Jesus Christ Superstar was a superstar last night, beating “American Idol” with 9 million average viewers from 8pm through 10:30pm. “Idol” scored its usual 7.3 million last night, settling into familiar groove.
The NBC musical was live from Brooklyn with an ecstatic audience watching a hugely talented cast. John Legend, Brandon Victor Dixon and Sara Bareilles led the group, and they were all spectacular. This morning Legend’s people must be getting calls from Broadway producers who want him in their shows.
Dixon, as Judas, stole the show with the musical’s title number. He’s also getting calls today. He’s a rock star.
Meantime, the original soundtrack album for “JSC” from 1970 is sold out at amazon and on back order. Universal Music simply wasn’t ready for the demand. But it can be downloaded– and the album is number on iTunes. The soundtrack to the awful 1973 movie is number 12. But the one to get now is the new album with last night’s performers. That’s number 1 on amazon right now in pre-orders (avail April 27).
PS the “Roseanne” rerun scored just over 4 million viewers, bringing last week’s chaos back to Earth.
