Brooklyn, NY), while also evoking ancient biblical time and place, as well as the texture of the 1970s when the music was composed.
Here are some of the more relevant research and inspirational images that helped us to create the world of this production
The Marcy Avenue Armory provided the initial inspiration of wanting to lean into a raw and exposed language. Early versions of the design exposed large portions of the armory space (see below).
The Grateful Dead’s famous wall of sound concert design. I love the use of scaffolding in the rock and roll texture that is both very contemporary, also very 1970s, and also somehow connected to ancient archeological sites…
This is one of my "spatial dramaturgy" images from a few years ago that I went back to after starting to think about ideas of scaffolding & ruins (Roosevelt Island)
The 1985 movie, "Remo Williams" with the iconic chase scene on the statue of liberty restoration scaffolding. When I started thinking about scaffolding, I remembered this scene and the conversation happening between the aging sculpture of the statue and the contemporary repetitive orthogonal scaffolding.
I like that the scaffolding used in archeological sites is the same language as what's used at a Grateful Dead concert
juxtaposition between metal grid work and ancient painting - here the last supper by da vinci / the idea of the shells of sacred architectural ruin being pinned and supported and perhaps put back together in brooklyn…
in addition to the rock & roll language, we were interested in exploring sacred architecture as well
When I was in High School, my friend Bill and I snuck into the ruined Union Station to take photos - this one popped into my head as useful...
I was interested in the layers of human history carved into and worn away from ancient frescos. as well as the ghosts of time and decay
and more contemporary graffiti and human expression
additional examples of human expression (graffiti) from different time periods.
We also wanted to have an active live gesture of human expression onto the space at the very beginning - like this modified fire extinguisher style of larger scale graffiti.
I have been familiar with the great Japanese architect Tadao Ando's masterful "Church of the Light" since my years as an architect, and this image came to mind immediately as an inspiration for how to approach the crucifixion scene.
This is probably my all time favorite "spatial dramaturgy" photo that I've taken, and it's layers of exposed architectural and human history fundamentally inspired the approach to Jesus Christ Superstar Live
DESIGN DEVELOPMENT
My initial impulse was to use the texture of the Marcy Avenue Armory space in the design in a significant way. This ended up creating too large of a space, and ultimately proved unsatisfying. Here are some early sketches and renderings (Dan Soule, Jeff Hinchee).
The first design was trying to essentially expose the entire Armory and locate the storytelling within that (enhanced) armory space
The idea was to imagine that the armory had a giant window on one end (it does not). As it turns out, this was in a way the inverse of the final design, which ended in light rather than beginning in light.
In this version of the design, the crucifix would have been created by the window getting closed down, as opposed the the final design where the wall cracked open to reveal the crucifix of light.
A further iteration of the original design, moving away from the window idea and starting to work on the idea of a broken ruin supported by scaffolding
Starting to explore a version of the design that didn't try to fit the scale and structural bay language of the huge armory space
An early study, getting quite close to what ended up being the final design, but without enough handrails yet! : )
PRELIMINARY RENDERINGS
Those early designs strongly informed what became the final design idea. Incorporating the existing structural steel of the armory proved to create much too large of a space, so the idea became more about pieces of a broken ancient church being placed inside this large raw armory space, being supported and pinned together with steel scaffolding, creating elements of operatic scale (broken religious architecture), rock concert (steel scaffolding and crowds of people), and the ability to at times transcend the specificity of the room by evoking a more timeless texture and space. This phase of the design process was done mostly in 3D VectorWorks modeling (by Dan Soule), and rendering in Cinema 4D (by Evan Alexander), Photoshop renderings (by Jeff Hinchee). This was an amazing way to explore and develop ideas in the context of light and shadow and camera angles.
The preliminary design included a larger ceiling component than we ended up with and there was a time where the floor was going to be covered with sand...
The crucifixion sequence of the wall breaking open in an early form
An early idea of how to do the "39 Lashes" number in a somewhat stylized language and incorporating paint on the fresco walls
A rendering showing an early idea of the cross shape in the wall “weeping” after the crucifixion, and the “sun” streaming into the armory through the actual windows of the venue.
The early vision for Judas' entrance for "Superstar"
The crucifixion sequence of the wall breaking open in an early form
The crucifixion sequence of the wall breaking open in an early form
The crucifixion sequence of the wall breaking open in an early form
FINAL RENDERINGS
The following renderings represent the final design presented to NBC and the JCSL creative team. These images were made by a number of extremely talented people. Dan Soule did most of the 3D modeling in VectorWorks. Evan Alexander did additional modeling all the rendering in Cinema 4D. Jeff Hinchee and Tijana Bjelajac worked on the texture-mapping of the stone surfaces as well as additional photoshop work with the renderings.
FINAL MODEL
Even though the renderings were extremely expressive of the design intent, we realized that we still need to make physical models - one for the rehearsal room so the actors could understand the full geometry of the space they would eventually be inhabiting, and one more detailed model to give the scene shop so they could paint from it. PRG Scenic Technologies built the set and Scenic Art Studios painted it. The model was built by our amazing art department: Melissa Shakun (AD), Dan Soule, Tijana Bjelajac, G Warren Stiles, Emily Kollars, Jeff Hinchee, Evan Alexander.
FABRICATION
The scenery was constructed by PRG Scenic Technologies in Windsor NY (Mark Peterson, director of projects; Benjamin Lampman, senior project manager; John Van Arsdale, project manager; Harmony Water, art department team leader), and painted by Scenic Arts Studios (Joe Forbes, president; Debra Forbes, v.p. / scenic charge). The props were fabricated by BB Props (Emiliano Pares, outside props; Will Sweeney, local one prop head).
LOAD-IN / REHEARSALS
In addition to the incredibly talented shops that built and painted the scenery and props, we had a fantastic scenic department in the armory (led by Julia Torrant) to continue the work, erase transportation seems, tweak colors & details for camera, and generally pull everything together.
BROADCAST
Here is a collection of photos taken during the broadcast, production photos, and broadcast screen-shots. See PORTFOLIO / TV/FILM/CONCERTS / JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR LIVE for the full collection of production photos and credits.
