Jesus Christ Superstar Review at London Palladium

If anyone asks “What’s the Buzz” in London’s West End this summer, there’s only one answer on everybody’s lips: Jesus Christ Superstar at the iconic London Palladium. Eurovision star Sam Ryder makes his West End debut in this new outing of the award-winning Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre production, which premiered a decade ago. But were audiences left singing hallelujah or wanting to crucify the theatre gods? The answer, thankfully, is closer to hallelujah: this is a ferocious, vocally thrilling revival.

Upon entering the London Palladium auditorium, audiences are greeted not with the glitz and glamour of one of London’s most prestigious theatres, but with a complex jigsaw of scaffolding, metal and concrete. Tom Scutt’s industrial set also incorporates a new element for this production: an onstage audience, who lean against the scaffolding, almost becoming an extension of Jesus’s fawning followers. This is an effective gimmick, especially for the audience in the auditorium, as it heightens the mob-like fanaticism that the musical so cleverly explores.

Through the eyes of Judas, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic rock opera charts the last days of Jesus Christ as devotion, doubt and political fear collide. Perhaps paying homage to its rock music heritage, there’s a concert-like feel to this latest production. The cast perform with handheld microphones, cords litter the stage and the band are visible throughout, perched high inside the scaffolding. And when the vocal talent on stage is as strong as it is here, it really does feel like a rock concert, sometimes favouring jaw-dropping vocal riffs over clear storytelling. I overheard several of my seatmates checking at the interval whether they were following the plot correctly. Muddy sound in the Royal Circle didn’t help, with a frustrating number of lyrics lost in the mix.

Sam Ryder certainly looks the part and, more importantly, sings it like a man touched by divine intervention. While his acting sometimes felt underpowered and one-dimensional, especially in the first act, he more than made up for it with his vocal performance. He blew the roof off the Palladium with his devastating “Gethsemane”, and his effortless ability to reach notes that defied logic almost made me a believer.

Tyrone Huntley, who originated the role of Judas in the Regent’s Park production, is more than a match for Ryder. His voice is astonishingly powerful and soulful, and he enters the stage like a tornado for the opening number, “Heaven on Their Minds”, as Judas confesses his fears over Jesus’s new Messiah status. While the musical can be thin on character development generally, Huntley brilliantly charts Judas’s path from cautious doubter to guilt-ridden betrayer.

Desmonda Cathabel brings a Stevie Nicks-esque ethereal quality to her Mary, all witchy hands and flowing dresses as she tries to soothe and quash Jesus’s doubts. She delivers a stirring and commanding vocal of one of the show’s best-known numbers, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him”.

Despite much talk about the rotating array of celebrities playing Herod during the show’s run, Jesse Tyler Ferguson barely registers in his blink-and-you’ll-miss-him second-act cameo. It will be interesting to see whether stars like Julian Clary, Simon Russell Beale or Richard Armitage can make more of the Elvis Presley-inspired number. However, David Thaxton, Bob Harms and Billy Nevers wring every ounce out of their limited stage time as Pontius Pilate, Caiaphas and Simon Zealotes respectively.

Drew McOnie’s inventive choreography almost feels like a cast member in its own right. The talented ensemble appear frenzied and maniacal in their devotion to Ryder’s Jesus, fawning over his celebrity status until, like any mob, they turn on the chosen one.

Radical reimaginings of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s classic musicals feel almost the norm in the West End lately. And while this doesn’t quite hit the heights of recent productions of Evita or Sunset Boulevard, it’s easy to see why this production of Jesus Christ Superstar keeps being resurrected. It’s an exhilarating evening that earns a chorus of Hallelujahs from an enraptured audience.

Jesus Christ Superstar plays at the London Palladium until 5 September.

Where I Sat

From my Royal Circle K46 seat, I had an almost cinematic full-stage view, with only a tiny corner of the extreme front, left-hand side of the stage obscured. Despite being in the second-to-last row of the Royal Circle, I could still make out faces throughout. There’s a good rake in the Royal Circle too, so heads didn’t prove to be an issue. The seat was comfortable but the legroom was poor, my knees were up against the seat in front of me and I imagine anyone over 6 foot would struggle for a long show.  

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Reviewed by Nathan Pearce for SeatPlan, July 2026