It is a bit silly for religionists to argue over the theological points in the libretto of "Superstar." Rice has assembled his simple and familiar narrative line from all the Gospels, moving from the feast at Bethany through the entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the agony in Gethsemane, Judas's betrayal, the Crucifixion. His choosing to pivot the "plot" around the question of Jesus' divinity is a natural decision as a child of his time. It is a perspective, even if a naive one, and the important thing is that he lets the drama move in a simple crescendo toward the white heat of that self-dissolving question. The lyrics, like those of most opera librettos (and "Superstar" formally is the most traditional kind of straight opera), often seem numb and dull, but sometimes are dulcetly melted or dramatically tempered in the flow of the music.

As Jesus enters the last seven days of his mortal life, Mary Magdalene comforts him, singing gently, "Everything's all right yes everything's fine." This, of course, is Jesus' own message of redemption and grace, which in this Passion week he has no occasion to utter. It is a good touch to have it unconsciously uttered in Mary's strictly human terms, and that defines a dialectical tension between the human and divine that is in the opera, if not by design then as a consequence of simple good faith toward their subject on the part of the authors.

But this simplicity and naivete is only part of the story. "Jesus Christ Superstar" is one of the most amazing and complicated media events of the media age. As it proliferates through the ganglia of a traumatized society … it becomes a perfect image of mass culture's wish to have its Christ and eat him too, its reach for the impossible dream: a happy marriage between comfortable vulgarity and the ache for excellence. (p. 243)