"Jesus Christ Superstar" premiere sells out Erfurt's Domstufen-Festspiele with 44,000 tickets

Sold-out festival premiere

The musical classic "Jesus Christ Superstar" celebrated its premiere at the Domstufen-Festspiele in Erfurt, drawing a standing ovation from the opening-night audience. Nearly all 44,000 tickets for the 21 open-air performances of the rock opera, running through the end of August, have already been sold. Only waitlists remain for prospective attendees, a situation the festival has never encountered in its 32-year history. A spokesperson for Theater Erfurt described the complete sellout as a first for the event, which has been staging open-air productions on the cathedral steps for over three decades.

We have experienced this phenomenon for the first time after 32 years of Domstufen-Festspiele.

Cast and staging

The ensemble delivered the promised rock show on the steps between the Dom and the Severikirche in Erfurt, one of the city's most distinctive open-air venues. Lukas Mayer took on the lead role of Jesus, Katja Bildt portrayed Mary Magdalene, and Til Ormeloh played Judas. A specially assembled band supported the orchestra of Theater Erfurt for the performance of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Peter Lund directed the production, which uses the cathedral steps as a natural amphitheatre for one of the most recognizable works in the musical theatre canon. The combination of a rock band with the theater's own orchestra gave the score a dual musical texture suited to the outdoor setting.

Directorial concept

The plot of the musical follows the last days of Jesus Christ as described in the Bible. In the Erfurt production, Jesus was thrown out of a departing ambulance at the beginning of the performance, a striking directorial choice by Lund that immediately established the production's contemporary sensibility. The staging departs from a romanticized depiction of a holy figure; in this version, Jesus appears harassed by his followers and plagued by doubt throughout. The production was overlaid with the Jesus message "Love your neighbor," with the letters "Love" displayed prominently on the Domstufen as a visual anchor for the staging.

Set design and farewell

Hank Irwin Kittel designed the set for the Domstufen-Festspiele for the last time. Seven oversized picture frames dominated the stage image, along with a steep staircase that Judas traversed multiple times from the cathedral plateau down to the Domstufen. The frames and staircase defined the spatial dynamics of the production, giving the open-air stage a structured vertical dimension. Kittel concluded his work after 24 years as set designer at Theater Erfurt. At the end of the premiere, the ensemble and audience bid him farewell with sustained applause and flowers, marking the close of a long tenure shaping the visual identity of the festival.

Looking ahead

After the Domstufen-Festspiele conclude at the end of August, Theater Erfurt begins its new season in September. The upcoming program includes the opera premiere of "Eugene Onegin" by Tchaikovsky, scheduled for October 10.