On

The Broadway National Tour of Jesus Christ Superstar comes to Chrysler Hall May 30th-June 4th, Faith Jones plays Mary Magdalene and shares her experiences

InterviewByYiorgo

SevenVenues has outdone it’s self by bringing in the Broadway National Tour of JesusChristSuperstartoChryslerHallfrom May30th-June4th.Setagainstthebackdrop of an extraordinary series of events during the final weeks in the life of Jesus Christ, it isseenthroughtheeyesofJudas

Celebrating its 50th Anniversary, this new mesmerizing production pays tribute to the historic Billboard Album of the Yearandwasthewinnerofthe2017Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival, is directed by Timothy Sheader (Crazy for You, Into the Woods) and choreographed by Drew McOnie(KingKong,StrictlyBallroom) The lyrics and music are by the iconic, Emmy, Grammy,OscarandTonywinnersTimRise and Andrew Lloyd Webber The legendary score includes “I Don’t Know How to Love Him,”“Gethsemane”and“Superstar.”

For tickets and more info go to https:// www.sevenvenues.com/events/detail/

PressRelease

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Yiorgo: With us today is our own, Newport News, Virginia born Faith Jones who plays Mary Magdalene We are so very proud of you Faith. Welcome home Tell us why should people see this show? How is this Jesus Christ Superstar production different from the movie and the John Legend2018special?Whyshouldtheycome toseeitlive?

FaithJones:Theyshouldcomeseeitlive because this production is quite different from a lot of productions of Jesus Christ Superstar It takes a lot of inspiration from thefilmandtheoriginalconcept.Ultimately, our show is like a concert experience We really try to show the humanity of these historically, biblical figures We are really performing this show as ourselves I play Mary Magdalene but the way the show is directed, I am performing as myself Faith, interacting with my friends and seeing my friends struggling and kind of falling apart and trying to keep them together That makes our show a little bit different from previousproductions

Our director Tim Sheader really understands the historical baggage of the story Traditionally we hear that Judas betrayed Jesusandthatwasit.Wehaveactorssinging thesongsasthemselvesandyoucanseethat Judaswasreallystrugglingwiththedecision hewastryingtomakeoutoflove,ratherthan justseeinghimasatraitor.

Y:Whatdrewyoutothispartandcanyou talkabouttheauditionprocess?

FJ: As you said, I was born in Newport News, Virginia but we moved to Duram, North Carolina when I was two. I was doingregionaltheatreinRaleighasacollege student,Ididtheatreinhighschoolaswell I had graduated college, doing regional theatre and I was seen by a casting person fortheNationalTourofJesusChristSuperstarandaskedmetoaudition.Thatwasnot on my radar I also write my own music, I was gigging in the area with my dad who is also a musician and some other people. I graduatedfromUNCChapelHillduringthe pandemic,soatthattimeifever,theatrewas notasuperreliableindustry.

I auditioned for it pretty unattached. I submittedatapeinFebruary2022,thenext month had my first callback, in May I had myfinalcallbackandIgottheshowinJune oflastyear

Y:Whatisyourfavoritescenetoperform while on stage for this show, that you can’t waitforthataudiencereaction?

FJ: That’s a good question My favorite is that I get to be a part of the Last Supper scene and that’s not typical for a lot of the productionsofJCS.Thereissomuchgoing ondramaticallyandthemusicisverytriumphant and juxtaposed with a really intense argument with Jesus and Judas where everything is kind of falling apart. It’s very interesting because we are all feeling very triumphant, happy how far Jesus and we have come. Meanwhile, there is a death in

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Jesus Christ Superstar

from Page 1 afriendshipthatishappeninginthemiddle of the scene and it’s always fun to hear the audiencereactiontothatbecauseLDwhois playing Judas is trying beg Jesus to change coursebutinstead,Jesuskickshimout.The audience always goes kind of crazy at that momentbecauseJudasjustwentfrombeing on top of the world to trying to keep peace and realizing that it’s all falling apart. I love thatscenebecauseitissodramaticandalso otherproductionshaveintermissions,wedo not, it’s 90 minutes straight. I love the fact that we are also at that dramatic moment that keeps building and building until the end. Y:Whenyouarenotonthestage,whatis yourfavoritescenetostandonthesideofthe stageandwatch?

FJ: I love that question because we get to do that a lot to watch numbers Two come to mind. The first one is when the High Priests are first introduced, there is a song called “Jesus Must Die” and I just love that song It has a cool grove to it and it’s a great introductiontothesepriestsbecauseinour show they are kind like the boy band, the choreography is kind of campy. They just kill it One of my close friends Kodiak plays oneoftheheadpriestsandheissomuchfun to watch. Grant another actor in our show is just so kind, a newer addition to our cast and so much fun to watch. They are both great dancers and singers and have great commend over the choreography. I always followalongbackstagetryingtobelikethem, wishingIcouldbeapriestinthisshow.

I also love watching the zealots because that is a number that is really intense Our showisreallyverydanceintensive Idon’tdo a lot of dancing in the show but the ensemble really does and the choreography in the show It has a human, ritualistic nature to it You are watching it and you want to join right in. Our choreographer Drew Marconi has really tapped in to something special. I love watching it because you can really see how Jesus followers are going crazy for him They are truly zealots for everything he is saying and will do anything for him It becomesreallyinterestingbecausethatkind oflove,thatchoreographychangesthrough out the show. It turns into the same mob that turns against him It’s really interesting to see that choreography at the beginning when everything is happy but it also has a mob mentality to it. It really is a great numberandsomuchfuntowatch.

Y: Any fun anecdotes with doing live theatre?

FJ: Well now I can look at it as fun, but not at the moment when it happened. In one of my scenes while singing the song “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”, I have to do a run around. I’m holding a microphone and at some point I run up a structure on our set, then down the structure and I put the microphone in the mic stand, I bring thestandaroundandcenterstage Itsounds simplebutinrehearsalsitwassohardtodo It took me so much practice because its in the middle of an instrumental brake so I have a limited amount of time and have to figure out how to get it to the mic stand It wasalotofstressformewiththismicstand earlyon.Iwasdoingmyrunaround,countinghowmanybarsandbeatsofmusicIhave left, before I have to get down to the stage becauseIhavetoplacethemicandsingwith theverynextbeat,beltingthehighestnoteI havetosingintheentireshow.

So one day in Cincinnati, Ohio I was so nervous about getting this microphone on the mic stand, that the mic stand ends up falling, I drop the microphone and the microphone winds up rolling under one of thestructuresintheset.UltimatelyIhaveto runandgrabthemicrophonefromunderthe setandIwoundupsingingthisfinalchorus into the ground by the microphone as I’m reaching for it. I brought it up like nothing happened, walked down the stage while singing and that’s not how the blocking is supposetobebutyougottamakeitwork.

Y: My favorite question to ask is, can you give us a pinch me, wow moment or two in yourcareer?

FJ: Two come to mind. One pinch me moment is that with the audition process, asthethirdprincipalcharacterintheshow, Jesus,JudasandMaryMagdelene,Andrew LloydWebberhadtoapproveus Ihavenot gotten to meet him yet but that’s definitely a pinch me moment that he watched our final callbacks and approved it So not only doesAndrewLloydWebberknowIexistbut thathewantsmetosinghissongsallacross NorthAmerica,that’sreallyspecial

Another pinch me moment is that there have been a couple of opportunities when I havebeenatthestagedoor,oooh,it’sgetting me emotional right now, when people are touched by the show because it has been around for 50 years and come to the stage door and tell us just how much they have been impacted by it. I have really been touched by black girls who come to the show and have told me how much it means to them to see me as a black woman playing this role There have not been many big productionsofJesusChristSuperstarwhere ablackwomanhasplayedMaryMagdalene so they are always impacted by seeing me, someonewholookslikethemonthatstage That always gets to me because I had similar feelings of watching people growing up I remember crashing the stage door to meet Audra McDonald, even though I had notseentheshowshehadbeenperforming in. I told her how impactful she was to me and she signed a crumpled up index card outofmypurse Shewassograciousandit’s wildtothinkthatnowIhavethesemoments where I am that person for other people It isa real pinchmemoment that oh my gosh, I’ve talked about this before but I’ve never gotemotionalaboutitlikeIamrightnow.

I thing it’s really beautiful because this is really tough job it’s hard travel, the show is really intense and we have been doing this for eight months with only five weeks left and I’m finding myself being reflective and feeling so much gratitude for the people that always tell us how much the show has impacted them, especially the black girls who verbalize how impactful it was to see measMaryortoseeElvieEllisplayingJudas whoisalsoblack.Thatreallymeansalotand

itwillstaywithmeforever.

Y: How can people follow and support you?

FJ:IamalwayswritingandIamcurrently working on a EP that I will be putting out this year They can follow me on Instagram under Faith Jones and on my website https://faithjonesmusic.com/That’swhere Ipostmyupcomingprojects.

Yiorgo is an arts, entertainment and sports writer A stage, TV and movie actor, he is also a sports entertainer, educator, motivational speaker, writer storyteller and columnist