The Passion: New Orleans

The Passion: New Orleans[1] (also known as simply The Passion[2]) is an American music television special that was broadcast by Fox on March 20, 2016. Based on the Dutch franchise of the same name (which in turn, was adapted from a BBC special) and produced by Dick Clark Productions and Eye2Eye Media, it was a contemporary retelling of the Passion of Jesus Christ set to popular music, through a mixture of live and pre-recorded segments filmed from locations around New Orleans.[3][4]

The Passion: New Orleans
Created byJacco Doornbos
Based onThe Passion franchise
Written byPeter Barsocchini
Directed byDavid Grifhorst
Presented byTyler Perry
Starring
Composer(s)Adam Anders Peer Astrom
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
Production
Executive producer(s)Robert Deaton
Producer(s)
Production company(s)
Release
Original networkFox

It starred musicians Jencarlos Canela, Prince Royce, Trisha Yearwood, Chris Daughtry, and Seal. Tyler Perry hosted and narrated the special, while Nischelle Turner served as a correspondent for the procession of a cross to Woldenberg Park.

The Passion received mixed reviews; critics noted that its secular soundtrack sometimes had weak thematic relevance to the story of Jesus, drew comparisons to Super Bowl halftime shows and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in its format and presentation, and noted that it relied largely on a mixture of live and pre-recorded segments. Seal's performances as Pontius Pilate were regarded as a standout by several critics, while Tyler Perry's hosting received mixed reviews—characterizing his narration as being restrained, and noting that the crucifixion of Jesus was presented solely through graphic dialogue. The special was the second-highest-rated program of the night behind NBC's Little Big Shots.

Production
As in the original Dutch versions of the special, the broadcast culminated with the procession of an illuminated cross to its main stage.[5]

In December 2015, Fox announced that Tyler Perry would host and narrate a television special based on the final hours of Jesus Christ's life, broadcast live from New Orleans on March 20, 2016 (Palm Sunday), and produced by Eye2Eye Media and Dick Clark Productions. The special was formatted as a musical containing contemporary songs, and featured the procession of an illuminated cross from Champions Square (outside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome) to a stage at Woldenberg Park.[5][6]

The story was portrayed using modernized imagery, and a script adapted from Bible scriptures by Peter Barsocchini of High School Musical fame, with the vetting of the American Bible Society.[2] Producer Mark Bracco explained that The Passion would be "modern" and "inclusive", "whether you are a believer or wants to hear Trisha Yearwood sing a Whitney Houston song".[5][7] Perry emphasized the significance of using the city of New Orleans as the setting for the special; drawing parallels between Hurricane Katrina and the resurrection of Jesus, he stated that New Orleans had "literally [risen] again from a liquid grave."[8]

The special was an American adaptation of a Dutch television special of the same name, which has been broadcast annually since 2011,[5] and was, in turn, a localized version of the BBC's 2006 special Manchester Passion.[9][10] Creator Jacco Doornbos, who conceptualized the special in 2007 after learning that only 25% of people in the Netherlands were aware of the story of Easter,[5] described The Passion as having become the largest annual television event in the Netherlands. The 2015 edition was seen by approximately 3.57 million viewers, a 46% share.[11][12] As a live musical, The Passion also served as a follow-up to Grease: Live, a live production of the 1971 musical Grease that Fox had broadcast two months prior, as influenced by NBC's recent live productions of stage musicals.[5]

Jencarlos Canela in 2012

Adam Anders, who previously worked on fellow Fox series Glee, served as executive producer and music director for The Passion. He elaborated that the goal of the special's soundtrack was to present well-known songs "in a completely new context". Chris Daughtry, an American Idol alumnus who was cast as Judas, stated that his songs—Imagine Dragons' "Demons" (which was performed as a duet with Jesus—played by Jencarlos Canela, during Judas's betrayal) and Evanescence's "Bring Me to Life", would be "very different interpretations" of the original tracks.[2][6][13][13][14] Anders felt that the project fit well with Fox due to the network's history with music-based series, such as Glee (a series which Anders also worked on)[2] and Empire.[5] Anders believed that the "power" of the presentation and its use of popular music helped influence the popularity of The Passion in the Netherlands—where, according to a recent survey, more people practiced atheism or agnosticism combined than theism.[15][16] As such, Anders felt that the concept could be "huge" in the U.S. due to the level of religious practice in the country.[2] He stressed that the integrity of the story would be maintained, remarking that "I'm a pastor's kid, and I have a cheese alarm that goes off easily. I knew I couldn't have the disciples breakdancing."[2]

The concept of The Passion was met with skepticism; Anders remarked that he had difficulty convincing musicians to allow use of their songs because the concept of The Passion was difficult to explain, while Chris Daughtry and Prince Royce were initially hesitant towards the concept of participating in an overtly religious production.[2] Daughtry did remark that he enjoyed the idea of playing an antagionist, and felt that Judas was a "very human" and "very relatable" character.[2][17] Prince Royce, who was cast as Saint Peter, similarly promised that he would take his role seriously and not act as "the normal Prince Royce who takes his shirt off and gets the girls screaming".[2] Tyler Perry, who practices Christianity,[18] was enthusiastic about being involved in such an event occurring in his hometown, and joked that contributing to a project that he did not personally create was like a "vacation".[13] He felt that the modern setting and contemporary music would make the story more accessible to a general audience.[5]

Celebrity chef Carla Hall made a cameo appearance staffing a food truck that Jesus used to cater the Last Supper,[19] while the Preservation Hall Jazz Band also appeared for a performance of "When the Saints Go Marching In".[8] Nischelle Turner served as a co-host, primarily serving as a reporter along the procession route to Woldenberg Park.[3]

Cast

Broadcast

The Passion was broadcast by Fox on March 20, 2016; the telecast was preceded by the premiere of an Easter-themed Ice Age special, The Great Egg-Scapade.[22] In Canada, The Passion aired on Omni Television in simulcast with Fox.[23]

The special received a 4.3/7 household rating, putting it behind NBC's Little Big Shots as the second-highest rated show of the night.[4] Netflix acquired international digital rights to The Passion outside of the United States and Netherlands; it was made available for streaming beginning on March 25, 2016.[24]

Soundtrack
The Passion: New Orleans - Music From the Live Television Event
Soundtrack album by
Various Artists
ReleasedMarch 18, 2016
Label
Producer

The official soundtrack album for The Passion was released on March 18, 2016.[1] Copies sold at Target and Walmart stores contained two exclusive bonus tracks each.[25]

The soundtrack debuted at #8 on the Billboard 200 chart, while Chris Daughtry's cover of "Bring Me to Life" debuted at #2 on the April 9, 2016 Billboard Hard Rock Digital Songs chart, as the most-downloaded single from the soundtrack.[26]

The Passion: New Orleans: Music from the Live Television Event
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
1."When Love Takes Over"Yolanda Adams 
2."Love Can Move Mountains" (featuring Jencarlos, Prince Royce, Chris Daughtry, Shane Harper & Michael W. Smith)The Passion Cast 
3."My Love Is Your Love[14]"Trisha Yearwood 
4."Home"Jencarlos & Prince Royce 
5."With Arms Wide Open"Jencarlos 
6."Hands"Trisha Yearwood 
7."Bring Me to Life"Chris Daughtry 
8."Calling All Angels"Jencarlos 
9."I Won't Give Up"Trisha Yearwood 
10."Demons[14]"Chris Daughtry & Jencarlos 
11."The Reason"Prince Royce 
12."You'll Never Walk Alone"Trisha Yearwood 
13."We Don't Need Another Hero"Seal & Jencarlos 
14."Mad World"Seal 
15."Broken"Trisha Yearwood 
16."Unconditionally[27]"Jencarlos 
Target-exclusive songs[25]
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
17."He Will Never End"Michael W. Smith 
18."Hold You Up" (Extended Mix)Shane Harper 
Walmart-exclusive songs[25]
No.TitleArtist(s)Length
17."When the Saints Go Marching In"Yolanda Adams and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band 
18."With Arms Wide Open" (Spanish Version)Jencarlos 

Reception

Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly was critical of the special; he felt that most of its performances were plagued by "boy band video camaraderie", with little "acting" beyond "poses of earnestly generated emotion", and song choices that had poor thematic relevance to the story (such as "Demons" being only a "pat, unsatisfying explanation for Judas' betrayal"). However, Jensen did single out "Calling All Angels" for giving "affecting voice" to Gethsemane, and Seal's scenes and performances as Pontius Pilate as being the "most 'live' dramatic moment" of the night. He also noted that despite being promoted as an event similar to other live musicals, some of the performance segments were pre-recorded, and that the performers' wearing of headset mics in these scenes was likely intended to further the illusion of a completely live broadcast. Jensen described Perry's narration as being repetitive, "cliché", and "like a more subdued Ryan Seacrest counting down the minutes to New Year's", while the "cheeriness and get-to-the-point hurriedness" of Nischelle Turner's procession interviews "bent" their "poignant" stories "toward the rah-rah product endorsements." The shortcomings of the special as a whole were exemplified by its resurrection scene (where Jencarlos sang Katy Perry's "Unconditionally" on the roof of the Westin New Orleans hotel), arguing that "a more effective final image would have been to place Jesus on the ground and moving among in his people as he did after his resurrection and as the Holy Spirit did on Pentecost", but by separating Jesus from the audience, it instead "created a metaphor for how so many people experience God—far away; hard to see—and a metaphor for a TV spectacle full of simplistic passion but failed as engaging play."[28]

Emma Green of The Atlantic felt that "in some ways, [The Passion] was the perfect portrayal of Jesus for the 21st century", but that it "[seemed] to suggest that the middle- and upper-middle class people watching at home will most resonate with the story of a poor fisherman if they see him dressed and coiffeured like he’s headed to Starbucks." The contributions of Turner were described as being a "highly orchestrated woman-on-the-street reporting in the middle of a very expensive, highly inorganic spectacle" not unlike New Year's Rockin' Eve, and with political overtones surrounding Katrina. Green felt that the goal of The Passion was to emphasize "strong performances, glitzy visuals, and perhaps a nostalgia for the early years of American Idol", exemplified by the "undeniably stunning" resurrection scene (set to what she felt was "arguably the worst Katy Perry song, and one that probably wasn't written about God or Jesus"). In conclusion, The Passion was considered to be a "solid take" on the concept of live television musicals, but acknowledged the "inherent tension between entertainment and faith: the former thrives on glitz and glam, while most religions explicitly reject that kind of showmanship in favor of humility before God." Green also suggested that the portrayal of Jesus being arrested by police officers would have been a "powerful political message" if he were played by an African-American, and that the cross should have been carried by the homeless and poor if the producers "truly wanted to make a statement about faith".[19]

Mike Hale of The New York Times likened The Passion to a Super Bowl halftime show, noting that while the concept could be excused as having a "familial connection" to traditional passion plays, "the slick, relatively gaffe-free broadcast was intended not to arouse any unruly emotions or to offend any particular religious sensibilities". Hale felt that Tyler Perry's narration was "wooden" in its writing, and suggested that the pop-rock power ballads used in The Passion "demonstrated that generic love and breakup lyrics can be adapted to almost any circumstance, even to describe Christ's pain on the cross (which was also graphically described by Mr. Perry, in one of the show's stranger moments)." However, Hale felt that the resurrection scene was the "theatrical coup" of the presentation, and commended it for producing the "genuine" moment of crowd members using their phones to record the scene, "just as they would if the resurrection happened today".[29]

Greg Evans of Deadline Hollywood described The Passion as being "equal parts sermon and Super Bowl halftime show", and "overstuffed with sincerity, good intentions and hammy musical performances, all melting into a big batch of goo faster than a chocolate bunny in the sun." He noted that the production frequently switched between dramatic segments that were "ruthlessly condensed and fully reliant on Perry's stagebound exposition", Trisha Yearwood "ostensibly [playing] Mary" by singing songs from the main stage, and coverage and interviews from the procession. Evans felt that Seal's performance of "Mad World" was the "best musical moment" of the special, and also noted that unlike many Passion productions, the crucifixion of Jesus was not visually depicted, and that it "entirely avoided the Passion pitfalls of history, handing the 'give us Barabbas!' cries to the crowd rather than any scapegoated minority. It was the evening’s rare moment of restraint, and rather inspired."[30]

Robert Blanco of USA Today felt that The Passion was "well-sung, to be sure" but wasn't "well thought-out", noting odd choices of songs such as "Bring Me to Life", which "told you nothing specific about the turmoil of the man who was about to betray Christ", and "I Won't Give Up", which "[felt] far more romantic than maternal, just as Yearwood felt more Country Star than Virgin Mother". It was also noted that because Yearwood only performed from the main stage, she did not directly interact with most of the cast, and it was also suspected that some of the performance segments may have been pre-recorded. In conclusion, Blanco felt that The Passion was part of a "great artistic tradition" of adaptations of the story of Jesus (such as Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell) that seek to "speak to different people at different times in ways they can understand", arguing that "there's no question many in the crowd were moved; there were tear-stained faces during Perry's recounting of the crucifixion and cheers when he reached the resurrection. If you were one of those people for whom this version worked, then God bless. But please, have mercy on the rest of us."[3]

Bethonie Butler of the Washington Post felt that despite the entertainment-oriented nature of the production and the lack of visual depictions of violence, The Passion was "unapologetically religious" and "felt kind of like a service at a multicultural megachurch". Owing to its use of segments featuring interviews from the procession route (which led to a Twitter user joking that it felt like a concert special aired during a PBS pledge drive), the format of The Passion was described as feeling "like less of a play and more of a series of a musical performances, all of which were solid, if a bit zany." Butler touted that despite its nature as a spectacle, and viewers who did not believe that the portrayals were biblically accurate, "many were moved at the sight of Jesus and Christianity front and center on their television set, not to mention that cross glowing down Bourbon Street", and that the significance of The Passion's New Orleans setting resonated best with the live audience.[8]

gollark: Which has somehow led to me reading the bit on number theory in one of the textbooks because ???.
gollark: I'm working on Project DISCOURAGEMENT CYLINDER for potatOS.
gollark: Possibly? I did it ages ago.
gollark: Yes, and I responded to it.
gollark: Also, I think you got the subset/strict subset symbols the wrong way round.

See also

References
  1. "'The Passion: New Orleans' Live Musical Track List Revealed". Billboard. February 25, 2016. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  2. "'The Passion' Stars Jencarlos Canela, Prince Royce & Chris Daughtry on Replacing Prayers With Pop Hits in Fox Biblical Musical". Billboard. March 10, 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  3. "Review: More 'Passion' than sense". USA Today. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  4. "'The Passion' Ratings & Tyler Perry Down Sharply From 'Grease Live' For Fox". Deadline. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  5. "Fox's 'The Passion' Brings Biblical Story "Back To The Public Space – TCA". Deadline. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  6. "TV Roundup: Tyler Perry to Host Easter Event 'The Passion' on Fox". Variety. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  7. "Fox's Biblical Musical 'The Passion' Adds Singers Yolanda Adams and Michael W. Smith". Billboard. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  8. "Jesus sang Katy Perry from a rooftop in Fox's live musical 'The Passion'". Washington Post. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  9. Nelson, Carrie. "7 Facts about Fox's next live musical, The Passion". SheKnows. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  10. "Day that Jesus came to the Arndale Centre". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  11. "TV Top 25: The Passion en dan heel lang niets". Metro (in Dutch). April 5, 2015. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
  12. "Fox To Air 'The Passion' Live Musical About Jesus Hosted By Tyler Perry". Deadline.com. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  13. "Tyler Perry Talks Appeal and Challenges of Fox's Live Jesus Musical". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  14. "Fox Staging The Passion, Live: How Trisha Yearwood, Imagine Dragons and NOLA Will Tell Jesus' Story". TV Line. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  15. "More Atheists than Believers, but 60% on the fence". NLTimes. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  16. van Beek, Marije (16 January 2015). "Ongelovigen halen de gelovigen in". Dossier Relige. der Verdieping Trouw. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  17. "See Chris Daughtry rehearse as Judas for Fox's The Passion musical — exclusive first look". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 12 March 2016.
  18. Michael Kress. "Interview with Michael Kress: Tyler Perry, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, "Meet the Browns" Madea's Family Reunion, Daddy's Little Girls". Beliefnet.com. Retrieved November 13, 2011.
  19. "Tyler Perry's The Passion: A Perfect Bourgeois Jesus". The Atlantic. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  20. "Fox's 'The Passion' Casts Chris Daughtry As Judas, Jencarlos Canela As Jesus". Deadline. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  21. "Seal Cast as Pontius Pilate for Fox's 'The Passion'". The Wrap. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
  22. "TV tonight: 'Ice Age' Easter special, 'The Passion'". USA Today. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  23. "City Prime-time Programming Highlights: Monday, Mar. 14 to Sunday, Mar. 20". Rogers Media. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  24. "Netflix Picks Up 'The Passion' Live Musical Special For Global Distribution". Deadline. Retrieved 20 March 2016.
  25. Herb Longs (29 February 2016). ""The Passion: New Orleans" Soundtrack To Release March 18". TheChristianBeat.org. Retrieved 1 March 2016.
  26. "'The Passion' Top-Selling Songs: Chris Daughtry, Trisha Yearwood & More". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-12-21.
  27. "Prince Royce, Seal, Chris Daughtry Featured in New Promo for 'The Passion': Watch". Billboard. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
  28. "The Passion: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. 20 March 2016. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  29. Hale, Mike (21 March 2016). "'The Passion': Jesus' Final Hours as a Halftime Show". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
  30. "Tyler Perry's 'The Passion' Lives Up To Its Title, For Better And Worse – Review". Deadline.com. 21 March 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
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