Cynthia Erivo has shrugged off criticism after she was introduced to be taking part in Jesus.

The 38-year-old British actress and singer is finest identified for enjoying Harriet Taubman within the film Harriet, Aretha Franklin within the collection Genius: Aretha and Elphaba in Depraved.

She has additionally starred in a string of theatre productions, together with Sister Act, The Coloration Purple, and Gutenberg! The Musical!.

Earlier this yr she was introduced because the star on the Hollywood Bowl’s upcoming staging of Jesus Christ Celebrity.

In February the 38-year-old was revealed to be taking part in Jesus Christ within the present, which may have three performances in August.

‘Jesus Christ Celebrity on the Hollywood Bowl! Emmy, Grammy, and Tony winner, and three-time Oscar nominee Cynthia Erivo is solid as Jesus,’ the venue revealed on social media.

Cynthia then shared: ‘Just a bit busy this summer time, can’t wait.’

Nonetheless, the casting divided folks, with some even going as far as to label it ‘blasphemous’.

Just a few months on Cynthia has defended her casting in Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical.

Requested by Billboard in regards to the backlash to a Black queer lady taking over the function, she declared: ‘Why not?’

‘You’ll be able to’t please everybody. It’s legitimately a three-day efficiency on the Hollywood Bowl the place I get to sing my face off.

‘So hopefully they may come and realise, “Oh, it’s a musical, the gayest place on Earth”.’

When her casting was initially introduced Cynthia was additionally met with assist from followers who identified the musical had all the time featured a racially various solid, and so they loved watching folks have a ‘meltdown’ over her casting.

Cynthia beforehand starred as Mary Magdalene in an all-female model of the musical, which made its Broadway debut in 1971, in 2020.

The upcoming manufacturing will see Adam Lambert play Judas, with Tony Award winner Sergio Trujillo the director and choreographer.

Rice beforehand stated he was wanting ahead to see this reimagining of his present.

‘I feel a bit that’s established, there’s no cause it could possibly’t be completed in a number of varieties,’ he instructed LBC.

‘I feel Cynthia, who is likely one of the finest singers on the planet, will do an awesome model.’

A earlier staging in 2018 – NBC’s Jesus Christ Celebrity Stay in Live performance – noticed John Legend play Jesus.

Since making her debut on the West Finish in 2011, Cynthia has gone on to win an Emmy, a Grammy, and a Tony Award, now being only one win away from securing the title of EGOT with an Oscar win.

Later this month Cynthia will host the Tony Awards, in addition to launch an album. Later this yr she can even star in Depraved’s sequel – Depraved For Good.

Her subsequent theatre present after Jesus Christ Celebrity can be Frankenstein on the West Finish subsequent yr, through which she’s going to play a jaw-dropping 23 roles.

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