notes from a chair

There’s an overused word used to describe a moment or a song or a performance in show business. And that word is:

Showstopping.

But how many times in your life have you witnessed a performance, song or an actor literally stopping a show for any significantly measurable length of time?

I’ve seen a few but not too many.

But never have I witnessed the FULL TWO MINUTE spontaneous standing ovation Cynthia Erivo received at the Hollywood Bowl Friday night during her performance in the title role in Jesus Christ Superstar.

It was organic, impromptu and sustained for such a significant amount of “stage” time that it appropriately felt, in 2025 theatrical terms, about as close to religion as one can get in the theatre.

Or pretty much anywhere these days.

And it came at the end of her climactic song Gethesamne (I Only Want To Say), at a moment where a very human Jesus begins to question his mission from God.

I won’t begin to describe what happens when a once-in-a-generation talent immerses themselves so completely in such an unexpected role. But thanks to technology you can watch it here yourself.

Though I can testify viewing it from your screen at home doesn’t quite duplicate what it was like to be outside, under the stars, in an audience of 17,000, and being a part of a group who saw it occur seemingly out of nowhere.

This three night production of the rock musical Jesus Christ Superstar headlining an out gay woman of color, and co-starring/featuring a ton of out LGBTQ+ performers, might initially seem like a theatrical stunt to some, or oft-putting to others.

It is not.

What it does is instead reinforce the universality of the messages of kindness, equality, inclusion and love the basic stories in scripture provide when we are forced to look at the story in a new and decidedly different way.

Don’t take my word for it. Here are some samples courtesy of an article from Broadway World:

There are numerous moments and performances to call out in what pretty much amounts to a mind-blowing three-night production.

But I’d be remiss to not also specifically mention what a treat it is to hear a singer like Adam Lambert bring his high Cs and Ds, and pretty much every note below that, as well as his acting chops, to what is truly the lead role of the Christ-betraying Judas.

And that’s saying something from a guy like me, whose high school American history teacher actually took my class in Queens to see the original Broadway production in the early 1970s early in its run.

Thanks, Mr. Vidakovich – and how did you ever manage that?

“Superstar” – Raul Esparza, Cynthia Erivo, Adam Lambert in Jesus Christ Superstar

You wouldn’t think Billy Joel and South Park’s season 27 kickoff episode skewering and, word has it, angering our current POTUS, would have much in common.

But in the opening of the second part of the excellent five-hour HBO Max documentary on his career, Billy Joel: And So It Goes, the singer-songwriter makes a deceptively obvious statement about his work that is a bridge for a lot of common ground.

Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve lived through, has somehow made it into my music.

Substitute the word music with any artistic creation that any of us make, and the conclusion is obvious. Your work can’t help but express YOU – and exactly how YOU feel.

And when you do it right it has a particular resonance.

So why wouldn’t the now billionaire South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who just agreed to a new $1.5 billion, five-year streaming deal for their show to run exclusively on Paramount+, go right for the jugular?

Their brand is mercilessly mocking pop culture figures, religion, current events and charlatans, as well as that week’s hypocrites and/or their zealous followers.

It’d disappoint at least half the country, and at this point probably more, if they didn’t.

And take it from this gay, liberal Jew – NO minority status will save you.

Nor will being a member of the elite majority.

And after almost three decades of mind-bending successes, included the Tony award winning musical, The Book of Mormon – the world, and even their parent company CBS/Paramount, clearly wouldn’t have it any other way.

So once again – on their premiere episode this year:

Why WOULDN’T they make jokes about DJ Trump sharing a sexual bed with Satan; draw him with a talking micro-penis; and have him suing the residents of South Park for $5 million because of their growing street protests against him?

Truly the tamest image from the entire episode

Why wouldn’t they show us reporters on the CBS/Paramount-owned show 60 Minutes all anemic and terrified of saying a cross word against him in light of the ACTUAL real-life network settling a generally accepted ridiculous ACTUAL real-life lawsuit Trump filed against the show for $16 million and more.

Not to mention –

Why wouldn’t that premiere episode also call out the principal of the fictional South Park public school for suddenly requiring everyone to get on board with ONLY Christian values by bringing Jesus himself into school and making them befriend him?

Which finally leads us to ask one last question —

Why wouldn’t they portray Jesus being terrified of our Dear Leader of these United States coming after Him while trying to warn the town not to continue to offend the Big Man (Note: The, um, VERY VERY Big and ever-growing Man) in the White House?

This is/what they/do.

It’d be like, well… going to a Billy Joel concert and him NOT playing Piano Man.

Talk about brands.

And speaking of such, perhaps THIS is the reason why the current Trump-Epstein scandal/association won’t go away?

Trump spent a lifetime ogling women, cheating on his wives, owning beauty pageants and bragging on tape he could grab any female by their private parts because he’s a star.

Wouldn’t the natural creative conclusion be that since he was such good friends with the world’s most notorious child molester, he might be hiding something more about his relationship with him?

Especially since he seems to now be so desperately hiding the infamous Epstein files and having his former attorney – now second in command at the DOJ – suddenly meeting behind the scenes with Epstein’s convicted co-conspirator and former girlfriend in some sort of implied immunity from further prosecution deal in exchange for more information, or as some speculate, even some omission of information about one of Epstein’s…best friends and/or clients?

I think my brain just melted reading that

It stands to reason. Given the brand. It seems so true to form for him. Even, dare I say… honest??

Of course, what sounds honest is not necessarily true or real.

At least these days.

But when it goes over so well and lingers for so long, the more likely that there is more than a smidgen of creative reality to it.

At least that’s what people think in our conspiracy theory-led world.

Meaning even people in the White House and elsewhere who like to spread this stuff should be careful of what they wish for.

I didn’t mean to run out of space for Billy Joel.

But as we learn in the documentary, he hates bullshit of any kind (Note: Often to a fault) and tends not to be political for the most part.

Until he is.

One notable occasion was in the first Trump term when a bunch of Neo-Nazis marched through the peaceful neighborhood streets of Charlottesville, VA with Tiki torches, famously chanting, Jews Will Not Replace Us.

And Trump went on television the next day proclaiming there were very fine people on BOTH sides.

Billy Joel, a Jewish guy from Long Island, wasn’t having it but wasn’t one for making speeches.

So what to do?

Well, the next night onstage at his concert he wore a large Jewish star made of yellow fabric sewn onto his jacket.

That star was an exact replica of the ones many of his actual relatives in Germany were forced to wear in the years right before World War II.

And in the years that followed when they were carted away by the Nazis.

Relatives he laments never getting to meet because they didn’t survive the concentration camps they were disappeared to.

Joel has always considered himself primarily an entertainer and over five hours one can’t help but get swept away not only by the music but the personal stories of abandonment, rejection, and misfortune – as well as a great deal of the rarefied talent and hard work that made him a fortune – or two or three – as well as world famous.

As a kid raised in Queens (Note: No, I’m nothing like Trump), you won’t be surprised to learn that I’ve been a lifelong fan of the guy from the moment I saw him in concert as an undergrad in the seventies at Queens College.

Tough, gruff, kinda nerdy hot, kinda scruffy, a piano virtuoso, fun, a little bit dangerous, smart as a whip AND funny.

Luckily I wasn’t out then and never got to meet him or I would’ve been in a whole lot of trouble.

But trouble is a relative word with all sorts of good and bad innuendos and ominous meanings.

Especially at a time when any one of us anywhere can be arrested at any moment for the most bizarre, trumped-up crime.

Or… well… not.

Billy Joel – “And So It Goes”