"Jesus Christ Superstar" a Love Triangle?

LOS ANGELES TIMES
By Reed Johnson

CALIFORNIA - Des McAnuff's Broadway-bound revival of the musical stresses the relationship between Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene. Take away the miracles, the bluesy guitar licks and all those antsy apostles, and what's "Jesus Christ Superstar" really about? Des McAnuff thinks he has the answer. It's a love triangle among Jesus, Judas and Mary Magdalene, said the U.S.-Canadian director of the critically heralded, Broadway-bound production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical that's running through year's end at the La Jolla Playhouse. Actually, McAnuff said, he heard lyricist Rice deliver that revisionist take on the New Testament during a TV interview. The comment stuck with him as he began planning the revival of the '70s entertainment phenomenon that originated and ran last summer at Canada's Stratford Shakespeare Festival, where McAnuff presides as artistic director. [link]