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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n
Jesus Christ Superstar was the first movie musical director Sharon Bajer ever saw.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought it was just so strange,\u201d says the British Columbia-raised Bajer, whose first musical theatre role was in Jesus Christ Superstar in Grade 9, playing a leper. \u201cGrowing up, I always had a vision of doing it outside, so when Rainbow approached me about directing it, I thought, at least we\u2019re going to be outside in the elements.\u201d<\/p>\n
When it came time to choose her cast this spring, the director broke her leg during the audition period. But the job wasn\u2019t too challenging, the fully healed director said Tuesday under the dome in Kildonan Park, because within the city\u2019s performing arts community, she already had some idea which voices would be Judea-bound.<\/p>\n
For the role of Mary Magdalene, Bajer cast Dutchess Cayetano, who earlier this season flashed her straight-acting chops as the countess in Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre\u2019s run of Murder on the Orient Express. For Cayetano, a Winnipeg-raised Filipino performer, the role is the most prominent yet on Rainbow Stage, following her work in Frozen, Rock of Ages and Ma-Buhay.<\/p>\n
\u201cCarrying the weight of such an iconic role I don\u2019t find burdensome,\u201d says Cayetano, who studied singing under legendary Winnipeg vocal teacher Joy Lazo. \u201cBut knowing that it is such an iconic role, I really wanted to make sure I respected the original while bringing a new take.<\/p>\n
\u201cMary is very vulnerable and compassionate, and she helps bring us down to earth with her humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cayetano, whose parents encouraged her to go for the lead, felt the vocal performance sat well within her register, which is rich and emotionally dynamic.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS <\/p>\n From left: Dutchess Cayetano, Connor Meek and Nathaniel Muir portray Mary Magdalene, Jesus and Judas, respectively, in Rainbow Stage\u2019s Jesus Christ Superstar.<\/p>\n \u201cMary doesn\u2019t really sing rock. She gives you a fresh ear and experience when she comes onstage,\u201d says Cayetano.<\/p>\n But for the rock, director Bajer had essentially earmarked Nathaniel Muir as her Judas Iscariot as soon as he walked in the door.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Rainbow approached me about directing it, I thought, at least we\u2019re going to be outside in the elements.\u201d<\/p>\n Muir, whose first role on Rainbow Stage was in 2022\u2019s Wizard of Oz as the Cowardly Lion, has typically played cuddly or buffoonish roles, including the bumbling chef Louie in The Little Mermaid.<\/p>\n \u201cThe kids are excited when the chef comes back,\u201d says the Westwood Collegiate grad.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s going to happen with this one. Judas is a very polarized character: it\u2019s often that everybody\u2019s all together with Jesus, and Judas is up on the stairs, sulking and being upset about what\u2019s happening. It was a weird thing: the first few times we ran the show, I would feel bummed after. It almost felt like I was left out of the fun, and that\u2019s definitely not what happens when you\u2019re playing a comedic character \u2014 you\u2019re getting such love from everybody around you and in the audience. So that\u2019s been a big difference: having to sit in the darkness of a character I\u2019m not very used to.\u201d<\/p>\n That doesn\u2019t mean he doesn\u2019t like it.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Dutchess Cayetano (right) and Connor Meek.<\/p>\n \u201cMusically, I\u2019ve never felt more connected to a show and to a character, because this is very \u201970s rock,\u201d says Muir, who fronts a local rock band called the Love Letters. \u201cIt makes me think of the Led Zeppelin record II, which came out (in 1969, the year before) the Jesus Christ Superstar concept album.\u201d<\/p>\n But when it came time to find the production\u2019s personal Jesus, Bajer\u2019s search went national before landing on a vocalist to inherit the earth: Connor Meek.<\/p>\n \u201cWe cast him from a self-tape and we were just blown away \u2014 not only by his voice, but I was looking for a Jesus that could exude kindness because we are dropped into the centre of this story with Jesus already conflicted. So we never really get a chance to know him at the beginning. There\u2019s a lot of time when he\u2019s quite still at the start, but Connor just has this presence about him, and then he opens his mouth to sing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n Now based in his native Calgary, Meek attended Toronto\u2019s Randolph College for the Performing Arts before starting his career about a decade ago: his first professional role of note was as a crooner in a touring show of nostalgia rock called Cruisin\u2019 Classics: A Night at the Diner.<\/p>\n Since a pandemic hiatus halted his cruise-ship performance career, Meek has had gigs in theatres in Ontario, Newfoundland and Alberta, all the while auditioning from a distance for Rainbow Stage.<\/p>\n Playing Jesus \u201cis a dream role for me,\u201d says Meek, who took a lot of inspiration from Deep Purple\u2019s Ian Gillan, who sang on the original concept album. So Meek sent in a tape and slowly watched the viewcount on the private link creep up.<\/p>\n The next thing he knew, Meek \u2014 who wasn\u2019t raised religiously \u2014 was learning the lyrics and researching the book.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS<\/p>\n Connor Meek (Jesus) and his rock \u2018n\u2019 roll \u201cIn preparation for this, I read the New Testament, just to make sure I knew everything that was going to happen,\u201d says Meek, who gave two thumbs up for the audiobook version. \u201cIt\u2019s known as the greatest story ever written, and it\u2019s a privilege to play one of the most iconic characters in literature.\u201d<\/p>\n winnipegfreepress.com\/benwaldman<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t Ben Waldman Ben Waldman is a National Newspaper Award-nominated reporter on the Arts & Life desk at the Free Press. Born and raised in Winnipeg, Ben completed three internships with the Free Press while earning his degree at Ryerson University\u2019s (now Toronto Metropolitan University\u2019s) School of Journalism before joining the newsroom full-time in 2019. Read more about Ben<\/a>.<\/p>\n Every piece of reporting Ben produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the Free Press\u2018s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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\ndisciples bring Jesus Christ Superstar to life at Rainbow Stage.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Reporter
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