CARROLLWOOD \u2014 When Carrollwood Cultural Center stages Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s rock opera \u201cJesus Christ Superstar\u201d beginning March 13, the titular role will be played by a woman of color.<\/p>\n
Director Paul Berg said there was no other choice.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was the clear choice. She\u2019s my Jesus Christ for this,\u201d said Berg, the center\u2019s executive and theater director.<\/p>\n
Patty Smithey, a longtime local actress, will take on the singing, dancing role of Jesus for six performances running March 13 through March 22. Her co-star Evan Lomba plays Judas, and Jessica Hill rounds out the leads as Mary Magdalene.<\/p>\n
Berg said he ran the casting decision past his board of directors before finalizing it, bracing for potential backlash. It never really came.<\/p>\n
\u201cI wasn\u2019t expecting torches at the front doors, but so far there hasn\u2019t been much \u2014 one email, one Facebook comment,\u201d Berg said. \u201cBut really, I\u2019m doing this play even though it was written in the 1970s because it\u2019s still relevant today. It has Jesus Christ, it has heavy themes and clearly resonates with people.\u201d<\/p>\n
He noted that gender swapping in theater is nothing new.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been done since Shakespeare\u2019s time,\u201d Berg said. \u201cIt\u2019s been done before for \u2018Jesus Christ Superstar,\u2019 too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Staging the show has been a longtime goal for Berg, who calls it one of his favorite rock operas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis has been my white whale, so to speak, since working at the center,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The rock opera covers the final days of Jesus, including the Last Supper, his arrest, crucifixion and death. Judas figures prominently, his songs exploring the internal struggle of betraying his charismatic leader. Mary Magdalene serves as a confidante, offering counsel throughout.<\/p>\n
Lomba, who also choreographed the show, said any concerns about the casting should disappear once the curtain rises.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the lights go up and the show is going, it\u2019s just not going to be a thought anymore,\u201d Lomba said. \u201cWe\u2019re not doing a show where we have a Black woman playing Jesus. It just so happens that Jesus is being played by a Black woman \u2014 that\u2019s all it is. We need to tear down this type of stuff in the theater and film industry so that anybody can tell anyone\u2019s story. Bottom line. Period.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smithey has taken the sparse criticism in stride.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw the one Facebook comment that said just \u2018Ummmm, no\u2019 and I replied to it with the emoji hugging a heart,\u201d Smithey said. \u201cThat probably made that person mad, but we\u2019re a mini family and I know we\u2019re in this together. We\u2019re excited to put on this show, controversial or not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berg said a large anonymous donation funded the production. He checked with the donor about his casting choice but was immediately reassured.<\/p>\n
A nearby Presbyterian church has even endorsed the show, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWere my worries about casting Patty unfounded? Well, you can\u2019t please everyone,\u201d Berg said. \u201cBut Patty happens to be a great, great singer who is perfect for the part and also happens to be a woman of color, and some people are not going to be able to deal with that.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s fine. Even though, you know, Jesus wasn\u2019t really white either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lomba said the cast recognizes that art invites scrutiny. He and Smithey agreed: just come see the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cPatty has the charisma about her that is otherworldly,\u201d Lomba said. \u201cWhen someone comes to see a musical, would you rather have someone who didn\u2019t sound good as a singer in the part, or would you rather a Black woman go up there and sing the hell out of the part?<\/p>\n
\u201cPersonally, I\u2019m choosing number two.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smithey and Lomba offered the same advice for skeptics: give it 20 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARROLLWOOD \u2014 When Carrollwood Cultural Center stages Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber\u2019s rock opera \u201cJesus Christ Superstar\u201d…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":185590,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[87278,1408,19135,31869,82875,87279,87277,135,137,136],"class_list":{"0":"post-185589","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tampa","8":"tag-andrew-lloyd-webber","9":"tag-carrollwood","10":"tag-carrollwood-cultural-center","11":"tag-jesus","12":"tag-jesus-christ-superstar","13":"tag-people-in-the-canonical-gospels","14":"tag-rock-opera","15":"tag-tampa","16":"tag-tampa-headlines","17":"tag-tampa-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185589","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185589"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185589\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185590"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185589"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185589"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185589"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}