Act One of Jesus Christ Superstar begins with a soliloquy in which Judas explains that he has always been Jesus' "right hand man", but is becoming greatly concerned with Jesus' behavior lately. Jesus is getting carried away, attracting too much attention, and soon the Romans will intervene and kill them all. Judas is torn as he wants them all to live, but Jesus doesn't seem to understand the situation they are in.
The Apostles question Jesus about their future plans. Jesus tells them that they should "leave tomorrow for tomorrow", and that even if he told them they'd understand it less than he does. Mary tries to comfort Jesus by anointing him, and Jesus and Judas argue over the propriety of Jesus being publicly seen in Mary's company.
The Roman priests decide that Jesus is dangerous as he jeopardizes their authority. With the large pageantry of the parade for Jesus' entry into Jerusalem, the priests become even more convinced that Jesus must die.
Simon tries to encourage Jesus' political moves. Jesus finds that the temple has been turned into a market place. Jesus becomes irate, and then saddened because he knows that his time on earth is nearly up. He attempts to heal lepers, but they come at him in such large numbers and frenzy that he is overwhelmed and screams at them to heal themselves.
Mary soothes the distraught Jesus, who is able to fall asleep in her care. She sings of her feelings for him while he sleeps.
Feeling that Jesus has lost his control of the situation, Judas turns to the Roman priests to reluctantly make a deal with them for Jesus' capture. The priests offer Judas a monetary reward for helping them capture Jesus, but Judas doesn't want their "blood money". The priests tell him of all the good things he could do with the money -- "choose any charity, give to the poor". Judas reveals to them that Jesus will be in the garden of Gethsemane on Thursday night.
Act Two begins with The Last Supper where the Apostles blithely sing about the fame they will gain from being Apostles. Jesus is appalled by them, exclaiming "look at your blank faces, my name will mean nothing ten minutes after I'm dead!" He predicts that one of the Apostles will betray him, and one deny him. Judas confronts Jesus, and the two argue. Jesus tells Judas to "hurry, they are waiting." Judas counters that "You want me to do it! What if I just stayed here and ruined your ambition!" Judas flees from the scene to find the priests. Jesus watches as the Apostles drift off to sleep, no one staying awake to be with him in these final moments. Jesus tries to understand his fate and why God has put him in this position.
Judas returns with the priests and they arrest Jesus. Peter tries to summon the Apostles to wage an attack, but Jesus tells him "Put away your sword, don't you know that it's all over?" Later, confronted about his association with Jesus, a frightened Peter denies having known Jesus to protect himself.
The crowd mocks Jesus as he is brought to Pilate for sentencing. Pilate sends Jesus to Herod instead. Herod is annoyed at the Messiah's lack of miraculous powers and returns him to Pilate.
Peter and Mary reflect on the rapidly changing situation before them, and wish that things could just start over.
Unable to come to terms with what he has done, Judas commits suicide by hanging himself.
Pilate presents the charges to Jesus, giving him an opportunity to deny them, but Jesus does not try to defend himself. The mob calls for Jesus' crucifixion, and Pilate asks Jesus how he can help him. Jesus tells Pilate that Pilate is powerless. Pilate has Jesus flogged to try to appease the crowd, but they won't settle for anything less than crucifixion. Frustrated by Jesus' almost willingness to go along with the proceedings, Pilate agrees to the crucifixion exclaiming "Die if you want to, you misguided martyr!"
Jesus is crucified and dies.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber never intended Jesus Christ Superstar to be taken in a religious context, but just as a piece telling a story in perhaps a new way. Judas is the Apostle who sees what is happening. Through "Heaven On Their Minds" he explains his position -- he admires Jesus, but is afraid that Jesus is going too far and will get them all killed. The brilliance of the piece is that it depicts two very human characters (Jesus and Judas) caught in a situation beyond their control. ("Everything is fixed and you can't change it," Jesus tells Pilate. ) God "hold[s] all the cards" and "knew all along", leaving Jesus and Judas carrying out plans that they don't necessarily want to go through with. There are also some interesting twists in the lyrics. Judas refers to himself as not knowing why God "chose" him, and Jesus is "sad and tired". It is Jesus who asks "If I die what will be my reward?", but Judas says he "had no thought at all about my own reward". On the humorous side, Judas is told by the priests that "You'll be remembered forever for this" -- they mean his "saving of Israel", of course. The Apostles' main interest is so that when they "retire we can write the Gospels / so they'll all talk about us when we've died". Simon wants to be Jesus' PR man, and when Jesus is arrested, someone in the crowd asks him "Do you think that you may retire?".
Lyrical quotes from Tim Rice's libretto for Jesus Christ Superstar.
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