A Perfect Storm of Protests
Before the curtain even went up, the show was in the crosshairs of nearly every major religious group. The rock-opera format, which presented the last days of Jesus through a contemporary lens, was immediately branded as sacrilegious by many Christian
denominations. They objected to a humanized Jesus who expressed doubt and anger, the sympathetic portrayal of Judas, and the implied romantic tension between Jesus and Mary Magdalene. The lack of a clear resurrection was seen by figures like Billy Graham as bordering on blasphemy. Simultaneously, Jewish groups, including the American Jewish Committee, condemned the production, arguing that its depiction of high priests as the primary antagonists perpetuated antisemitic tropes about Jewish responsibility for Jesus's death. Protesters gathered outside the Mark Hellinger Theatre nightly, creating a tense atmosphere of outrage before a single note was played.
Critics Were Baffled and Unimpressed
While religious groups attacked the content, theater critics attacked the form. The show, which had started as a wildly successful concept album in the U.S., arrived on Broadway with a massive $1 million in advance sales, an unprecedented figure for the time. But critics were largely bewildered. Many dismissed the sung-through rock score as noise and the overall conception as hollow. The New York Times called the show disappointing not in its music, but in its very concept. Director Tom O'Horgan, fresh off his success with the counter-culture hit Hair, was known for his extravagant, avant-garde style. His vision for Superstar was a sensory overload of glitter, massive props, and flamboyant, sometimes bizarre, visual choices that many found to be tasteless and vulgar. The production was described as a mix of a Radio City Music Hall show on acid and a "bitchy Busby Berkeleyism."
Even the Creators Hated It
Perhaps the most damning criticism came from the show’s own creators. Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the young British duo behind the music and lyrics, were deeply unhappy with the Broadway production. Lloyd Webber famously called O'Horgan's staging a "vulgar travesty" and what was "in my opinion... so wrong a production mounted of my work." He felt the director’s over-the-top, shocking aesthetic completely overwhelmed the score and the story they had intended to tell. The creators had envisioned a more intimate, concert-style presentation that focused on the psychological drama between Jesus, Judas, and Mary. Instead, they got a glitzy spectacle that, in their eyes, buried the heart of their work under a mountain of theatrical gimmickry. This internal conflict, coupled with the external pressures, created a chaotic environment where the show's survival seemed anything but certain.
Saved by the Audience
So how did it survive? The simple answer is the audience. The concept album had already created a massive, built-in fanbase that was hungry to see the show live. While critics and protesters raged, the public flocked to the theater. The very controversies that threatened to sink the show also made it a must-see cultural event. People who loved the album showed up in droves, often knowing every word to every song. Despite the lack of Tony Award wins, the show ran for 711 performances on the strength of this audience support alone. It proved that a musical could bypass traditional gatekeepers—critics and religious authorities—and forge a direct connection with the public. It outlasted the protests and the bad reviews to become a global phenomenon, forever changing what a Broadway musical could be.
