FOR THE KIDS : It’s Time for the Curtain to Rise on Teen-Agers’ Summer Musical : This year’s presentation is ‘Jesus Christ Superstar.’ The program has shown dramatic growth over the past 15 years.

When the curtain goes up on “Jesus Christ Superstar” this weekend, it will be the 15th season for the Thousand Oaks teen summer musical program that initially started as a way to keep vacationing kids busy and out of trouble.

A lot has changed since then. In the early days, most any teen who auditioned for a part in the annual summer musical walked on stage with a role.

This year 126 kids, ages 13 to 19, auditioned for the 45 roles in “Jesus Christ Superstar. That doesn’t include the 28 young musicians picked for the orchestra that will perform live for the show.

“We’ve never had as many people try out,” said Scott Buchanan, the show’s producer and recreation coordinator for the Conejo Recreation and Park District’s cultural unit. Some of the key performers are already on the track of professional theater careers, he said.

The program has found a new home at the Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza where the show opens Thursday in the Forum Theatre. The 7:30 p.m. performances run through Aug. 5 on Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for children, students and seniors.

The summer program is like theater camp. Kids picked to perform in the show--always a Broadway-style musical--pay a participation fee, something added since the early days. It’s $75 for stage roles, and $25 for the orchestra members. Rehearsals run sometimes six days a week.

It’s a learning experience, Buchanan said, as many of the kids have limited theater experience. But the quality of the performances each summer has gone up dramatically.

“The kids find that they learn a lot and they quickly come up to a certain level,” he said. The productions themselves have also become more sophisticated. This year’s show will cost at least $30,000 to stage, considering the high-tech lighting equipment and technical personnel hired to help with the effort.

For “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Buchanan and director Mark Reyes have stuck fairly closely to the original Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice show that opened on Broadway in 1971. (The show has been enjoying a revival the last couple years after the original leads from the 1973 movie were recruited to take it on the road.)

“Jesus Christ Superstar” is actually a rock opera. Not a word of dialogue is spoken during the two-hour show about Jesus’s last seven days leading up to the crucifixion.

The show doesn’t look like something out of the 1970s, according to Reyes. The costuming has a Biblical era look. It answers the question of what Jesus would find today: “A media show, with high tech glitz and glamour,” Reyes said.

Many of the lead players in the show are teens already headed for theater degrees in college and show-biz careers. Playing Jesus is 19-year-old Justin Lees-Smith of Newbury Park, a student at CalArts in Valencia. Seth Allen, 17, of Thousand Oaks is in the role of Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus. Allen has already hooked up with a theatrical agent, Buchanan said.

Summer Baltzer, 19, of Newbury Park plays Jesus’ devoted follower Mary Magdalene who does one of the best known songs from the show, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.”

Michael Stanley, 20, of Thousand Oaks, a UCLA music graduate, is conducting the musical. Two years ago he conducted the “The Pirates of Penzance” for the teen program.

Details

* WHAT: “Jesus Christ Superstar.”

* WHEN: July 27 through Aug. 5; Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday performances at 7:30 p.m.

* WHERE: Civic Arts Plaza, Forum Theatre, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Thousand Oaks.

* COST: $9 for adults; $7 for children, students and seniors.

* CALL: 499-4355.