What It’s Like Being On a National Tour for Jesus Christ Superstar featuring Faith Jones | Upward Together Podcast

This one is from the archive and one of two special episodes with guest host Josh Morgenlander. Josh is joined by his friend Faith Jones and they talk about what it’s like touring nationally for musical Jesus Christ Superstar. Faith shares touring experiences, the unique dynamic of their production, and how the show reflects essential aspects of humanity. Thanks Josh and Faith for going upward together.

Faith is no longer touring for Jesus Christ Superstar and is now a server for Gayle's Broadway Rose! Find out more about what she's up to: Faith's Instagram

I love musicals. They were a huge part of my life growing up — my family would go to the Orpheum Theater in San Francisco every chance we could get. We’ve seen Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, and I even got the chance to see Wicked in London. My brother and I used to play the Les Miserables CD on our CD player all the time, having a two-person production right in our own living room. Needless to say, I absolutely loved this conversation.

If you’re interested in learning more about the demands, expectations, and joys of touring nationally for a musical, please watch the episode because Faith goes into fascinating detail. Instead of my own personal reflection, I want to highlight a few of my favorite quotes from Faith about the musical itself, Jesus Christ Superstar:

“It's a piece of art I want people to leave all their baggage at the door, which is so hard to do when you see a show called ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.’”

“People are still very moved by our show religiously if they are Christian, but then also people who aren't Christian are very moved by it as well. I think it's cool to see this huge religious figure as just a man.”

“To see how so many people love this man as we see him in our show. And then how quickly so many of these people turned against him. That to me says a lot about humanity.”

“Our production's also a commentary on how we, to celebrities, put them on this pedestal, give them all this glitz and glamor and gold, and then we're so quick to throw people away. Why do we put them up on the pedestal? Why do we tear them down when we're all just people?”

“It’s the beauty of art that we can have these stories live on and present these stories in different ways that illuminate new things about it. And I think that's always worth people's time.”

That's it for this one! As always, thanks for going upward together.