Cynthia Erivo said she laughed it off when people said it was “blasphemy” to cast her, a Black queer woman, as Jesus Christ in an upcoming Los Angeles production of “Jesus Christ Superstar.”
“Why not?” the “Wicked” star told Billboard with a shrug. “You can’t please everyone. It is legitimately a three-day performance at the Hollywood Bowl where I get to sing my face off. So hopefully they will come and realize, ‘Oh, it’s a musical, the gayest place on Earth.’ ”
The production, which will run from August 1 through August 3, will also feature Andrew Lambert in the choice role of traitor Judas.
Erivo said that trying to be positive right now is “the only way you can balance this stuff,” referring to the chaos caused by President Trump’s “anti-woke” campaign, including booting out the existing board at the Kennedy Center.
“I don’t know who gains what from that. I hope that it comes back,” she said. “It’s really sad to have to watch this happen to it. The Kennedy Center is supposed to be a space of creativity and art and music for everyone.”
Erivo, who now has two Best Actress Oscar nominations under her belt and a 2016 Tony award for “The Color Purple,” said that she didn’t consider that there might be a negative reaction when she came out in 2022. “Maybe I’m naive and wasn’t paying attention to it, because I’m sure there was [pushback],” she said.
The actress and singer’s new album, “I Forgive You,” is scheduled to be released on Friday. She said she hopes it will showcase more of her versatility.
“People see a very cookie-cutter version of me, and we do this thing with people where we isolate them or crystallize them in one space and go, ‘She’s just that,’ ” she said. “People don’t know me as a musician in the way they’re getting to know me now.”
