Alice Cooper Takes on Maniacal King Herod in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar Live’
Renowned rocker Alice Cooper will take the stage again, this time as King Herod in Jesus Christ Superstar Live!
“Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote a showstopping musical number for Herod and we all look forward to the ‘King of Shock Rock’ taking on the King of Judea. As the casting for ‘Superstar’ ramps up, we can feel the excitement building for this brand-new concert experience of what has long been considered the original rock musical,” says Robert Greenblatt, Chairman, NBC Entertainment.
Cooper has been a Christian for more than 30 years.
As Charisma previously reported:
Away from the stage or studio Cooper is a devoted family man, devout churchgoer, astute businessman and restaurateur, enthusiastic golfer and dedicated parent who with his wife annually helps local schoolchildren put on a big stage-production.
Although he became a Christian in the 1980s, the 54-year-old singer has always been guarded about his faith except for brief comments in some interviews—such as when he told Britain’s Sunday Times Magazine last year: “Drinking beer is easy. Trashing your hotel room is easy. But being a Christian, that’s a tough call. That’s real rebellion.”
Coope—who changed his name legally from Vince Furnier—went into detail for the first time earlier this year in a frank interview with a Christian music magazine, speaking at length about his love for God and reluctance to become a “Christian celebrity.”
Seen as having paved the way for the likes of today’s outrageous performers such as Marilyn Manson, Cooper maintains that his act was never political or religious and always had “a sense of humor.” He told HM: The Hard Music Magazine that he was always insulted whenever he was accused of being satanic. Raised in a Christian home, he still believed in God, although he was not personally committed.
That changed when alcoholism threatened his marriage. He and his wife, Sheryl, attended a church with a “hellfire pastor.” Cooper said he became a Christian “initially more out of the fear of God, rather than the love of God. I did not want to go to hell.” Now he views his faith as “an ongoing thing,” he said. “Being a Christian is something you just progress in. You learn. You go to your Bible studies. You pray.”
Cooper has avoided what he calls “celebrity Christianity” because not doing so would make it “really easy to focus on Alice Cooper and not on Christ. I’m a rock singer. I’m nothing more than that. I’m not a philosopher. I consider myself low on the totem pole of knowledgeable Christians. So, don’t look for answers from me.”
Herod Antipas wanted Jesus to perform miracles and beheaded John the Baptist.
In the musical, King Herod is known for his self-titled song, “Herod’s Song”:
