Ted Neeley is “risen,” again.

The friendly 79-year-old native of rural Texas has played the title role of the immortal “Jesus Christ Superstar” for over 50 years. The high he gets each time is profoundly divine.

Neeley starred in the classic 1973 film of the Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical, and his 50^th-anniversary tour will come to St. Ambrose University’s Galvin Fine Arts Center Saturday, July 22 at 7 p.m. The movie will be shown and Neeley will meet fans afterward (a pre-show VIP reception for $175 starts at 4:30 p.m.). He’s been on the national tour since January 2023.

“It’s been absolutely incredible,” he said Friday in an interview with Local 4. “That’s why I still do it. Every time we have these screenings, I’ve been lifted up so high – way up over the moon.

“The reaction of these people, because they love this movie so much,” Neeley said, noting he’s done these screenings for 12 years. Some audience members come dressed as characters from the film.

“I can’t believe I’ve been doing this for 50 years,” he said of the iconic show. At a recent appearance with a family and their four-year-old granddaughter, during the reception the girl was hiding behind her mom, Neeley recalled.

“When we finished talking, the mom told the girl, ‘Isn’t there something you wanted to say to Mr. Neeley?’…She slides in front of her and said, ‘Mr. Neeley, you are my Jesus,’ and she went behind her mom.”

In 1969, he played the lead role of Claude in both the New York and Los Angeles productions of the landmark rock musical “Hair.” He also appeared on the controversial, unaired episode of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour that prompted CBS to cancel the series.

Originating as a 1970 rock album (when composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was just 22), “Superstar” is set during the final week of Jesus’ life, and is told from the perspective of infamous betrayer Judas Iscariot. As more and more followers flock to Jesus, Judas grows concerned that Jesus is becoming arrogant and losing sight of his principles.

So when Jesus attacks the money changers in a temple, Judas finally turns on his teacher, setting both on a path to tragedy.

In the beginning of “Superstar,” when Ted Neeley was in the original Broadway show in 1971 (in the ensemble, then understudy for Jesus and the title role), many performances drew protestors, who felt it was sacrilegious. Some people literally tried to prevent actors from getting into the stage door.

“From that point until now, it’s just become a miracle,” Neeley said Friday. He recalled speaking to one protestor, who had never seen the show and he asked her why she was upset.

“We hate the title, that’s anti-religious,” he remembered. “We hear Jesus sings, and he sings with a rock and roll band. Jesus didn’t sing, and I wanted to say, ‘Were you there?’, but I didn’t for fear I’d get punched in the face.

Neeley fondly recalled the first time he got to do the title role on Broadway.

“It was incredible, the first time,” he said, noting he was announced to the audience before the show, and he heard disappointed groans.

“The understudy goes on; who’s that guy?” Neeley said. After he did the iconic “Gethsemane,” with its stratospheric high notes, there was a standing ovation.

“And I just melted,” he said. “I’ve been so fortunate with this for all these years, I’m so lucky I got to be in the film. Norman Jewison – a magnificent, visionary director. I’m the luckiest man alive.”

“I was amazed he chose me and Carl Anderson,” who played Judas.

Getting the film role

They were doing the first national tour, in 1972, rehearsing at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles. One night at 3 a.m., Neeley’s hotel phone rang. “Ted, this is Norman,” he heard. At the time, his closest friend was a Norman, but on the phone was the famed movie director Norman Jewison.

“I literally fell out of the bed,” Neeley recalled. “I didn’t know he was putting together ‘Superstar’ at all.”

Barry Dennen (who played Pontius Pilate in the Broadway “Superstar” and was Mendel in Jewison’s classic 1971 film “Fiddler on the Roof”) asked Jewison how screen tests were going for the “Superstar” film, and said he was having a hard time.

Dennen recommended Neeley and Anderson to be cast.

Jewison flew them all the way to London’s Pinewood Studios (where “Fiddler” and many other popular films were partly shot) for the screen test. Anderson sang “Heaven on Their Minds” and Neeley sang “Gethsemane.”

“All of this happened by accident,” Neeley said of getting cast. “Neither Carl nor I had any idea he was doing that film. Neither of us had any training for films at all. He said to us, once we got on the set in Israel. We asked, ‘How come us?’ He said, ‘I was gonna test all these major stars and they all did an incredible job, but their singing wasn’t happening, so I tested you two guys.”

“When I tested you, I saw this natural friendship between the two of you,” he recalled the director said of himself and Anderson. “You already had it and the more I looked at it, the more I realized, it’s probably the better thing to do, than having major stars play these roles.”

Jewison chose to cast a group of mostly unknowns, and Neeley said they had a magnificent experience in Israel.

The director (whose credits include “In the Heat of the Night,” “Moonstruck” “Rollerball,” and “…And Justice For All”) showed Pope Paul VI the movie at the Vatican, watching it together.

The director told Neeley, “He never took his eyes off the screen…and he said, ‘Mr. Jewison, I love your film. I believe this film will bring more people to Christianity than anything. You have my endorsement.’”

Raised as Baptist

Neeley grew up in the Baptist church, and played in a band at his church, the only band in bis tiny town. “We were literally rehearsing for these roles,” he said of playing Jesus. “I believe in it absolutely, and I was amazed when Norman sad, ‘Carl and Ted, you’re my Jesus and Judas’.”

The minute the film came out, he said most everyone loved it. Neeley was invited to perform the role again at Rome’s famous Il Teatro Sistina (he had never been to Italy before) in 2014, originally planning for a six-week run. It ran five and a half years, only stopping because of the COVID shutdowns in early 2020.

Though Jesus only lived to be 33, Neeley said it’s more meaningful to play the part after so many decades, into his 70s.

“I’ve done it so many times, for so long, and there are times I feel my feet don’t even touch the floor,” he said. “Because of the way the audience responds. It’s silence, and there’s screaming. I always meet with them after the show and talk with them. They bring their grandchildren.”

“Superstar” becomes a kind of church itself, where patrons come together to worship the show.

“That’s thanks to Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber for writing such a beautiful piece,” Neeley said.

Yvonne Elliman, 71, has been part of the anniversary tours, but isn’t able to be at the Ambrose screening (her mother died recently). Seven of their upcoming stops with Elliman have sold out special VIP packages ($250 each), where people can meet them privately before the film showing.

“She loves being there just as much as we do. She’s wonderful,” Neeley said. Elliman was on the original 1970 “Superstar” album, the 1971 Broadway show, and ’73 film. Her first hit single was the ballad “I Don’t Know How to Love Him” from the show, and her biggest radio hit came in 1977 with “If I Can’t Have You” from the “Saturday Night Fever” soundtrack.

No messiah complex

Despite playing the Son of God part thousands of times, Neeley does not have a messiah complex. He is extraordinarily humble and down to earth.

“I can spell ‘ego,’ but I don’t know what it means,” he said Friday. “I am so honored and so proud that I get to do this.”

Also, the actor met the woman who became his wife during “Superstar” filming (she played a dancer, and can be seen in “Herod’s Song”). Neeley and Leeyan Granger have two children, Tessa and Zackariah.

He’s been back playing Jesus post-COVID, including returning to Rome in January 2022. “Every place we played was sold to the max,” Neeley said. “We’re so beautifully honored to be part of it still.”

“Every time we do it, it’s like the first time again,” he said.

Though he doesn’t sing live at these anniversary events, Neeley and Elliman are planning to do a concert tour, starting in January 2024 and possibly a residency in Las Vegas.

He liked the NBC live “Superstar” concert version in 2018 (starring John Legend and Sara Bareilles), which he said “had more a Broadway touch to it. They did a wonderful job.” Tim Rice was in the live audience when it was broadcast.

Tickets for the SAU event ($20 general admission, $15 economy seating, 50% off for SAU faculty, staff and alumni, and free for Ambrose students with valid ID) are available for purchase at  or by calling 563-333-6251. The Galvin Fine Arts Center Ticket Office is open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and one hour before performances.

See Neeley perform “Gethsemane” from the film (courtesy Universal Pictures) below.

For more information, visit Neeley’s website HERE.