Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar is currently touring with a brand-new production, and it is quite the spectacle. 

I took a trip down the M4 to the Bristol Hippodrome to see the musical retelling of the last week of Jesus' life as told through the eyes of his most infamous disciple - Judas Iscariat. 

This new production takes a bold approach to the classic musical tale, infusing it with a gritty street-dance vibe and filling it with an ensemble frantically making their way through a series of contemporary interpretive dance numbers.

It also really leans into its parallel between religious and musical figures, with Jesus as a kind of young upstart guitar-playing musical prodigy sweeping through places and winning over the locals much to the chagrin of the already established musical performers there, and this is helped by everyone carrying a microphone - a reoccurring theme - at almost all times. 

It's a sung-through musical which means it progresses relentlessly without any break between songs and given that it has retained the heavy rock music element from some previous incarnations, the whole thing is at risk of becoming an overwhelming avalanche of loudness, albeit performed exceptionally by Ian McIntosh's Jesus or Shem Omari James' Judas who boast simply amazing voices. 

Thankfully there are moments of tenderness from Hannah Richardson's Mary Magdalene with songs like or neck-breaking changes in tone from Timo Tatzber's King Herod, but much of the show is angst-ridden emotionally wrought rock ballads.

But, this non-stop musicality does strengthen the ending sequence starting from the dramatic death of Judas to Jesus' painstakingly long and haunting crucifixion. 

Jesus Christ Superstar has always been a divisive musical, alongside a lot of Webber's other shows, and this specific reimagining of it is sure to be no different. 

Its dark subject matter, its relentlessness and its deliberately confronting scenes of torture and suffering may well put some people off, as will some of the more abstract production elements and performance choices taking the production into a more symbolic than sincere place.

But others will absolutely love the stylised choices made here, like the feverish movements of the ensemble, the heavy use of microphone and instruments as iconography, the costume choices including cartoonish masks for the Romans and a particularly imaginative use of glitter to demonstrate lashing.

I personally left being impressed by so much of it, particularly its exceptionally talented cast who absolutely shone throughout, but I ultimately couldn’t shake that this specific musical just wasn’t for me, but that’s okay, there will be plenty of people who are absolutely blown away by it.