With Jesus Christ Superstar, the segment most often pincered for separate analysis is the younger generation—or sliced even thinner for microscopy, and for sensational copy, the counterculture and the Jesus Movements. Yet these ripples in American society are only peripherally related to the popularity of Superstar…. (p. 262)

The very first fact that the critic must deal with—rationally, not in righteous indignation—is the tremendous popularity of Jesus Christ Superstar…. Like the Beatles, though without apology, Superstar is probably more popular than Christ himself. (p. 263)

[The] immediate question is popular with whom? Certainly not with most critics, though a few have had the temerity to emphasize favorable aspects, and the usual number have hidden their judgments equivocally behind banter until they could see how Clive Barnes voted. The most common assumption is that the affluent young are making the work a superstar, and that the counterculture, "Jesus...