“Bad musical theatre seems to be the vast majority – but good musical theatre is transcendent”
Transcendent indeed. Even more interesting is his description of Jesus Christ Superstar as a “radical atheist musical”. This seems worthy of some head-scratching. Here’s how the argument might go:
ATHEIST: Crikey, did you see that JCS? Really stuck it to you theists, eh?
THEIST: Not really.
ATHEIST: But it’s hardly gospel truth.
THEIST: Certainly not. It’s a secular take on a religious story. Whilst each scene has its origin in the New Testament, the interpretation is distinctly non-Christian. But that doesn’t make it atheist.
ATHEIST: Yes, but it doesn’t make any claims about Jesus’ divinity.
THEIST: No, but Jesus does address God directly in “Gethsemane”, usually as if He’s sitting front and centre of the lower balcony (His favourite seat, apparently):
“Why should I die?
Would I be more noticed than I ever was before?
Would the things I’ve said and done matter any more?”
Then at the climax of the song, Jesus submits to His fate with typical Tim Rice contratemporaneity:
“God, thy will is hard
But you hold ev’ry card”
ATHEIST: Contra what? You made up that.
THEIST: Yes, I think I did. But my point remains.
ATHEIST: Surely the whole point of that song is the one-way nature of the conversation. Jesus cries out for help but there’s no god to help him. The god he calls upon is the product of his mind. On this reading Jesus is the ultimate celebrity: gripped by the “superstar” delusion right to the end: “My God, why have you forsaken me?”. There is no answer; he dies alone.
THEIST: That’s true. On the other hand, if God isn’t merely a delusion and is actually on the other end of that cry for help, the drama still makes sense. Jesus must submit to His will, however desperate, afraid or alone he acts or feels. In other words, the authors are playing a very straight bat: we can’t infer either atheism or theism from the way it is written.
ATHEIST: So it’s stalemate?
THEIST: Not quite. I think we also have to ask where the audience’s sympathies lie. The drama (incidentally, just like Joseph and Evita) revolves around two characters – one with ideas of grandeur, the other acting as a cynical counterpoint. In JCS this climaxes with Jesus being nailed to a cross whilst Judas mocks and sneers at him with a smugly catchy refrain: “Jesus Christ Superstar/Do you think you’re who they say you are?”. At this point I think the audience’s sympathies lie with the victim and, as such, tips the balance in favour of theism. If there no God then Jesus is clearly being presented as a madman and would we really sympathize with a madman? Genuine madness excludes genuine sympathy. Jesus isn’t mad; he’s terribly sane and that’s his tragedy. And, if he isn’t mad, then there is a God.
ATHEIST: Hm, I don’t know. Sounds like over-interpretation to me. To be honest, I just like the funny song about Herod...
Now I’m not quite as bold as my theistic friend but I do maintain that JCS can’t really be considered an atheist musical.
My verdict: transcendently agnostic (with a very funny song about Herod).
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