THEATER REVIEW ‘JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR’ : True to Its Origins : The lavishly produced rock opera finds a balance between universal and timely elements. The issues remain relevant.

At least you don’t need a plot summary for this one. Or even dialogue, for that matter.

For all its contemporary trappings, the Tim Rice-Andrew Lloyd Webber rock opera about the final days of Jesus is painstakingly faithful to its biblical sources--so much so that the piece can be performed entirely in song without losing a beat.

But for all its timeless appeal, the musical also speaks to our immediate social predicaments with surprising urgency. In the second Central Coast “Superstar” production to appear this Easter, the PCPA Theaterfest cast and crew attempt a tight balance between these universal and timely elements.

And they succeed. In PCPA’s lavish staging, the piece becomes a hard-driving, fast-moving passion play with plenty of passion. Regardless of how you feel about the “rock opera” concept, the execution is striking, involving, and--most important of all for a work created in 1970--never embarrassingly dated.

Political corruption, economic privation, puppet regimes, racial inequality, social upheaval--all are familiar headline topics we can relate to, and just as relevant a backdrop to the movement Jesus ignited with his message of individual worth and personal salvation.

In the play’s concerted effort to “Strip away the myth from the man,” Kurt Genge’s thoroughly convincing Jesus emerges as a visionary who begins to sense his crusade getting out of control. “I’m not the man who started,” he reflects in an agonized moment of self-doubt. It’s ironic that similar themes evoked storms of controversy over Martin Scorsese’s later film, “The Last Temptation of Christ.” In both treatments, they emerge as natural psychological consequences of the burdens inherent in the Messiah role.

Just as penetrating is “Superstar’s” treatment of Judas, perhaps its most revisionist element. Rather than betraying Jesus out of greed, this Judas is motivated by misplaced passion for the movement, making him a far more dramatic opponent. In the role, Gregg Coffin uses both compelling performance and passionate singing to bring out Judas’ social concerns.

The social dimension is never far from the surface, either in the writing or in director Brad Carroll’s staging. In the eerie sequence set to the overture, the oppressed people of Judea emerge from swirling mists like zombies in “Night of the Living Dead.” Yet under the influence of the charismatic Jesus, they reclaim their humanity in the joyous production numbers “Hosanna” and “Simon Zealotes.”

The energy is just as powerful when crowds clamor for the Crucifixion--one of the strengths of the production is that it coaxes sharply focused emotions from its 25-member ensemble as well as from its leads. Much of the credit is due to Karen Barbour’s innovative choreography. The dance movements actually reinforce the plot lines.

For the most part, the original musical’s campier elements have been pared back. Even in the most satirical number, “King Herod’s Song,” Michael Fitzpatrick delivers his taunts with sinister vehemence, attached to puppet strings in a chilling political image.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Performed through April 18 at the Allan Hancock College Marian Theatre in Santa Maria. Evening performances ($15 or $17) are at 8 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; matinees ($10 or $13) are at 2 p.m. Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Special half-priced tickets for youths, ages 13-19, are available for this production. Tickets are available through all TicketMaster outlets, or by calling (800) 221-9469.