Drew Sarich - Gethsemane - 1993 

18 years old?? Drew Sarich is scary good and I'm jealous, honestly.

Okay, sorry, I have to write a dissertation because I'm a Drew fan for ages now and I thought I'd heard all his JCS performances. This is an AMAZING find! First, whoa, look at all that hair! :D Plus, he's thinner than I expected; I thought he was stockier until later in the '90s. But most importantly, he's got such a fantastic voice--no surprise, of course, because... well, duh, it's Drew! His musicianship is just in its earliest stages, as is his acting. He mostly sticks to the straight melody (not that this is a bad thing; it's one of ALW's best), and where he does deviate, he uses others' vamps. I hear hints of both Ian Gillan from the original British concept album and Ted Neeley in this performance. Flash forward to post-2009 through now, where he takes far more risks and uses original alterations (as well as using those from later influences, e.g., Billy Porter and Steve Balsamo). He also throws himself into the deep end with that wailing and crazy high, held high note before the final verse. His acting is stronger and more gut-wrenching. These changes are natural. Drew is a sublime performer and a master of his craft. Even so, this junior version shows a lovely, powerful voice, still miles better than most people even waaay more advanced than he was at this point. But you know what really fascinates me? His pronunciation--especially his vowels! I'm used to his, um, idiosyncratic "a's"--in words like "man" or "sad" he sorta adds a dipthong (making "man" sound a bit like "may-yan"). He also has a very hard "r" sound at the middle/ends of words. I always figured that was his local accent. But either it's something he developed later or in this performance he put on a more standard, almost British accent. Which would make sense, since as I mentioned I think he was influenced quite a lot by Ian Gillan. That's the one thing that ever takes me out of his performances: whether he's playing Jesus or Judas or Jean Valjean, those broad "a" vowels and super over-pronounced "r's" scream "Hi! I'm an American rock singer!" (He did tone it down somewhat for Les Mis as time went on, I was happy to hear.) Like some others I've *always* preferred his Judas, and honestly think he's better suited to the character and vocals. Since he's so drawn to playing darker roles, I'm surprised he's never gone back to it since 2005's Amstetten performance. I mean, Judas is by far the better role anyway! Even if Judas doesn't get "Gesthemene" he gets the kickass songs with the most acting range. I fell in love with his "Heaven on Their Minds" and in "Judas's Death" he breaks my heart, only to crack me up again with his snarky "Superstar." Why waste all that attitude just for one showy aria? C'mon Drew, come back to the dark side! Anyway, blah blah blah. Thank you, thank you a million times for uploading this incredible bit of Sarichy goodness!

Awwwwwww baby Drew!!!! He looks like Ashton Kutcher here :) So much potential, that exploded into a magnificent talent!

Wow! I love seeing this first recording of Gethsemene with Drew and comparing it to his later work. Always had a stunning voice though!

Wow he really gets better and better now. You can see he cared more about the technique back then and was not so sure how to be careful with his voice! He was amazing anyway then and now! Best Jesus ever.

A great voice....then and today!

This sounds amazing.... but what’s he doing with his hands??? Is that a character choice???

Still a phenomenal voice.

Lol his "whyyyy?" was so disappointing compared to later performances

와 사리치 젊다

Interesting that he actually started as Jesus... I still prefer his Judas. S

Esa versión no es 1993 es 2003 yo tengo la caratula dice 2003

he was really only disappointed in his performance wàs he didn't hit the high note like Ted Neeley does other then that I loved it

Just... nice. WHERE'S THE HIGH NOTES...?!?!? Too poor interpretation.