The timeless story lifted from the Gospels is told in various art forms worldwide. Even though most have heard the story many times, people still flock to see and hear these performances again and again.

The Lenten season heralds any number of movies, television specials and documentaries, stage plays, oratorios and street dramas focusing on the last days of Jesus’ life, often referred to as Passion plays.

They re-enact — often vividly and brutally — Christ’s suffering at the hands of Roman soldiers: humiliation, mocking, scourging and ultimately death on a cross. The timeless story lifted from the Gospels is told in various art forms worldwide. Even though most have heard the story many times, people still flock to see and hear these performances again and again, reinforcing that it’s “the greatest story ever told.”

Historians say scriptural dramatizations emerged in medieval Europe, a time when theater often was used to teach the common man, many unable to read and write, about the Bible and Christ.

One of the most famous and longest-running religious plays is the Oberammergau Passion Play dating to 1634 that’s presented every 10 years in Oberammergau, Germany, a town about 60 miles from Munich.

Its next staging is May through October in 2020, with 102 performances involving more than 2,000 residents. Tour companies offer trips to the Bavarian hamlet with over 750,000 people expected to visit next year, according to one.

Just last year, an estimated 10 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in

Article source: https://www.echo-pilot.com/entertainmentlife/20190331/passion-re-enacted-area-actors-singers-unite-to-portray-christs-last-days

The timeless story lifted from the Gospels is told in various art forms worldwide. Even though most have heard the story many times, people still flock to see and hear these performances again and again.

The Lenten season heralds any number of movies, television specials and documentaries, stage plays, oratorios and street dramas focusing on the last days of Jesus’ life, often referred to as Passion plays.

They re-enact — often vividly and brutally — Christ’s suffering at the hands of Roman soldiers: humiliation, mocking, scourging and ultimately death on a cross. The timeless story lifted from the Gospels is told in various art forms worldwide. Even though most have heard the story many times, people still flock to see and hear these performances again and again, reinforcing that it’s “the greatest story ever told.”

Historians say scriptural dramatizations emerged in medieval Europe, a time when theater often was used to teach the common man, many unable to read and write, about the Bible and Christ.

One of the most famous and longest-running religious plays is the Oberammergau Passion Play dating to 1634 that’s presented every 10 years in Oberammergau, Germany, a town about 60 miles from Munich.

Its next staging is May through October in 2020, with 102 performances involving more than 2,000 residents. Tour companies offer trips to the Bavarian hamlet with over 750,000 people expected to visit next year, according to one.

Just last year, an estimated 10 million viewers tuned in to NBC to watch “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in

Article source: https://www.echo-pilot.com/entertainmentlife/20190331/passion-re-enacted-area-actors-singers-unite-to-portray-christs-last-days