Photo Illustration by Luis G. Rendon/The Daily Beast; Getty
An upcoming high school production of Jesus Christ Superstar has ripped a North Carolina town apart, with critics blasting it for peddling a so-called LGBTQ+ agenda—and students countering that their outrage is just the tip of an anti-trans, homophobic iceberg.
According to students at Central Academy of Technology and Arts, a magnet school in Monroe, a gender-neutral production of Jesus Christ Superstar was announced over the summer. An Instagram page for the school’s theater program advertised the rock opera with the official logo of Jesus Christ Superstar, the profile of two angels in the shape of a horseshoe, taken from its 1970 album release.
“2023 CATA Musical Reveal,” read the since-deleted post that was later reshared on a Union County community gossip page. “We have officially received the rights to produce an all-gender cast [Jesus Christ Superstar] where anyone can play any role.”