Interview: Camille A. Brown On Creating The Moves For NBC’s ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’

Choreographer Camille A Brown is on a brief break from rehearsals for NBC’s Jesus Christ Superstar Live. We speak two weeks before the show will air. She’s working with the ensemble on a dance number, but her dancers are set to arrive the following day and her vision will come to life.

Jesus Christ Superstar Live will be beamed into millions of home across America today on Easter Sunday and is brought to us by Neil Meron and Craig Zadan, the duo behind Hairspray Live!, The Sound of Music Live! and The Oscars. Singer John Legend will play Jesus Christ, Alice Cooper, Sara Bareilles and Brandon Dixon round off the cast as Mary Magdalene and Judas Iscariot.

Telling the story of the last days of Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ Superstar is a rock musical spectacular. Andrew Lloyd Webber is behind the music, and Tim Rice wrote the lyrics for the show which first made its debut in 1971. Brown who has worked on Once On This Island, Tick, Tick..Boom and A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway will bring the dance moves to the production combining the past with the present using social dance.

Read our chat below and some creative concepts of the stage and wardrobe:

What was your first experience with Jesus Christ Superstar?

I saw the movie and I think I saw it when I was a teenager. To go back to it and revisit it as an adult is really interesting and exciting.

What can you tell us about Jesus Christ Superstar Live and what we can expect?

You’re going to see hints of the past, hints of the present. It’s contemporary but historical. It’s constantly going back and forth between the two which I think makes it really exciting. We all know the story of Jesus, but to put it in the context of today, I think that’s really wonderful and amazing. The fact that you have a black man portraying Jesus and a black man portraying Judas is something that’s very exciting.

What’s your approach to this as a choreographer?

When David Leveaux first spoke to me about it, the first thing I thought was what in my repertoire as a choreographer what are the things that I could use as a springboard. The first thing I thought of was of a piece that I had choreographed in 2006 called New Second Line and it was honoring the people of New Orleans because of the Hurricane and the devastation, but I wanted to create something that was more celebratory and honoring their perseverance and the fact they kept going and kept striving. New Second Line was a social dance form within African-American culture. What a lot of it does is it honors, praises and celebrates, it’s a lot of what Jesus Christ does with honoring, celebrating and worshipping so I chose some of the movement there and tried to deconstruct it and tried to find new ways of that piece living twelve years later and how has that progressed? The thing about social dance is we’re constantly progressing. It definitely has a structure but it’s constantly moving and moving forward. It’s not about going back twelve years and doing something that looked dated. It’s pulling from that and asking, “How have we progressed?” and “How can I take this to another level?” That’s where my mindset was.

You’re transforming this into our homes from that stage, how do you approach that?

I’m approaching it as a theatrical experience. It’s a musical. So, how do you bring that energy into the home? The beauty of musical and theater is the idea of a live audience. We’re going to have a live audience and that’s coming together and I think it’s going to be really exciting for the audience at The Armory, but also the audiences at home and feeling each other’s energy, that’s going to be great.

I love that there’s going to be such a huge audience. 1500 people. Talk about the scale of the show.

Yes. The scale is big. The cast is big. There’s 35 people on stage and a 30 plus orchestra. I love that the largeness of the audience is being matched by the largeness and the beauty of the set and the cast and the musicians.

There’s a female string quartet. There are so many beautiful things that you can see, whether it’s the costumes or the lighting and so many things you can enjoy.

You’re working with John Legend, Alice Cooper and Sara Bareilles, how has that been?

It’s been amazing to observe. I’ve not worked with them directly as a lot of their track doesn’t call for them to dance. Brandon does during Superstar though. It’s been really wonderful seeing David work with Alice, Sara and John. He’s such a brilliant director. What he’s pulling from them and what they’re giving to him is really beautiful.

How are rehearsals going for you?

I’m having so much fun. This is one of the best experiences that I’ve had as a choreographer and collaborator. People are so fun and everyone is hard working. The energy is so good and people want the show to be the best that it can be. It’s encouraging and it’s great.

In a lot of experiences, the focus is to get the work and to get things done. I’m focusing on that, but I’m also enjoying the process and that is something that is very special to me.

Is there a special number that’s standing out for you right now?

It’s definitely Superstar. It’s the one where people are moving and dancing the most. It’s a song that is a favorite of so many people. It’s brilliant and wonderful. I don’t have everyone right now. I have 25 ensemble members. The dancers start tomorrow so I’ve been imagining where the dancers go and what their movements are going to be. So, it’s going to be exciting to put them in and to have my imagination become reality.