Jesus Christ Superstar hits the stage

Warragul Theatre Company is set to challenge opinions and wow audiences with outstanding vocal performances when "Jesus Christ Superstar" opens at the West Gippsland Arts Centre on Friday night.

The talented cast will perform eight shows between Friday and Saturday May 30.
A sung-through rock opera written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, "Jesus Christ Superstar" recounts the last week of Jesus Christ's life, focusing on the personal and political conflicts between Jesus, his disciples, the Jewish leadership, and the Roman authorities.

Told from the sympathetic perspective of Judas Iscariot, the plot follows Judas' growing concerns about Jesus' movement losing its focus and becoming a threat to Rome, ultimately leading him to betray Jesus for silver.

The narrative explores Jesus' struggles with his impending fate, his relationship with Mary Magdalene, and ends with his betrayal, trial before Pontius Pilate and King Herod's crucifixion, and the final moments of his followers.

Directed by Kylie Sinclair, WTC's contemporary interpretation of the show will be set in a dystopian reality, a choice Kylie said would have audiences considering the parallels in our world today.

"I'm calling it dystopian - a little bit apocalyptic," Kylie said.
"There are some things that are happening now that hopefully the audience will look at and go, "you know what, it's not actually much different from what was happening back then".

"We're living in a time where values feel uncertain, and this story asks, what do you stand for when everything around you is changing? What do you believe? What do you stand up for?"

Tickets to "Jesus Christ Superstar" are available to purchase online at https://sales.wgac.com.au

An iconic role

The iconic role of Jesus Christ will be portrayed by Jonah van Stekelenburg.

Jonah is a new face to the Warragul stage but has previously performed with Wonthaggi Theatrical Group and Leongatha Lyric Theatre. His recent role as Bud Davenport in "Gutenburg! The Musical" earnt him a Music Theatre Guild of Victoria nomination for Lead Performer in a Male Presenting Role.

He brings heart and soaring vocals to the stage and will take you on an emotional journey throughout the show.

"Jesus is just realising that he's out of time, it's the last three days of his life and he knows that," Jonah said. "It feels to me like he's trying to cram in the last of his lessons before he's gone, but he's also dealing with the fact that he's going to die."

When formulating how he would portray the role of Jesus, Jonah said he and director Kylie Sinclair discussed exploring his human side.

"I didn't want to reinvent the wheel and try making him any different to what he was or how he's believed, but I wanted to show that he was human, he had an ego, he was scared of death," Jonah said. "He feels everything, he's not a god, and I think he's sort of understanding that what he's about to go through is going to be painful, physically, emotionally, mentally."

Jonah said said the show uses music to take you on an emotional journey. "Something I love about the show in general is that you never hang on to an emotion for too long," he said.

"You come in hot with a pretty good rock ballad and then you get a funk disco number and then there's these beautiful emotional songs, followed by another disco number. It's a roller coaster and every song you just get to jump on a different feeling and ride that wave until you get your heart broken in the next scene, and then you're laughing in the next."

Grappling with betrayal

Adam Busico will make his debut with Warragul Theatre Company, stepping into the role of Judas Iscariot.

Adam has previously appeared in Ghostlight Theatre's productions of "You're a Good Man Charlie Brown" as Snoopy and Gomez Addams in "The Addams Family".

Adam will take you on a journey of a conflicted man, who ultimately decides the fate of those around him.

Portraying such a well known character, both within the context of the musical and broader religious contexts, Adam said he'd spent a lot of time exploring who Judas is and his journey through the story.

"It's really his internal battle of whether he should do what is right, or whether he even has a choice and what he's doing,” he said.

To embody the character of Judas, Adam said he had to challenge his own beliefs. "It's certainly a unique interpretation of the passion of Christ, and I think the challenge is trying to be as sensitive to a lot of different people's beliefs," Adam said.

"Understanding the character (of Judas) I almost had to push my own beliefs to one side and come at it very aware of everyone else, so as to not pigeonhole the character into one interpretation," Adam said.

Adam said a highlight for him in the show is performing the conflict between Jesus and Judas on stage.

Meaningful storytelling

"Jesus Christ Superstar" marks director Kylie Sinclair's 23rd show with Warragul Theatre Company, and her third show as a director.

She has previously directed the 80s rock musical, "The Wedding Singer", and the farce "Charley's Aunt", receiving Gippsland Associated Theatre nominations for Best Director for both of these shows.

Originally from Melbourne, Kylie developed her love of theatre through performing in high school and university productions. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Drama, Literature and History from La Trobe University, along with a Graduate Diploma of Education from Monash University.

Kylie currently works as a secondary school drama and theatre teacher, designing and directing a wide range of productions and performances within her school community.

Kylie values the importance of deep, dramaturgical research as part of her own preparation for a show and encourages this in the rehearsal room as a means of creating authentic characterisation and meaningful story telling.

She works hard to create safe spaces so the cast to feel supported in their exploration of each aspect of their performance and loves nothing more than to see them grow in their self-confidence on the stage.

Kylie has contributed to numerous community theatre productions across the Gippsland region for the past sixteen years as a makeup artist, actor and director, including shows with Warragul Theatre Company, White Oak Productions, Class Act Productions, Off The Leash Theatre Company, Warragul Youth Theatre and Ghostlight Theatre Company.

She has been nominated for and won several GAT Awards (Gippsland Associated Theatre) over this period of time.

In 2025, Kylie was awarded a life membership to the Warragul Theatre Company in recognition of her services to them.