Sara Bareilles and John Legend stopped by NBC's The Today Show to discuss the upcoming live broadcast of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert.
Bareilles, who recently returned to the role of Jenna in her Tony-nominated musical Waitress, will play Mary Magdalene opposite Legend, who will star in the title role.
In the interview above, Legend, who is also among the producers of the broadcast, says, "It's such an ancient story, but I think the genius of the original was that it brought the story to the current time of when it was written, and I think we're going to try to make it feel like it's timeless [and] also current."
Executive produced by Superstar composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Tim Rice, as well as Marc Platt, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Legend, Mike Jackson, Ty Stiklorius, and Alex Rudzinski, the concert version of the musical will also feature rock icon Alice Cooper as King Herod.
The live concert will air Easter Sunday, April 1. Staged in front of an audience at the Marcy Armory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, the production will be helmed by British theatre director David Leveaux .
Bareilles is set to perform in Waitress through March 11. She was nominated for a Tony for her score of the musical. Legend earned his first Broadway credit as a producer on the Tony-winning Jitney last year. He also penned a song for this season's SpongeBob SquarePants,.
Jesus Christ Superstar bowed on Broadway in 1971 and was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Original Score for Lloyd Webber and Rice. The show was subsequently revived in 1977, 2000, and 2012.
