The musical ‘Jesus Christ Super Star’ adds a Mexican rock idol: Alex Lora

In 2018 it was Alice Cooper and a year later, Enrique Guzmán. He now it’s Alex Lora’s turn. The leader and founder of El Tri will be Herod this year in the return of the musical Jesus Christ Superstarwhich will reopen the curtain of the Teatro I Cultural Center on October 4 in a short season.

It highlights Benny Ibarra as Jesús, who also joins the company that debuted in 2019 and continued after the pandemic, in 2021; Erik Rubín as Judas; Ximena Sariñana as Mary Magdalene – who also joins the clan -, Leonardo de Lozanne as Pontius Pilate, Yahir as Peter and Kalimba as Simon Zelotes.

In interview with Excelsiorthe legendary 71-year-old composer from Puebla, who this year celebrates 56 years of career, spoke about his experience joining this story and his background doing theater.

This time I got the role of Herod, which goes perfectly with what rock and roll is and my personality, because he is a satirical, wild, loud and, at some point, mocking character too, who… that I’m not very good at it! (river). They were telling me ‘do you understand that the character is kind of a sucker?’. I said ‘ah, well, I… no, I’m not good at it!’ (river).

For me it is an honor and a privilege to share the stage with these great performers and I want to thank the production for giving me the opportunity and this invitation to participate, because I guarantee the public that as long as the performance lasts we will be happy and We’re going to forget about our fights while we’re rocking out Jesus Christ Superstar“said Lora, always with his guitar in hand, playing a chord in the pauses or fragments of an El Tri song.

Previously in theater I was in Lagunilla, my neighborhood and it was the arrest too. I even did a little sketch there where I arrived and they had detained me at the police station and everything. Besides, I sang with the entire cast.

Before, maestro Nacho Cano (Mecano) invited me to (the musical) Malinchein Spain, and I also sang The other afternoon I saw it rain y The Rolling Stones with the entire cast doing performances. Besides, Malinche coupled with my tamer (Celia Lora, his wife) and the singer with me, while the entire theater shouted ‘Mexico, Mexico!’. It was something very emotional that in the motherland the entire race caught fire,” she adds.

The work addresses, from Judas’s point of view, the psychology of Jesus and the confrontation between the two, both on a personal and political level. In the previous version for Mexico, Jesús was portrayed as a great influencer in the midst of an apocalyptic time due to climate change and the whirlwind of technology. Herod is the one who mocks Jesus and returns him to Jerusalem.

He (Herod) at one point compares himself to Jesus Christ, as he tells him ‘I see that your popularity already rivals me, you say you are God, do you like it?’. At the same time that he is questioning him, he is sort of scolding him and satirizing his actions. He has his joke, the song, it’s not just any song and, as the El Tri song said: ‘it seems easy, it looks very easy, but it’s actually difficult.’

I have been rehearsing and listening to the version that maestro Enrique Guzmán made and, based on the maestro’s version, plus, apart from that, my vibe, is what I plan to add to it now. I guarantee you that the race is going to have fun, because, well, we are going to have fun and enjoy a lot. If you enjoy it and have fun, the race will have fun,” he said.

LIKE A RING ON THE FINGER

The story speaks of unity and looking into each other’s eyes, as well as understanding each other as humanity and Alex Lora agreed with this. How does such a story touch your heart?

From the moment they invited me and the character that corresponded to me, I became very attached. It goes in line with what my character and my rock and roll is, because Alex Lora is very different from Alejandro Lora. They are two completely different people. Gaspar Henaine is not the same as Capulina, right? Alejandro Lora is a normal person, but Alex Lora is the rock ‘n’ roll, wild, scandalous, who motivates the race to let off steam and go on a rampage.

Herod fits the character like a glove, because the moment it’s the song, well, yes I’m going to sing, but, also the vibe, is to catch the race, like when I was in Lagunilla or in Malinche. Yes, the vibe was singing, I sang songs, but the main vibe I made and achieved was that the race caught on and was singing and singing with me. This is what I intend to do now here in Jesus Christ. I guarantee that those who come will be very happy and will let off steam screaming and singing,” she concluded.

Lora joins a theatrical and musical family headed by producer Alejandro Gou in synergy with Erik Rubín and producer Guillermo Wiechers, under the artistic direction of Armando Reyes.

WE RECOMMEND YOU: Alex Lora: True rock has to say true things

WITH LOVE FOR THE BAND

Accustomed to massive audiences and hissing and shouting with high-sounding words that become expressions of affection, Lora hopes that musical theater spectators will also “turn on” and respond to him as he does in other settings.

“It’s like in the gigs. After a while, I tell them: ‘I feel sad, because I think the race doesn’t love me anymore, we’ve been playing for a long time and they haven’t mentioned my mother.’ It’s an interaction. They lie to me about their mother and vent. But here, on this occasion, it’s just a song, I’m not going to have the chance to tell them ‘lie to me, your mother’, and if someone lies to me it’s because it’s something they brought from the shows and they’re used to that happening,” he shared. .

THE HERODS

On the 1970 concept album, Jesus Christ Superstar, Herod was played by the British Mike d’Abo, leader of Manfred Mann. A year later, the musical debuted on Broadway and that same role was recreated by Paul Ainsley. In 2018, Alice Cooper recreated it in the show Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert and a year later, in Mexico, Enrique Guzmán gave it life in a new theatrical version.

In the 1973 cinematic rock opera Jesus Christ SuperstarHerod was played by Josh Mostel.

NEW CAST

Benny Ibarra joins as Jesús and Ximena Sariñana as María Magdalena, who were played by Beto Cuevas and María José. Leonardo de Lozanne and Yahir repeat as Pilate and Pedro, respectively.

cva