‘It was a godsend’: Sir Tim Rice celebrates 50 years of Jesus Christ Superstar concept album
The revered musical Jesus Christ Superstar turns 50 this year.
The rock opera about Jesus and his face-off with Judas has toured the world, with huge productions on the West End, Broadway and beyond.
But before it became a global hit on stage, it started life as a concept album – something Sir Tim Rice called a “godsend”.
The album has been remastered 50 years on
Speaking to Sky News amid the launch of the album’s repackaged rerelease, Sir Tim, who along with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber was the brains behind the project, said that the record allowed the pair to do more than they could do in a theatre at the time.
“We were trying to get our idea into a musical on the last few days in the life of Jesus, as seen through the eyes of Judas Iscariot.
“That was our ambition… but no theatrical producer showed any interest at the time, so we were kind of forced to make an album.
“But this turned out to be an absolute godsend, because we were able to use greater forces – we were able to make it more rock, we could have a huge orchestra, we could do wonderful things, even back then in 1970, wonderful things in the recording studio that you couldn’t do in a theatre and that made it a contemporary piece of music.
“Had we gone to the theatre straight away, it might have been okay, but it wouldn’t have been possible to have had a rock band in those days and an orchestra and all that stuff in a theatre, and we probably would have started out of town where the facilities would have been even less for this new sort of show.
“So we put out the record and the record was an almost overnight hit in America.”
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It was this album, with the likes of rock legends Ian Gillan (of Deep Purple fame) as Jesus, Manfred Mann’s Mike D’abo as King Herod and American singer Yvonne Elliman on it, that Sir Tim and Lord Lloyd Webber went on to score one of the first major stage successes of their careers.
“We had this thumping great hit record, a hit record of a show’s score without a show, and of course all the producers who said they [did not] want to do the show, now did want to do the show,” Sir Tim told Sky News.
“Superstar then grew in 1970, 1971, 1972 from an album, which became a hit all over the world, and only rather belatedly in Great Britain, and it became a show on Broadway first and then Australia and around Europe.”
But even before the album, which was recorded in the unassuming Olympic Studios in Barnes, southwest London, it was an idea Sir Tim had when he was growing up at Christian schools.
“I wasn’t sure if I was a believer or not, but I often thought when I was 15 or 16, Judas Iscariot, Pontius Pilate, these guys were around at the time but they didn’t really have their views put forward, particularly Judas in the Gospels.
“Judas is just like a cardboard figure of evil whose role was to betray Christ, and I often wondered if I were in that situation and did not believe Jesus was God, even if I thought he was a terrific guy, what would my reaction be?
“Would you feel that he was a danger to other people… and that really was something that I found very intriguing.”
Sir Tim Rice wrote the show with Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber. Pic: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP
Sir Tim and Lord Lloyd Webber were also fresh off the back of their first biblical success – Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat – and had carved themselves out as people who could turn the story into something more exciting.
“This was something Andrew and I talked about to the dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, because he’d seen that we could do something from the Bible and make it fun and entertaining and also keep it serious… and he said, go for it – it’s a good idea.”
The album features tracks like Gethsemane (with that piercing high note), I Don’t Know How To Love Him, and of course Superstar, with Sir Tim saying it would be difficult “to take anything out of it without harming the whole piece” – a testament to the soundtrack’s importance on the story.
(L-R) Tim Minchin, Ben Forster, Melanie C and Chris Moyles were in the 2012 arena version of the show
Reflecting on his memories of recording the album, Sir Tim said: “It was quite nice at the end… when we sent copies of the album out to all the people who’d been on it, and most of them hadn’t really heard very much of it.
“They heard their own songs, often unmixed, but they hadn’t heard the whole thing and in some cases weren’t quite sure what the whole thing was going to end up like at all – but when we sent the album out to them… everybody they called up and said, this is actually great.
“It was a very hot summer, I remember in 1970, and we were sometimes a bit annoyed at having to be stuck in a studio for most of that summer – but it was actually really a very good experience and it was because it was our first major recording sessions”.
The special anniversary editions of the Jesus Christ Superstar album are available now, featuring demos, commentaries, interviews and more.
Entertainment
‘Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing’: Artist reveals why he photographed convicted paedophile – and Donald Trump
Andres Serrano says he doesn’t set out to be a controversial artist – but he’s certainly proved to be one during his career.
The 75-year-old New Yorker first found fame (or infamy in the eyes of his critics) with one of the most notorious works of art in history – his 1987 photograph titled Piss Christ.
The depiction of a crucifix submerged in urine led to protests denouncing the image as blasphemous – and it was vandalised while on display in a French art museum in 2011.
“I don’t do work to be controversial,” he tells Sky News. “I do work that I feel like I need to do.
“For some reason, I’ve touched on many cultural things that have become cultural flashpoints.”
Andres Serrano spoke to Sky News
Now, two of Serrano’s most high-profile and controversial subjects for his artwork are dominating headlines around the world.
Serrano photographed Jeffrey Epstein for a portrait in 2019, four months before the paedophile financier was found dead in a prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. It is one of the last known images of Epstein, whose death was ruled to be suicide.
Years earlier, Serrano took a portrait photo of Donald Trump in 2004 – the same year the property tycoon began starring on The Apprentice TV series.
As Trump faces scrutiny over his past links to Epstein, and pressure to release all files in the sex offender’s case, Serrano offers a rare insight into the two men.
Photographing Epstein
Serrano’s portrait of Epstein was “23 years in the making”, he says, after he agreed to do it in exchange for a sculpture the wealthy collector owned that the artist had wanted since the mid-1990s.
Pic: Andres Serrano
At the time, Epstein was already a convicted sex offender who had served time in jail after pleading guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Despite this, Serrano says he didn’t have reservations about taking the photo because he “wanted the statue” that Epstein owned.
Serrano believed the 16th century statue of the Virgin Mary should be paired with one he owned of St John.
“Jeffrey Epstein is rolling in his grave laughing about how he is still talked about,” the artist says.
“He wasn’t an interesting guy. Except for being a paedophile, there was nothing about him that should have made him so interesting to so many people.”
Epstein ‘collected people’
Serrano – who was first introduced to Epstein in the mid-90s – says he and his wife had “a few meetings” with him and considered him to be a “strange guy”.
He says he has “shocked” when he learnt Epstein had been “exposed and indicted as a paedophile”.
“We never saw that side of Epstein,” he says.
“To me, he looked like a guy who didn’t have a job and was always on a vacation having fun.
“I never asked him about where his money came from. I knew he was very rich. I also knew he knew a lot of people.
“Jeffrey Epstein did not collect art but he collected people. He made it his business to know everybody, anybody who was a celebrity, famous, rich – anyone with a reputation.”
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein. Pic: NBC
Serrano says he doesn’t “judge” the subjects of his photography, who have also included members of the Ku Klux Klan, and he was “happy” with the outcome of the Epstein portrait.
But how does he think Epstein’s victims feel seeing the image?
“I don’t see how one thing has to do with the other,” he replies.
“Does that mean the victims would feel better looking at the portrait of him in the mugshot, which is a horrible picture?”
Jeffrey Epstein in 2017. File pic: New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP
He adds: “Their take on Jeffrey Epstein is very different from everyone else’s. So they see something that we can’t even imagine what they see.”
Photographing Trump
While Serrano believes Epstein was uninteresting, his opinion of Trump couldn’t be more different.
Pic: Andres Serrano
He describes the US president as “fascinating” – so much so that he collected more than 1,000 items linked to him for an art installation called The Game: All Things Trump.
The objects, products and items of merchandise had been created for Trump’s businesses and brands, including Trump Vodka, Trump University and even Trump Steaks.
An 11ft-tall sign spelling the word “Ego” from the Trump Taj Mahal resort in Atlantic City also featured in the display, along with Serrano’s own portrait of Trump.
An 11ft-tall sign spelling the word ‘Ego’ from the Trump Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. Pic: Andres Serrano
He calls the photograph “one of the best portraits I’ve ever seen of Donald Trump”, and reveals he had a particular way of working with him – staying quiet.
“I didn’t give him any reason to upset him,” Serrano says.
“He sizes you up very quickly. (I didn’t want to say) anything that would turn him off or that would bore him or that would make him in any way want to leave.”
‘Quiet’ Trump ‘tried to figure me out’
Serrano says he spent about half an hour with Trump, who he describes as being “quiet” throughout the process of having his portrait photo taken.
“I often like to leave people to their own thoughts when I’m taking a portrait,” the artist says.
“I like to make the kind of portraits where it feels like I’m not even there. It’s just you, the viewer and the sitter.
“I think he was just trying to figure me out. And so since we didn’t talk, you know it was just a silent conversation between us.”
Read more:
All we know about Trump and Epstein’s ‘friendship’
What’s in Epstein’s ‘birthday book’?
The artist won’t answer directly when asked if he is a Trump supporter but calls him “the epitome of the American dream”.
“I don’t think the art world has ever taken Donald Trump seriously except as a subject for ridicule,” he says.
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‘It’s a Democrat hoax’ – Trump on Epstein files
“My perception and my intent with Donald Trump was far from that, because I think that’s a very simplistic way of doing things.
“My view of him is that he’s a really smart guy.
“Whatever you think about him, you can’t argue with the fact that he often gets his way and I think that’s because Donald Trump is persistent. He doesn’t let go. He’s like a pitbull who doesn’t let go.”
‘Epstein story will be buried’
Serrano also took a portrait photograph of Trump’s former presidential election rival Kamala Harris for The New Yorker magazine but says the circumstances were very different.
“When I do portrait for a magazine… I’m happy to do for them but there’s no skin in the game for me,” he says.
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Despite the pressure facing Trump to make public all files related to the Epstein case, Serrano believes “the story will die at some point”.
“It’s kind of like the Kennedy assassination. People have been obsessed with conspiracy theories, theories about John F Kennedy’s assassination for years,” he says.
“It’s a story that comes and goes, but I think this story will go.
“At some point, maybe some point soon, the Jeffrey Epstein story will be buried, along with Jeffrey Epstein.”
Actor Henry Cavill has suffered an injury during training ahead of filming for the remake of the Highlander film.
The British actor, best known for TV series The Witcher, playing Superman in Man Of Steel, and more recently Sherlock Holmes in the Enola Holmes film series, was hurt just days before the film was due to start production.
Filming for the reboot of the 1980s classic will now begin in 2026, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The cast includes Gladiator actor Russell Crowe, who worked with Cavill on Man Of Steel, as well as former Doctor Who star Karen Gillan, and Dave Bautista – known for roles in Dune and as Drax in the Guardians Of The Galaxy trilogy.
Cavill, 42, was injured during pre-production of the Amazon MGM Studios’ United Artists (UA) film.
Highlander, which is being directed by Chad Stahelski, is based on the original 1986 film of the same name.
The film starred Christopher Lambert and Sean Connery and is about an ancient battle between immortal warriors.
The fantasy-action film was followed up with several sequels, including Highlander II: The Quickening (1991), Highlander III: The Sorcerer (1994), and Highlander: Endgame (2000).
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An alternate sequel to the original film was also produced as a TV spin-off series in 1992.
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in April, Cavill told The Hollywood Reporter he was a “lover of the original movies, for better or worse” and was currently in training to play the immortal Scottish hero.
He added: “If you think you’ve seen me do sword work before, you haven’t seen anything yet.”
There has been no word on what type of injury Cavill suffered or how it occurred.
Ireland will not participate in the Eurovision Song Contest next year if Israel is allowed to take part, RTE has announced.
The Irish broadcaster said in a statement that a number of European Broadcasting Union (EBU) members raised concerns over the participation of Israel in the competition at the union’s general assembly in July.
RTE added that its “position” is that Ireland will not take part in the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest if the participation of Israel goes ahead.
The broadcaster will make its “final decision regarding Ireland’s participation” once the EBU decides whether Israel will take part, the statement continues.
It adds: “RTE wishes to thank the EBU for the extensive consultation process that was initiated on foot of that meeting, and the extension of the option to withdraw from participation without penalty to December.”
The statement added: “RTE feels that Ireland’s participation would be unconscionable given the ongoing and appalling loss of lives in Gaza.
“RTE is also deeply concerned by the targeted killing of journalists in Gaza, and the denial of access to international journalists to the territory, and the plight of the remaining hostages.”
Ireland has won Eurovision seven times, the joint most of any country along with Sweden. Its last win was in 1996.
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From May 2025: Pro-Palestine activists protest during Israel’s Eurovision song
Eurovision Song Contest director Martin Green said: “We understand the concerns and deeply held views around the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. We are still consulting with all EBU Members to gather views on how we manage participation and geopolitical tensions around the Eurovision Song Contest.
“Broadcasters have until mid-December to confirm if they wish to take part in next year’s event in Vienna. It is up to each member to decide if they want to take part in the contest and we would respect any decision broadcasters make.”
The 70th anniversary edition of the contest is due to take place in Vienna, Austria, in May after Austrian entry JJ won with his song Wasted Love in Basel, Switzerland, earlier this year.
Ireland was represented by Emmy in Basel, with the song Laika Party, while Israel was represented by Yuval Raphael, with her song New Day Will Rise.
There has been growing controversy about Israel’s participation in Eurovision with protests in host cities in the last two years.
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