Brewed Fresh Daily

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of attending Near West Theatre's production of Jesus Christ Superstar with Jack Ricchiuto. One of the pages I visit on a regular basis had this to say today:

We live in a day in which the need for instant gratification has become so strong, that few people are willing to start small and grow. The feeling is, "If it can't be instantly huge, why bother?" It's a good thing Jesus didn't think that way. He came to save the world but left it with only 120 committed followers.

After seeing JCS, that's any incredible understatement. That it continued at all is amazing. I think Artist Director Bob Navis' opening comments captured the wonder of the effect Jesus had. One of their goals in doing JCS was to create an accessible production that resonated with you no matter what lens you view Jesus with. I think they succeeded. I have to confess that it was the first time I've seen JCS. I've always avoided musicals in general. But I'm glad I attended this one. I was impressed with the professional production NWT put together for "a bunch of kids". But some of these kids were talented! All 48 of the teenagers in the production were excellent, but a few of the leading roles were spectacular, particularly:

• Carlos Antionio Cruz as Jesus
• Molly Andrews-Hinders as Mary Magdalene
• Katie Klaus as Pontius Pilate

Seriously, not that I'm an expert, but take note of their names. You'll see them associated with big things one of these days. Congratulations to Stephanie Morrison-Hrbek and everyone involved for doing such a cool job.