Less than two weeks before it was set to begin touring, a revival of Jesus Christ Superstar, which was to have co-starred Incubus’ Brandon Boyd and former Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten, has had the plug pulled on it. No reason was given for its cancellation, but the attached picture, from actor Rob Copeland’s Twitter account, shows the cast reacting, while a tweet from earlier that day showed them rehearsing, so it must have been an extremely abrupt decision.
Aside from Boyd, who was set to play Judas, and Rotten, who would play King Herrod, the production also featured former Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Willliams and former *NSync member JC Chasez. Ben Forster, who was set to play Jesus, won the role in a UK reality show called Superstar. More like Jesus Christ Semistar, amirite? At any point, The Wire points out that it may have been purely a financial decision, stating that when the show was announced back in April, producer Michael Cohl stated that the show’s coasts were in the “eight figures” and needed to pull in “several hundred thousand dollars” per show to stay on the road. Tickets purchased online or via phone will be automatically refunded. Tickets bought at a box office must be returned to the location for a refund.
