“Jesus Christ Superstar” is getting starrier. The three-night production of the classic Broadway musical that is set for the Hollywood Bowl this summer is adding Adam Lambert to the cast, as Judas.
He joins Cynthia Erivo, who was previously announced, in gender-blind casting, for the role of Jesus. The show’s pick for Mary Magdalene has not yet been revealed.
The announcement of Lambert arrives just one day before single tickets go on sale for the Bowl’s entire 2025 season of LA Phil-produced shows. Tickets for this and other Phil productions go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. PT, after package deals for multiple shows previously went up for grabs. A Lambert/Erivo teaming on one of the all-time great rock musicals seems likely to make “Jesus Christ Superstar” one of the season’s quicker sellouts.
Of course, even without Judas getting his name in the title, that character is arguably the lead, if there is one, in the show, which put composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice on the musical theater map for good.
Lambert will be coming to Hollywood not too long after he wrapped up a celebrated six-month stint in the ongoing Broadway revival of “Cabaret” (or “Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club,” as it’s been retitled for the current production). (Read Variety’s recent interview with Lambert about taking on the role of the Emcee in New York here.)
As previously announced, the Bowl’s three-night “Superstar” stand is being directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo, and it will be conducted and music-directed by Tony and Grammy winner Stephen Oremus (who worked on both the Broadway and film versions of “Wicked”). The show is being produced in association with Neil Meron and Robert Greenblatt.
The ”Superstar” production follows in an annual tradition the Bowl has of doing a fully staged version of a famous musical with name leads for a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it run. The latest announcement for the show reaffirms that this will be a “staged” production and not a pure concert rendition. At the same time, though, there’s a promise that the show is “returning to its rock roots,” a reference to how “Jesus Christ Superstar” had its very first incarnation as a 1970 rock concept album before it got produced on Broadway in 1971, then became a 1973 movie.
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