STRATFORD, Ont. – “Jesus Christ Superstar” continues to gain a high-profile following at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Aaron Walpole, who plays Annas in the critically heralded production, says a steady stream of industry bigwigs have gone to see the electrifying rock opera after hearing that acclaimed creators Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice loved it when they recently visited.
“With the buzz that’s going around with the endorsement from the writers, and the fact that the writers of this show have a lot of clout, there are a lot of producers coming to see this show,” Walpole said in a recent interview at the renowned southwestern Ontario festival.
“We’ve had numerous New York producers come, the Mirvishes were here … we’ve got tons of Broadway reporters as well, critics, that have come up.
“This is the biggest reaction a musical at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival has ever drawn in terms of buzz south of the border.”
Des McAnuff, the Stratford festival’s Tony Award-winning artistic director, helms the show that’s been packing the house at the Avon Theatre since it opened last month.
Paul Nolan stars as Jesus, Chilina Kennedy plays Mary Magdalene and Josh Young is in the role of Judas Iscariot, who fears Christ’s growing following will upset the oppressive Roman regime.
Walpole plays one of the high priests who pressure Judas into quelling Christ’s rise. Other cast members include Tony winner Brent Carver, who plays Pontius Pilate, and Bruce Dow as King Herod.
The show feels like a stadium rock concert set in Nazareth: the dazzling, dark set is filled with metal girders, screens and lights, and many cast members wear black leather with metal studs and chains.
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The main characters pop with vibrant clothing, including Pontius in a purple suit, Judas in blue threads and Jesus, of course, in white.
Lloyd Webber scored the music and Rice wrote the lyrics for the hit 1970 “Jesus Christ Superstar” concept album and musical, which opened on Broadway in ’71.
Last month, the two went to see the Stratford production on separate nights shortly after it opened.
“We got to meet Sir Lloyd Webber and he actually shook my hand and he was like, ‘This is amazing,'” said Walpole.
“In a publication afterwards … he said that this is the best production of this show he’s seen in the 40 years that this show has been around.”
Rice said the same thing when he saw the show, added Walpole.
Such praise has fuelled rumours that the production is Broadway-bound.
But no deals have been made yet, noted Walpole, who placed third on Season 3 of “Canadian Idol.”
“There’s a lot of support behind this show to go to Broadway or go somewhere after this, whether it be Toronto or Chicago or L.A. or wherever,” he said.
“There’s a lot of red tape that they have to go through, especially if they want to bring this down south of the border.”
Walpole, who studied musical theatre at Sheridan College, has come full circle with “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
Born in London, Ont., and raised in St. Thomas, Ont., he first became interested in musical theatre 22 years ago when his mother made him watch an Easter weekend TV broadcast of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” the musical.
“By the end of ‘Heaven On Their Minds,’ the first song that Judas sings, I turned to my mother and I said: ‘That’s what I want to do,'” recalled Walpole, 32.
“That was the day I started singing seriously. I went down to my dad’s record collection in the basement, he showed me how to use his record player and he pulled out the double record of the show and I learned the show front to back in that afternoon.”
A week later, Walpole bought a record player that had an eight-track player in it for $2.50 at a garage sale so he could play the rest of his dad’s music collection.
“I just spent four to five hours a night in my room just singing anything and everything,” he said.
“I did everything from opera right straight through to AC/DC – everything I possibly could for hours every day.”
It’s no wonder, then, why Walpole has embodied so many varied roles in his musical theatre career, which has lasted nearly 14 years.
Besides his role in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Walpole is also playing Sir Lionel in “Camelot” at this year’s Stratford festival. In his first season at the festival in 2004, a year before he was on “Idol,” he was in “Guys and Dolls” and “Anything Goes.”
Walpole’s other theatre credits include his knockout role as narrator Lonny in last year’s hit “Rock of Ages” musical in Toronto. He’s also been in “The Buddy Holly Story,” “Sweet Charity” and “Damn Yankees,” to name but a few.
Elsewhere, Walpole has put out a self-titled debut album and been in films and TV series, including A&E’s “Breakout Kings.”
For all his experience, though, “Jesus Christ Superstar” has a special place in his heart.
“It’s a show that started everything for me,” he said.
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