When it opened in 1970, Rice and Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar was a controversial look at the last seven days of Jesus Christ written as the Gospel according to Judas Iscariot. It has slowly become accepted into our culture to the point where these days, your average religion-based horror movie seems more likely to blaspheme than this work. Several of the songs have become part of the Musical Theatre lexicon, from the title number to the desperately lovely "I Don't Know How to Love Him." After a long time missing from Valley stages, the Scottsdale Community Players have decided to give it a spin, tinkering with and freshening it up a bit in the process. The show that Director Brian Hall has thrown up on the Stagebrush boards highlights a few excellent featured actors saddled with several of varying degrees of bad, and an ensemble that seems to have been directed to wander, overemote, and look into the audience as often as possible. The problems of this show fall squarely on the shoulders of Mr. Hall, and the result is a sad mix of compelling moments that interrupt long stretches of hokiness and inexplicably bad choices.

An example of the director's bad judgment includes songs meant to be sung to onstage players instead delivered to those offstage. Why on Earth does Jesus deliver the opening lines of "Poor Jerusalem," "Neither You Simon/nor the fifty thousand/nor the Romans/nor the Jews/nor Judas/nor the twelve..." to an empty stage? So far as I can tell, it's because the director and actors didn't think an entire other song was enough time to change their costumes. The resulting lack of onstage reaction completely undercuts a potentially poignant moment. Another is the inexcusable nonuse of blocking during songs that makes for static stage pictures, and other misuses of blocking that force actors to saunter around the stage in what can only be an attempt at having any blocking at all. Yet another of the long list of examples is the obvious drought of directorial ideas that lead poor Harley Jay Boyter (pictured below, left) as Judas to have to run around the stage chasing lights for what seemed several minutes in a vain attempt at symbolism only because there was a long musical bridge and no specified action. Despite these and many other wrongheaded choices, it should be noted that the sprightly choreography of Hilary Hirsch generally worked, especially in the big choral numbers such as the finale.

The role of Jesus is not an easy one, as he's really not the strong center of the evening. I've rarely seen a production where the Judas didn't steal the show, and it's business as usual here. Stefan Linder (right) plays Jesus as a wide-eyed, low energy shill. The part is not squarely in his range, so when the songs inch up toward his higher register, rather than impassioned screams and soulful shouts, we get unpleasant strangled cries. While his Germanic accent creates the impression of a stranger in a strange land, it also results in some mangled lyrics. It's hard to see through Mr. Linder's performance what the buzz is all about. However, countering that is Mr. Boyter's inspired and musically impressive performance as Judas. While he is never given a chance to positively connect with Mr. Linder's Jesus before launching into his downward spiral of betrayal (another directorially-missed opportunity), he brings a twisted lip sneer to the growing disillusionment of his character. The highlight of the show is his big number at the end, where he swoops about the stage and asks what he feels are all the right questions with the dying Jesus mounted on the crucifix behind him.

Karen Binder as Mary Magdalene is a beautiful singer, but while this Judas is an attempt at something hipper, her direction has left her as the same early '70s muddleheaded member of the Me generation, which is disappointing. Why not balance Mr. Boyter's charisma by spinning Ms. Binder toward, say, a Britney Spears dynamic? Yet another non-choice by Mr. Hall. Still, her performance of her two big numbers, despite their static nature, wash away regret. Jack Pauly shows his range as a very Roman, very torn Pilate. Jeff Dahlgren's bass-voiced Caiaphas is ominous and works to cover for the flaws of Ron Bowen's weak-voiced Annas and his tentative supporting priests. Matt Hooper's Simon is a bit too preening and more interested in the audience in a boy band way to be the rebellious organizer, and Gerry Loveland's potentially hilarious take on King Herod is hacked at the knees by his lack of energy and flailing performance. Matt Morgan's Peter is a non-entity whose one solo is shot down by his inability to harmonize with Ms. Binder.

Franklin Cerne's set design is best described as paltry. Erik Michael's lighting does capture rock concert effects and backlighting well, but Mark Eschbach's sound design sets the audience's teeth on edge with feedback and crackling galore. Deb Park's costumes sometimes work, as in the creations for Judas and Pilate, and sometimes don't, as in the Spider Man knockoffs for the priests and the really odd bat people who fly around through the end section of "The Temple."

As if the infuriatingly regrettable mix of good and awful weren't enough, the three quarter's full opening night crowd included a pack of Greasepaint Youtheatre members that need to learn basic theatre etiquette, treating the first act like an N'Synch concert by shrilly screaming through some of the other Greasepaint member's numbers like prepubescent fans and prompting several audience members to leave at intermission. At least, I think it was their shouting that drove those grumbling customers out the door...

Save for the anomaly of the excellent production of The Music Man that recently closed, the new musical season at Stagebrush seems to be picking back up from where it left off last year. There was a time when the company was a trendsetter for musical theatre, though granted that lavishness nearly drove them out of business; now they've dropped to the opposite extreme and decided that low budget and mixed talent is acceptable. For this critic, it's not, and it shouldn't be for any potential audience members.