Andrew Lloyd Webber seems to be having somewhat of a resurgence at the moment after a stunning summer season at the London Palladium with Evita and with the fastest selling pre-sale in the history of the London Palladium with their 2026 production of Jesus Christ Superstar. Centre Stage are riding on the ALW wave with their own production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Bridewell Theatre.

The show itself is a rock opera which recounts the final few days of Jesus from perspective of Judas and Centre Stage lean into the rock feel of the musical with a show that signals its intent from the first few opening chords; gritty, huge vocals and a show that places the audience in the thick of the tension that drives the score.

It wasn’t just the vocals that the cast attacked, this was a version of the show where the production team had set out to put more dance into it than is normally expected from a production of Jesus Christ Superstar but despite this self-proclaimed aim, I rarely felt that there was dance for dance sake. Instead the dance felt as if they were the embodiment of the throng of people that surrounded Jesus and Judas in the last few days and but equally the team utilised stillness wonderfully, especially in the moments with the priests to really enhance the different mood of these scenes. The dancers themselves (literally) threw themselves into a huge variety of style and succeeded in all of them with a huge number if talented dancers within the flock.

The staging was equally as inventive and staged in traverse with numerous entrances and exits taking place through the audience. Despite the traverse staging I never felt as if I was missing any of the action thanks to clever direction by Stephen and Tal Hewitt. There was also a huge amount of attention to detail, from scene changes to the ensemble wearing symbolic blindfolds when they were not observing the action in front of them. All of this combined with the aforementioned music and dance really meant that this was a show of many layers and a feast for all of the senses.

Turning to the cast I have to admit when I saw that there was a female Judas I was sceptical however when Eleanor Leaper opened her mouth as Judas my scepticism dissipated in an instant. Not only were her vocals the epitome of a rock powerhouse but her acting through song and her portrayal of Judas and their anguish had me mesmerised. Sean MacFarlane played the role of Jesus and was unrecognisable from the last time I saw him on stage as Edna in Hairspray and was incredibly watchable in his calm portrayal, almost serene with the he amount of energy bursting out from everywhere surrounding him.

The cast of leads as a whole were incredibly strong and with over 9 named roles it is difficult to mention them all. I would however be remiss not to mention Tom Harper as Annas whose combination of high tenor vocals and vitriolic acting provided a portrayal to remember.

Centre Stage have delivered a dynamic take on an already ambitious musical, one that feels both faithful to the iconic score and bold in its storytelling choices.

For more information about Centre Stage and their 2026 season then check out their website.

If you like this review you might also like my reviews of The Proms Remixed, The Little Mermaid and The Wedding Singer.