Artists explore religious themes

The teachings of Jesus Christ get two interesting workouts in upcoming projects, one a film premiering March 2 at San Jose’s Cinequest Film Festival and the other in a new album by Rickie Lee Jones.

“Hitler Meets Christ,” a project by Emmy winner Michael Moriarty (“Law and Order”), imagines philosophical discussions between Christ and Hitler and is adapted from Moriarty’s controversial early 1990s play.

Moriarty plays Hitler, and Canadian actor Wyatt Page plays Christ.

“It ultimately comes down to good and evil,” Moriarty said. “It’s a comedy in as much as it allows the audience to laugh at Hitler, and it’s a tragedy in that he’s really a poor homeless man trapped and imprisoned by the soul of Hitler.”

Jones takes a more reverential look in “The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard” (New West Records). Jones took to the studio for a spoken-word project based on the work of L.A. photographer and filmmaker Lee Cantelon.

Instead, she improvised the album’s opening track, “Nobody Knows My Name.” The remainder of the CD was similarly created, held together by the Jesus theme -- the teachings of the New Testament in a modern context.