Jesus Christ Superstar musical reunites Singapore singers Tabitha Nauser and Frances Lee

SINGAPORE – In 2016, Singapore singers-actresses Tabitha Nauser and Frances Lee shared the stage in a local production of Broadway rock musical Rent, which starred Nauser as HIV-positive Mimi Marquez and Lee as lawyer Joanne Jefferson.

A decade later, the pair are reunited, sharing the role of Mary Magdalene in the debut Singapore run of another iconic rock musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. They are the only local performers among the cast of the Olivier Award-winning international touring production.

In an interview with The Straits Times on Aug 7, they recall how they were at a rehearsal for Jesus Christ Superstar in Hong Kong in July when a Facebook Memories alert popped up on Nauser’s phone. It showed the two of them on stage together for Rent exactly 10 years ago to the day.

“The crazy thing is how it doesn’t feel like it was 10 years; it just feels like it was a couple of years ago,” Nauser, 34, says with a laugh. “We reconnected in Hong Kong and it was just like, ‘Hey, girl, what’s been going on in your life?’ Properly sitting down together after a decade was so nice.”

Jesus Christ Superstar, which premiered on Broadway in 1971, will run from Aug 19 to Sept 6 at Sands Theatre in Marina Bay Sands. It features music by British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by British songwriter Tim Rice.

In the fictional story, Mary is a follower of Jesus (played by British actor Luke Street) who eventually falls in love with him.

The principal cast also features American actors Javon King as Judas Iscariot and Ethan Hardy Benson as Pontius Pilate, all of whom have starred in British, North American and Australian tours of the production.

Only select stops of the Asian tour – Manila and Singapore – have integrated local actors to play Mary. According to resident presenter Base Entertainment Asia, this act of inclusivity was an opportunity to champion home-grown talent.

For the 23 performances in Singapore, Nauser and Lee will take turns playing Mary. According to Base Entertainment Asia, this arrangement allows the production to maintain the highest artistic standard throughout the Singapore season, while giving audiences the opportunity to experience two distinct interpretations of this complex character.

As the actresses tell ST, everything happened very quickly in the past few months. In early May, Nauser’s management, Cross Ratio Entertainment, informed her of Jesus Christ Superstar’s closed-call audition. Base Entertainment Asia reached out directly to Lee soon after.

Lee, 36, was in the middle of performing in T:>Works’ Lush Life for the Singapore International Festival of Arts, portraying a young version of Singapore jazz icon Jacintha Abisheganaden.

“I remember I was like, ‘Guys, I’m so sorry, can I just come in an hour earlier to record an audition video?’” Lee, a regular in the local theatre scene, recalls. She recorded her tape in the theatre and sent it off in late May.

In early July, both of them received the call that they had landed the role, leaving them with only two weeks to prepare before flying to Hong Kong to join the tour for the rehearsals.

Because the rest of the cast were performing every night, Lee and Nauser could rehearse only with the musical’s directors in the first couple of days.

“It was us in just this empty studio room, and so we had to use a lot of our imagination. ‘This is where the cross on the stage is going to be... You just have to imagine that there are people all around you’,” says Nauser, who is married with a two-year-old daughter.

Lee adds: “We really had only one day with the cast, one day on the stage to get familiar with the stage. And then a typhoon hit Hong Kong during our rehearsal week so things had to get shifted around. It was a really hectic, whirlwind period.”

Both of them are familiar with Mary’s songs in the musical, especially I Don’t Know How To Love Him, one of the character’s signature numbers.

Nauser, who placed third in local reality singing series Singapore Idol 3 in 2009, says her background as an R&B singer has shaped her minimalist approach to the famous ballad.

“I’m realising, for me personally, less is more,” adds Nauser, who is releasing her latest single, Waste The Night, on Aug 28. “The song in itself is quite a simple song, but it’s not about the musicality of it. You don’t have to do the most with it. Pulling it back a little bit gives it more meaning and attention.”

Lee, who played Pigsy in Wild Rice’s 2014 and 2016 runs of Monkey Goes West, as well as Aunt Debra in Kimberly Akimbo (2025), is relishing the chance to dive into Mary’s dramatic depth.

“Everyone who sings (I Don’t Know How To Love Him) has a very specific tone of voice,” notes Lee, who is also an artiste under the Ministry of Defence’s arts and entertainment group Music and Drama Company.

“Mary Magdalene brings a different energy (from that of the other characters), so it’s up to the actress’ interpretation of what that different energy is.”

The pair admit that they were surprised by how physically demanding the role could get.

They declined to go into detail about the “parkour” moves they had to do on the musical’s stage, which features a giant cross, preferring that the audience find out for themselves.

But Lee says they kept their cool even though they were nervous.

“Usually, when you do a big number in musical theatre, you just stand there and sing. We’re not doing that for this show. We didn’t know we had to do the parkour before we went to Hong Kong, so we just went and did it.”

Book it/Jesus Christ Superstar (Advisory 16)

Where: Sands Theatre, Marina Bay Sands, 10 Bayfront Avenue
When: Aug 19 to Sept 6, 8pm (Tuesdays to Saturdays); 2.30pm (Saturdays); 1.30pm and 6.30pm (Sundays)
Admission: $68 to $208 via Marina Bay Sands (str.sg/4ZJXt), Sistic (go to sistic.com.sg/events/jesus0926 or call 6348-5555) and Klook (str.sg/nAUD)

Correction note: In an earlier version of the story, we said that Tabitha Nauser’s latest single is On Repeat instead of Waste The Night. This has been corrected. We are sorry for the error.