#blazer watches jcs2000

[blazingdarkness]

....I can't remember well enough to be certain, but I don't *think* other versions have the "good old Judas" notes play in between the overture and "Heaven on Their Minds"? That's an interesting choice if so, and I like it. I've been listening to the soundtrack for this one; I just haven't *seen* it since middle school, and I have to say that I think this is maybe the best one in terms of the attention to detail with articulation and contrast of dynamics. .......It's not a staging I've seen before, having Judas singing directly and diegetically to Jesus. I dig it! Hmm, I think the Judas in the local production I saw was drawing mostly from this one wrt What To Do With The Melody

[blazingdarkness]

To no one's surprise, the crucifixion was. Yeah. The other versions I'm familiar with have music underneath it though. The silence was—not *more* haunting, necessarily, but *differently* haunting. And at the end, it's just Judas and Mary mourning him. She does have more black in her outfit by this point, I think, although it's hard to tell because of the camera angle. I always do this, where I just come here for some fun tragedy and then the real sadness of the end hits me. At least the credits are upbeat, I guess.

[blazingdarkness]

See, now in superstar, judas is back to having a lot of red, just inverted from what it was. I will figure out what this means later Ohhww, he mouthed "I'm sorry" at him my heaaaaaart Idk how I feel about the angel costumes, but I do like the boom mics around them; feels like a natural extension of the bit during the arrest with the tune from the temple Oh that's. Quite a switch from judas acting confident at the end of the song to the moment when Jesus's hand gets nailed. Wowie.

[blazingdarkness]

The framing with Pilate looking at the camera, flanked by Annas and Caiaphas, with Jesus hanging by his wrists out of focus in the background: excellent The very sudden switch of this Pilate from confident to loud panic: wonderful The 39 lashes are always quite an experience. I remember first seeing it live and seeing that in the program, and then they start counting, and I was like "are they. Going to count to 39. Onstage." Seemed like it'd be boring, and it is in fact not that. Not that at all. I was worried this Pilate would end up less sympathetic than the others, but nope! I feel bad for this guy.

[blazingdarkness]

Interspersing cuts of Jesus being beaten during cwsap: amazing choice!!! Adds so much to this song. And nice having Judas look on as well. .......all right, you crawl across that table, Judas Oh shiiiiit, that dynamic change after he gets kicked out of the Pharasees' office!!!! Such good dynamics in this version!!! Judas is tposing on the floor during his idkhtlh section. Not symbolic at all. *again*, Judas is Good Anguish Man!!! Also the crowd's reaction to him falling: excellent

[blazingdarkness]

Oh, I really like this Pilate; he's so hammy. Which is great in its own right, but the contrast with Jesus's clipped, measured responses is 👌👌👌 Jesus who are just *so done* with Herod's bs are my fave. Holy shit that was some crazy eye contact. Herod needs to take a chill pill lmao (The character, not the actor; it was great)

[blazingdarkness]

Oh did Judas switch to a black tee at the act break or was that just now? Either way: ~implications~ Lots of other people on here have talked about The Kiss but yeah wow Awww they had to be pulled away from each otherrrrr :( <eru voice> it's *beautiful* <\eru voice> As a really photosensitive person, all the flashlights shining in Jesus's face is a Good Metaphor ....again, Judas is very good at anguish! (The moment right before peter's denial) Okay, Mary's still in the same outfit; that's....probably significant.

[blazingdarkness]

This long shot during the first verse of Gethsemane: wowie. Actually, looks like we're mostly just switching between that shot and a wider on for when they want to show more body language. Then as the number continues, the cuts get more frequent and the angles more fraught. This is just very nice cinematography. I like the numerous fades during the first climax, on the held "die"; it really adds to the feeling of being overwhelmed. And of course the performance is *incredible*

[blazingdarkness]

he PUNCH the table Ooh, and same lighting change but in reverse! I will determine what this means sometime when I'm not spending all my concentration on liveblogging. Pffffft @ all the apostles sharing awkward glances as they come in with the second chorus Oooooh, *nice* 180 line break to show the shift in power of the course of their little screamfight. ((Or maybe they just switched places; I was typing and didn't see lmao. Either way: effective))

[blazingdarkness]

Omggggg, Suddenly Judas as we pan up from Mary kissing Jesus was great comedy, probably unintentionally, just because it was so surprising. I really like how they had Judas running around and being stopped by Spotlighted Pharasees; good visual storytelling. Also: taking this opportunity to call the album for this album the FUCK out for excluding this song. It's one of my favorites; whoever was responsible for this: ur mom's a hoe. Okay though, this Judas does anguish........Really Well. I'm eating this up. I'm living. Ooh, silhouettes in stark lighting. Very poignant! And an immediate switch to very warm colors with Jesus and Mary; nice contrast.

[blazingdarkness]

Oh—I *really* like the costumes in the first half of The Temple!!!! The cinematography (ooh, lighting!) is also great, but! The costumes!! Jesus's Callout is great; the vocals are 👍👍👍 and I love how he just. Yote a tv. Amazing. The tempo at the beginning of the second half of the temple is also excruciatingly slow, but that sure makes it satisfying as it picks up! .........I should finish the drawing I started of this scene someday Man, this scene is always incredibly moving; no exception here. Jesus's transformation from trying to help to becoming increasingly overwhelmed is very well acted. Mannnn, when will *I* have a pretty girl whose lap I can rest my head in while she sings to me? I Love Every Mary. You know, I'm strongly in favor of having more sing-crying in musicals. Thank u, this Mary, for putting some in a place that usually just has normal pretty singing.

[blazingdarkness]

Putting Pilate with white and purple—normally definitely Jesus Colors™—was a bold choice!

[blazingdarkness]

Yeah, the choices in articulation and the chorus's execution of those choices are Really Good. Hosanna is the first chance they really get to shine. Our Main Trio's responses to the crowd asking Jesus to die for them was hashtag good cinematography Ooh, some really good camera moves during the intro to Simon Zealotes Jesus saying Simon's name is 👌👌👌 There's also a little bit of an echo in the chorus here, which really adds to the sense of space and the tone of the song in general Ah, yes, the AKs were definitely part of what made me not like this when I first saw it. I think they're a great visual shorthand now, though Holy shit, that anger at the beginning of Poor Jerusalem is so good!! More productions should do it that way; all the other ones I'm familiar with go with a more calm and wise tone, which is fine. This way is very powerful tho

[blazingdarkness]

I like the flyers coming in to the Pharisees' room during TJMD; very symbolic of the threat they perceive him as, having all these representations of him invading their sanctum. Holy shit, the tempo on the second part of this is............so.......slow Still hella groovy tho

[blazingdarkness]

Oh, they put Mary in red and black *too*; I *dig it!!!* Okay actually it looks like pretty much everyone is in some combination of red, black, and white. Still! The proportions and placement of each color between her and Judas are pretty similar and that means you *know* I'm gonna take that to represent how close they both are to Jesus. Wonder how this'll diverge going forward.

[blazingdarkness]

Starting off strong with a shot of graffiti in bold red that says "HATE." Very bold. Ooh, I'm really liking the cuts to other graffiti that match with the notes; that's always a good. I knew this version was the like, futurecyberpunk nazis one, and a lot of people think that's a bit over the top. I'm just really glad to have recordings available of such diverse styles of productions! I'll pick having a variety of styles and aesthetics for a single show over just having the same thing with different actors any time. And I'll definitely take both of those over having to make due with one (1) bootlegs that people have to keep reuploading.