| SUNDAY, 16 JANUARY, 2000, PHILADELPHIA |
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For many years now, I have been in the throes of a conundrum regarding a particular passage from the smash hit rock opera, “Jesus Christ Superstar.” I am not ashamed to admit to my fondness for this smash hit rock opera, and would like to briefly point out 1) that the music is brilliantly written and scored and 2) that Tim Rice, the lyricist, did a fantastic job of presenting ole’ J.C. as perhaps rock opera’s biggest, snivelliest, whineyest, ineffectualiest, snottiest-nosiest bigbaby Saviour to ever play a lead role in the smash hit genre of Rock Opera. One passage has always bothered me however. In Mary’s smash hit aria “I Don’t Know How To Love Him”, there is, due to lack of punctuation in spoken or sung word, one maddeningly ambiguous line. The verse goes thusly: (and a-one, and a-two…) …and I’ve had so many / men before / in very many ways / he’s just one more…A comma or a period placed properly could shed some light onto this racy or pathetic statement. If it were: …and I’ve had so many men before. In very many ways, he’s just one more…That would seem to say that she’s onto J.C., if not actually knowing he’s the whiney Messiah, then at least having an inkling that he’s someone rather extraordinary, maybe even the lead character in the her own personal smash hit rock opera. But being the tramp-ho that she is, in very many ways, he’s just another trick. Ohwell. Orrrrr… …and I’ve had so many men before, in very many ways. He’s just one more…Punctuated this way, she’s giving us a (if you’ll pardon the expression) blow-by-blow account of the acts and positions in which she interacts with her many men. Jesús is once again, in this interpretation, just another John. But it is implied that she has ‘had’ El Cristo in very many ways. I have queried friends better-versed in biblical studies than I and they all agree that the chapter that described these very many ways in which M.M. and J.C. went at it must have been expurgated from the reprints. Perhaps Guttenberg’s first pressing may shed some light on the matter, but my copy is in storage. Pining for a piece of punctuation, I unearthed the score to J.C. Superstar and looked up the appropriate passage. Tim Rice, in his infinite wisdom, saw fit to omit punctuation from the score, so no clue is to be found there. Flash forward to January of 2000. Bitingly cold Sunday. I am passing a pleasant afternoon reading Stephen Fry’s “The Liar” — <PLUG> an absolutely stunning novel about a queer boarding school boy in England and his naughty shenanigans. The book out-Wilde’s even Oscar Wilde for its sharp, quick wit and ambrosial epigrams. </PLUG> In the chapter where the hero schoolboy (Adrian) is putting on his sham play that is taken by the media to be a lost manuscript by Dickens and deals with homosexual child prostitution, we find this passage: “Look at Joe now. He’s standing in front of you, half naked. I think we should sense a sense of … we should sense a sense of … of … some kind of latent, repressed desire.”Ah-ha! An actual textual reference! First I’ve seen in my decade-long quest to solve this problem. Perhaps not surprisingly, Stephen Fry is taking Option #2, the nasty, catty alternative. Now, I don’t know that Stephen Fry, brilliant writer that he is, could be considered an authority in the realm of smash hit rock operas, but he seems clever enough in his own work, and careful, and I like to imagine that if he chose to put this passage of J.C. Superstar in his book, then he might have done the research to substantiate the punctuation and all the subtext that is inherent in it. However enlightening this may seem to be, this is inconclusive evidence, and my quest shall go on. Tim Rice refuses to answer my phone calls. If you can help shed any light on this punctuation conundrum, please email me and regale me with your insight. |
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