Gay Jesus Christ Superstar

“Corpus Christi,” which depicts a gay Christ-like figure and 12 gay apostles has returned the stage in New York City and this time without protests and bomb threats as occurred in 1998 when the play first premiered. The plays producers at the time described the play as recounting the tale of a young gay man named Joshua on his spiritual journey,'' in which the audience becomes acquainted with ''the twelve disciples who choose to follow him. Not surprisingly, professional Catholic victim, William A. Donohue, president of the perpetually whiny Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, called the play an act of bigotry. I guess no one knows more about being a bigot than Donohue who routinely seeks to trample on the civil rights of others, particularly gays. Here are some story highlights from the New York Times:

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Not one angry protester showed up at the first performance of the New York revival of Terrence McNally’s notorious “Corpus Christi.” There was no talk in the aisles of free speech or the First Amendment. I didn’t even walk through a metal detector. Times have certainly changed.

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Only a decade ago this fragile, heartfelt play, which portrays Jesus as a young gay man, sparked hysterical protests from religious groups, leading to bomb threats at the Manhattan Theater Club, which canceled the show. Outrage ensued, and before you knew it, a culture war had erupted, before anyone had seen one scene. When the production finally opened, it turned out that it was an earnest and reverent spin on the Jesus story, with some soft-spoken, gay-friendly politics thrown in.

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One wishes the playwright had delved deeper into the love story between Joshua and Judas (Steve Callahan), who is the most interesting of the apostles here. A soulless yuppie, he’s starved for Joshua’s attention and love, and bitter when unable to get them.

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At one point, two men ask Joshua to marry them. When he agrees, they want him to be sure, bringing up the scriptural passage that says man shouldn’t lie with man. Joshua responds, “Why would you memorize such a terrible passage?” Later he strikes a priest for denouncing him, and a follower asks about turning the other cheek. “Do not take everything I say so seriously,” Joshua replies, revealing a wit rarely seen in the Bible.
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The play clearly does not appear overly threatening, but then again, it takes very little to rattle the fragile, artificial, form over substance faith of most Bible beaters.