Alyque, at the age of 83, decided to do this major production with two casts, namely Cast X and Cast Y.

The reason why Alyque chose to have two different casts for this huge production was because of actor availability, which is one of the challenges of doing theatre in India. Alyque used this adversity as an opportunity and decided to let the actors add their own interpretations to the characters they were playing. So, for the character of Jesus, one actor interpreted the character as more gentle, loving and kind, while the other was more vehement and wanted to change the system. Likewise, the treatment differed for each of the musical’s characters.

Vocal director Deirdre Lobo was based in California, while the whole cast was based in Mumbai. Deirdre would have one-on-one singing sessions with the performers and had to schedule them at times convenient for both, due to the two very different time zones.

All these training sessions happened over Skype.

Alyque was very passionate about the play, so much so that he called his time directing and rehearsing the original ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ (JCS) as ‘Total Immersion’. This period lasted for two whole years.

After such a moving experience, he longed for another opportunity to fulfil his wish of directing another production of this play. Four decades later, his daughter Raëll offered to produce the revival for him. What better gift than this for a daughter to give her father!

The world is in a very upset place today. Everywhere, there are walls of hatred being built and very few bridges of love.

That’s why 40 years ago, when the situation was similar, Alyque decided to do JCS, because it is a story of a man who gave up his life for love and peace, and this was 2,000 years ago. Nearly 2,000 years later, another man rose and said that he believed in peace and non-violence, or Ahimsa. He, too, a man of peace, was done to death through violence.