The original Jesus Christ Superstar, with Ian Gillan is great, I get back to it from time to time.

Evita - that I've never cared for. 

Even School of Rock was fun (Stick it to the Man!)  

I remember when these came out, and I kinda refused to see (and hear) JCS because the new tendency those days was to deny the fun and dope and say that they were a Christian now ... and the whole thing became a bad joke. I'll probably watch it someday, but I don't like worship things a lot, and always find them shmoozy and overly doped up on the idea. That's never been me.

I think what hurt EVITA, more than anything else, was that the person that kinda helped make it better known (Madonna) but it's hard to not think that the director was valuable since it was Alan Parker, who had already done MIDNIGHT EXPRESS, FAME, ANGEL HEART, MISSISSIPI BURNING, THE COMMITMENTS (not as good as the original English film btw!!!) was going to make it better, however, when I saw it, I thought it was a jumbled mess, and I ended up not listening to the music of the show itself because of it. My guess is that the film was too long, and it got so badly cut up to bring it to an audience that could not endure something for 2 hours, let alone more than that (W says 134 minutes). 

Our listening ability by that time, had already lost its ability to listen to longer pieces of music and more intelligent "concept" pieces around, though some still got out and became known as "progressive", but they were nowhere near the level of quality or creativity than things that had been around some 20 to 25 years earlier.

Just like PA ended up doing a definition and a top this and that, it became a place for fans to vote for their favorite albums, and listening to something from South Africa is rarely in the agenda, let alone something from Japan get a decent word on it, other than Damo's wonderful blog!

I'm not a person that has to see "the stars" ... I saw TD before it was super well known (1st time in first US tour), I saw PF before it was super well known (Hollywood Bowl 1972) and many other things. In general, the only things I wanted to see were Magma, Gong, Ange, Guru Guru, but the chances of these coming to America were very difficult, although Gong did (and lost money) and Magma did fairly well in their first 2 tours. 

As an example, I probably would not buy tickets for a performance of Evita if it was done locally, or in Seattle or in LA (unless it had either Mariah/Brittany or Lady Gaga in the lead? Something that won't happen because they don't need it, but a new strong voice would be nice, but betting on the more tantalizing side of the story, which even the movie had taken away (to save minutes) ... makes for a production that would be hurt so bad by all the cuts and the story getting ripped up ... and of course, it would not stand up to the daily folks that go see the hero films, unless there were some breasts to go see, even if slightly hidden, or suggested as many of those films! Heck a version with some nudity would probably be better received!

It's sad, bizarre. We called "TOMMY" a rock opera, and EVITA was a "rock opera" of sorts and yet, we don't seem to come to grips with the genre or its ideas and ways of performance. In general, the rock fans, do not have the sentiment to sit through an opera ... and you can imagine one of these fans immediately saying what a waste, if they went to see Wagner and how much "filler" and wasted space the opera had!!!!! ... and to me this is serious issue about folks not listening to music, regardless of it being EVITA or anything else.

At a different time, I think there would be more respect, and even some place like the MET might entertain showing it ... but because it doesn't have the "known" big names in music and opera, it will never be there, to attract a new audience ... I imagine they think it is a loser right from the choice at the start!

^ You can say a lot about JCS, but in my opinion it is definitely not a worship kind of thing...

Regarding Alan Parker's Evita, I actually quite liked the film, and even Madonna's role in it (maybe her best role ever, because I don't think she is such a great actress...). And I don't think she did hurt the reputation of the work - how could that be when it was such a box-office success. The critical reception was more ambivalent, probably also because the original work is such a masterpiece, and - I think also - because many of those critics had a prejudice against a "pop artist" interpreting this "highly valued artistic" piece of work.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat is technically a rock opera and it is written by those two. So how can Evita and JCS be the only two?

let alone The Who's Tommy or Quadrophenia, the most "proggy" ones.

But my fave "opera/musical" is Haïr from Rado, Ragni & McDermot

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