To Broadway and back, OKC native plays Judas in anniversary tour of 'Jesus Christ Superstar'

Although he is a playing a character notorious for his treacherous and tragic end, Elvie Ellis' latest hometown homecoming qualifies as a triumph.

An Oklahoma City native who almost turned his back on his theatrical career, Ellis is returning to the Civic Center stage playing the lead role of Judas Iscariot in the 50th anniversary North American tour of the iconic and sometimes controversial rock opera "Jesus Christ Superstar."

"Just being back home and getting to perform for friends and family ... will be really, really special," said Ellis, who has previouly performed at the Civic Center with Lyric Theatre and the Oklahoma City Philharmonic.

"It has been definitely a windy, curvy road. I had my moment where I was like, 'No, I'm actually done doing theater. I never want to audition for anything again. I'm just going to work a regular job.' And somehow I found my way back to it."

"Jesus Christ Superstar" is playing the Civic Center on Feb. 14-19 as part of OKC Broadway's 2022-2023 season.

What is 'Jesus Christ Superstar' about and why is it controversial?

With lyrics and music by Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony winners Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber — who also created together the hits "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat" and "Evita" — "Jesus Christ Superstar" chronicles the final weeks in the earthly life of Jesus Christ as seen through the eyes of Judas.

The well-loved and sometimes scandalous rock opera begat the 1971 Billboard Album of the Year, featuring anthemic songs like "Heaven on Their Minds," "Everything's Alright," "I Don't Know How to Love Him," "Gethsemane" and "Superstar," before it even made it to the stage.

Especially when it initially debuted, the Tony-nominated show was labeled by some as blasphemous because it left out Christ's resurrection and presented Judas as a sympathetic figure.

"It's, I would say, a humanizing portrayal. I think we, a lot of times, look at these Bible characters, and we see them as these epic people that have one dimension of personality. ... But nobody really is one-dimensional like that, just straight-up good or straight-up bad," Ellis said, adding the cast, which includes actors of different faiths and no faith, prays before each performance that people's hearts will be softened to receive the story.

"I grew up in a church — still am — and I always just thought of Judas as, 'This is the bad guy in the story' — and really not much more than that. ... The show challenges that idea and makes you think, 'Well, maybe he's not necessarily the bad guy, but somebody in a circumstance that made decisions — and, who knows, would I have made those same decisions or would I not?'"

Originally staged by London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and led by acclaimed director Timothy Sheader ("Into the Woods") and renowned choreographer Drew McOnie ("King Kong"), the production now touring North America won the 2017 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival.

"It's a really, really cool adaptation. Everything's stripped down, and the focus is the music and the story and the relationships between the people on stage. While there are still some flashy bits, it's definitely not a musical, or adaptation, that is full of spectacle," Ellis said.

"It's a really, I think, provocative way of doing the show that makes people think when they come see it."

How did the OKC native get started in musical theater?

A Classen School of Advanced Studies graduate, Ellis, 31, said the school started inspiring his love for the arts practically from birth.

"My mom taught at Classen SAS ... and literally she was pregnant with me when she first started working there," said Ellis, whose mother, Verna (Shelton) Martin, still works for OKC Public Schools in administration.

"My older brother was in a show at Classen, 'How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.' Because he had a car at the time and we were both going to Classen, I just stayed after school to watch their rehearsals the whole time. Then, I went to every single performance, and that was the first time that I was like, 'Wait, this is really cool.' ... That's when the bug bit me."

He had his heart set on attending the University of Oklahoma and earned his bachelor’s in music education in 2014. 

"At the end of my undergrad, I was doing student teaching, and I thought, 'This isn't for me, waking up at 7 a.m. to teach choir, not my jam.' I finally realized that, so then I thought, 'OK, I'm going to go get my master's,'" Ellis said with a chuckle.

After he got his master’s in adult and higher education in 2016, Ellis found another line of work that wasn't for him.

"I left, did this cruise ship gig, hated it, came back to Oklahoma after three months and was like, 'Living on the ocean is not for me,'" he said. "But I knew after doing that that I did want to perform full-time as a career."

In the meantime, the Oklahoma native got another job he was passionate about, working at OU Health's Harold Hamm Diabetes Center as the coordinator for Camp Blue Hawk, a camp for youths with type 1 diabetes. He also continued to perform on the side, appearing in Lyric Theatre's productions of "Titanic," "Newsies," "The Rocky Horror Show" and "Curious George: The Golden Meatball."

"I'm not surprised in any way ...  that he's playing Judas on this national tour," said Lyric Producing Artistic Director Michael Baron. "There's so few people that have a voice like that, and he's a really special talent. He deserves, absolutely, to be right there."

How did the OKC native overcome COVID to become a 'Superstar?'

After three years of working at OU Health, Ellis had saved enough money to try again with a full-time theater career and moved to New York.

"I had actually booked a show to do in New York. It was an off-off-Broadway show ... of 'You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown,'" he said. "We were supposed to start rehearsals in April 2020, so I moved second week of March. I moved into my apartment, and Broadway announced they were shutting down the next day. A couple of days later, the production company called me and they said, 'Send back your script and score.' I said, 'OK,' and everything was canceled. And I just stayed in my apartment for like six months."

Although he came back to Oklahoma for a short time, he mostly stayed in New York and became a contact tracer throughout the COVID-19 pandemic to pay the bills.

"I never really stopped performing: There were all these virtual cabarets that people were doing and Zoom readings. ... It was a year and a half to two years of singing into my phone to keep the creative juices flowing. But it was definitely difficult," said Ellis, who continues to help out remotely with Camp Blue Hawk even as he tours as a performer.

As theaters began to reopen, he worked in Washington, D.C., and Ohio and eventually booked his first national tour last season, as a swing for the Tony-nominated musical "Waitress."  

From there, he became the star of "Jesus Christ Superstar."

"This is only my second national tour experience ... and it's the lead role. So, it's really exciting," he said. "But I've been thinking about (coming back to Oklahoma City) ever since they offered me this role, and I think I'm going to be full of lots of emotions."

'JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR'

• When: Feb. 14-19.

• Where: Civic Center, 201 N Walker.

• Tickets: https://www.okcbroadway.com.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU grad is Judas in tour of 'Jesus Christ Superstar' coming to OKC