This is a very respected friend's comments yesterday. Thought I'd post it because it is so well written:
This my overall impression of what is probably my favorite and Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice collaboration, and the first one with which I became familiar because my sister gave me the brown "concept album" for the rock opera for Christmas when I was about 10 years old, and I think I have the purple album, too.
John Legend as Jesus: Vocals were great, and showed even more versatility than I remember from seeing him live in concert. I like him, but he's a singer, not an actor. Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) was almost unmemorable for me. It should have been HUGE. My reaction is no doubt because of expectations set by Ian Gillan's, Ted Neeley's (the only other one I've seen live), and Glenn Carter's performances which all get me right in the feels, but this one didn't. Legend's acting improved as the performance unfolded, and he was nearly perfect at the end.
Brandon Victor DIxon as Judas: He. Stole. The. Show. Stole it fair and square by sheer talent. Wow. He is in Hamilton. He's a triple threat. Loved him. He's from Gaithersburg! (That's in Maryland, about 45 minutes from where I live.)
Sara Bareilles as Mary M: She has a lovely voice. I expected she would look a little less pure. Maybe some tattoos and/or piercings/or at least some bangle-y jewelry. I suppose the bright color of her scarf was supposed to do the job of those things.
Alice Cooper as Herod: Fun performance. Did the job he was hired to do, but he came off as Alice Cooper and not necessarily King Herod. Would love to have seen him in a top hat, but maybe that is too much of his own stage character where he sports the tails and top hat, and cane as he comes down the steps in his own show. Maybe he could have been better. Did he sing into a hand-held mic just so he could do the mic drop at the end? It must have been a live mic because they had someone catch it, otherwise he could have dropped a prop/dead mic. With two free hands he could have jazzed up his performance a bit.
The Musicians: They did a great job.
The Set: Really liked it.
The Cameras/Live Production: I have a little experience running a camera and floor managing live TV broadcasts, which was stressful, but I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to do something on this scale. The production was nothing short of amazing.
What I didn't like was the camera telling me what to look at, but when it's on TV you are watching it through the eyes of the camera that is live.
The Commercials: The commercials tore down everything the actors and the production built up. Especially toward the end. They couldn't have found a sponsor or sponsors to underwrite the production and had a less-interrupted program? Really? It was JC Superstar the weekend of Easter AND Passover fer cryin' out loud. There was an-almost-captive, ham or lamb-stuffed audience--sitting around, recovering from the Easter meals on Sunday. Introduce the show with "brought to you, or underwritten by X, Y, and Z", have an intermission (you know, like in a Broadway show?!) with commercials for X, Y, and Z, and close out the production with "brought to you by X, Y, and Z."
The Main Cast: Of course NBC thought big names were needed to play the main roles to attract a TV audience and they went with famous singers for most Jesus, Mary, and Herod, but here's a little secret: there are a lot of truly great Broadway performers right there in New York City who can act, sing, and dance, as proven by Brandon Victor Dixon. And they need the work.
The Live Audience: Ugh. Why, why, why must some individuals in theatre audiences over applaud the entrances, telegraph spoilers of one kind of another, and generally make themselves known by doing so? We get it. You love your favorites. So, wait by the stage door after the show and tell them, and stop interfering with the performance.
The Ending: Everyone knows how this story ends, but what they did with the ending, WOW! It was awe inspiring. I sat there, agape, not breathing until the break. Beautifully executed.