Goal Achievement Tips From Jesus Christ (Superstar)!

I was watching a documentary recently about the story of British musical theatre, and the subject of Jesus Christ Superstar came up. In this post I want to go over some great goal achievement lessons…

With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, who had a deep musical theatre knowledge, and words by Tim Rice, who didn’t(!), Jesus Christ Superstar took the story of Jesus’ last days and put it to a rock music background.

They really weren’t sure how it would fare once released, so it first appeared as a recorded studio album in 1969 to test the water, with Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan taking the role of Jesus.

The album was a big hit, particularly in the US, so it was decided to open the stage show there. There was a lot of controversy around the show, with public protests, but the show ran for 2 years there.

Even then, the duo were still nervous about putting the show on in London, fearing that the more conservative British audience there would just not be ready for it.

However, producer Robert Stigwood owned the rights to it, and was adamant that it would go on. After generating great publicity around who would play Jesus, the show opened in 1972 and was a big success, running for 8 years.

In 1973 Stigwood produced the film version, which then had a soundtrack album and concert tours!

So, the goal achievement lessons centre around how to make progress with your ideas, particularly if they are innovative, which the style of Superstar certainly was.

Lloyd Webber and Rice weren’t sure of the reception in London, or on stage at all, so began with the recorded album, with no idea how it would do. After that stage was cleared they went to the US to put on the stage show, but were still not comfortable with a London production.

Here it was taken out of their hands, because Stigwood was in control of that decision – sometimes you have to accept things that you cannot control.

It’s great illustration of moving forward with an idea, cautiously at some times, and aggressively at others. There’s another lesson in there too, and it concerns their next musical, Evita…




Evita came out as a studio album first, but this time it wasn’t a cautious move, it was designed move, because they could now follow the successful steps they themselves had defined with Superstar!

When it came to staging the show in London, another media storm was stirred up over who would play Eva Peron, and the whole formula produced another massive success for the pair.

Real examples of Superstar goal achievement – taking action, testing to see what works, and then repeating what does!

Do let me know what you think – I love the feedback!

‘Til Next Time,
Health & Happiness,
Gordon
P.S. See these tips and more in my free 8 step goal achievement formula! You can also read my book ‘Transform Your Life in 21 Days!’ which has been described as ‘a real gem in the field’

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