00:00 Good morning, my name is Phil Hewitt, Group Arts Editor for Sussex Newspapers, and I'm
00:05 really lovely this morning to speak to Ian McIntosh, who is on the road with Jesus Christ
00:09 Superstar coming to, in our area, Crawley, Southampton and Eastbourne. Now Ian, you are
00:16 playing Jesus, but first, you were saying that you think this is the best of all the
00:21 Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tim Wise musicals. Why? What makes it stand out for you as a piece
00:25 of theatre?
00:26 Yeah, I think it's good to be here. Thanks for having me on. And I think the, you know,
00:31 for me personally, what I like about this story is, is I really enjoy the message behind
00:36 this story, you know, and I think audiences around the UK, they really enjoy it too. And
00:40 you know, I've been in a lot of musicals and I've toured around the UK with different,
00:45 the last time I spoke with you was we were Rock You and I did The Commitments and I've
00:48 done all of these musicals, which have, you know, they're great musicals and they give
00:52 people a really fun experience when they come to the theatre. But with this story, you know,
00:56 it ends essentially in a crucifixion and, you know, and it's, and it has all the emotions
01:02 of joy and pain and love and, you know, everything in it. But it doesn't end in a mega mix, that's
01:10 for sure.
01:11 So what is that message then? It's talking about how we deal with suffering, isn't it?
01:16 Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I think, you know, that's what the passion story is. So for those
01:20 who haven't seen Jesus Christ Superstar, it's about, it's about the Easter story. It's the
01:23 last seven days of Jesus Christ's life leading up to his crucifixion. And, you know, it is
01:30 about that. It's called the passion, the word passion means the suffering, you know, and
01:35 to me, I mean, I might be wrong on this, but, you know, but to me, you know, it's basically
01:38 saying that life, you have to persevere, you know, through the difficulties in life, you
01:44 know, and in the hope that good is to prevail. And that to me is what the resurrection is,
01:49 you know, so you have to suffer through things at times in order for new life to be reborn.
01:53 Which is also about the sacrifice, isn't it? Yeah, and it's also, yeah, and it's also about
01:59 sacrifice. You know, there's, it's also about, you know, the ultimate, he did the ultimate
02:03 sacrifice essentially, but what it, but that could be, you know, micro down to small sacrifices
02:11 that people have to make on a daily basis. Now the opposite of that is the opposite of
02:15 sacrifice and, you know, which is basically almost a selfish kind of point of view, isn't
02:22 it? And those who I know who don't make sacrifices and live only for themselves never end up
02:28 well, you know, that kind of thing never ends up. So I think the story is a really cool
02:32 story. And I love the music because of that as well, you know.
02:37 But what a part, I mean, it must be staggeringly daunting to be Jesus on stage up and down
02:43 the country.
02:44 Yeah, yeah, it is. It is. It's funny when you say it to people in, you know, say it
02:48 to people around the street, they go, you know, I'll be at the hairdressers or something,
02:50 you know, and I'll be getting my haircut. And I say, I need to get my haircut like this
02:53 because, you know, I'm sort of playing Jesus in this show, basically. And they're like,
02:57 oh, you're playing Jesus. And they're kind of stunned by it because they don't know how
03:00 to react, you know. But I think people have this idea of Jesus as this kind of out there,
03:06 you know, floaty, you know, metaphoric sort of character.
03:10 But your Jesus is very different.
03:12 No, yeah, completely. Completely, yeah. We play on the superstardom rather than the Jesus
03:18 Christ is, you know, my Jesus in this show is a lead singer of an indie band. You know,
03:23 the show itself is with handhelds and handheld microphones. And, you know, I play guitar
03:28 in the show. I play guitar for the big song Gethsemane. I begin with the guitar because
03:33 essentially it is a gig for the audience. They're in a gig that's happening, you know,
03:38 on the stage whilst telling the story, especially in the first half of the show. And then it
03:43 gets a bit more literal in the second half when obviously things happen, like progress
03:49 towards the crucifixion. But it's, yeah, no, I love that. You know, I love it. I really
03:54 do.
03:55 It sounds fabulous. Really, really looking forward to seeing it. And again, in our area,
03:59 it's playing Crawley, Southampton and Eastbourne. Ian, lovely to speak to you again. Thank you
04:03 ever so much for your time.
04:04 Yeah, thanks for having me on. Cheers.
04:06 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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