<P> The musical opened on Broadway on 12 October 1971, directed by Tom O'Horgan, at the Mark Hellinger Theatre . It starred Jeff Fenholt as Jesus, Ben Vereen as Judas and Bob Bingham as Caiaphas . Dennen and Elliman played the roles that they had sung on the album . Kurt Yaghjian was Annas, and Ted Neeley (as a Christ understudy), Samuel E. Wright and Anita Morris appeared in the cast . Carl Anderson replaced Vereen when he fell ill, and the two performers later took turns playing the role . The show closed on 30 June 1973 after 711 performances . The production received mixed reviews; the bold casting of African - Americans as Judas was lauded, but reviewer Clive Barnes from The New York Times said, "the real disappointment was not in the music...but in the conception ." Lloyd Webber said in 2012: "I hugely objected to the original New York production, which was probably the worst night of my life . It was a vulgar travesty ." The show was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Score, but didn't win any . Lloyd Webber won a Drama Desk Award as "Most Promising Composer", and Vereen won a Theatre World Award . </P> <P> The Broadway show and subsequent productions were condemned by some religious groups . Tim Rice was quoted as saying "It happens that we don't see Christ as God but simply the right man at the right time at the right place ." Some Christians considered such comments to be blasphemous, the character of Judas too sympathetic and some of his criticisms of Jesus offensive . At the same time, some Jews claimed that it bolstered the antisemitic belief that the Jews were responsible for Jesus' death by showing most of the villains as Jewish (Caiaphas and the other priests, Herod) and showing the crowd in Jerusalem calling for the crucifixion . The musical was banned in South Africa for being "irreligious". A 1972 production of the play was banned in the Hungarian People's Republic for "distribution of religious propaganda". </P> <P> Superstar opened at the Palace Theatre in London in 1972, starring Paul Nicholas as Jesus, Stephen Tate as Judas and Dana Gillespie as Mary Magdalene . It was directed by Australian Jim Sharman . This production was much more successful than the original production on Broadway, running for eight years and becoming the United Kingdom's longest - running musical at the time . Dmitri Shostakovich attended this production in London just before his death . He regretted that he could not have composed something like it; he lauded especially a rock band underpinning full symphonic strings, brass and woodwind . </P> <P> One of the earliest foreign productions was a five - day run in Sweden at Scandinavium in Gothenburg, opening on 18 February 1972 and playing to 74,000 people (a record at the time). Starring as Mary Magdalene was Agnetha Fältskog . On 16 March 1972 an oratorio version was performed at Memorial Drive Park in Adelaide, South Australia as part of the Adelaide Festival of the Arts . This was followed in May by the first full Australian production, at the Capitol Theatre, Sydney, later moving to the Palais Theatre in Melbourne . Sharman again directed, and the cast included Trevor White as Jesus, Jon English as Judas, and Michele Fawdon (1972--1973) and Marcia Hines (1973--1974) as Mary Magdalene . Hines was the first black woman to play the role . Other cast members included Reg Livermore, John Paul Young, Stevie Wright, and Graham Russell and Russell Hitchcock, who met during the production and subsequently formed the band Air Supply . The production ran until February 1974 . In June 1972 the show opened in Belgrade, Yugoslavia, in Atelje 212 theatre, in adaptation by Jovan Ćirilov . The role of Jesus Christ was played by Korni Grupa vocalist Zlatko Pejaković, the role of Mary Magdalene by Azra Halinović and the role of Pontius Pilate by Branko Milićević . The premiere was directly broadcast by Radio Television of Belgrade . Bora Đorđević and Srđan Marjanović, at the time a little known musicians, also participated as members of the choir . The production was praised by the Yugoslav public . </P>

Where did j.c. superstar have it's longest run