The Church Play Cinematic Universe 

Being completely serious, “Batman gets crucified on the bat signal” seems like something the comics would 100% do

Butch Chastity is an incredible name. Almost a drag name, really.

“I don’t know why they included the Devil went down to Georgia.” Jenny, someone in the congregation is a competent fiddle player-what other reason do they need??

2024’s “Murder on the Jerusalem Express” was a perplexing combination of 70s disco meets Texas cowboys in an Agatha Christie style murder mystery. During “the last supper” on the train, Cristoff (a totally groovy 70s hippie played by senior pastor Mark Hughes) is murdered as the train passes through a tunnel, sparking the post crucifixion lament of “Midnight Train to Georgia” sung by our favourite church choir director. The following half hour was a collection of oddly chosen musical numbers (Macho Man by the Village People, Take the Money and Run by Steve Miller Band and When Will I Be Loved by Linda Ronstadt) as the train conductor (a Pink Panther parodied Jacques Clouseau) questions the remaining train passengers (a hippie named Jude, a pair of cowboys with Texas accents, and a slew of characters named after suspects from the board game “Clue”) in an attempt to uncover the murderer. The resurrection scene was a little bit of a let down, with Cristoff just reemerging in the front car of the train (without even striking a crucifixion pose!). There was no use of the stage turntable this year, though the LED screen was utilized as moving scenery for the train windows. Overall, 7/10.

Rewriting "Rasputin" to be about Jesus and performed by people dressed as Star Trek characters might very well be humanity's greatest achievement.

ok but Batman being crucified to the Batlight is 100% something Zack Snyder would've unironically done if he continued making DC films

Per their website, 2024's production will be an adaptation of Murder On the Orient Express titled..Murder on the Jerusalem Express. I'll admit my curiosity is piqued. however, it does confirm that the church has little interest in adapting current films. So don't expect The Passion of the Barbenheimer until at least 2028.

That delayed "WOÄÆHH" sounds like he got scared by actually stepping on the sunshine.

You’ve answered the question “what would happen if Michael Scott was both real and an evangelical pastor?”

The “I’m walking on sunshine……………………………wHØÃÂÅÆ” fucking beheaded me

It's amazing that this church didn't think any of this was obscenely blasphemous.

I feel like they have a really talented carpenter in their congregation who has a ton of fun making these sets. And honestly, that’s great, the are like, the consistent best part of these plays.

"bonus points for the pyrotechnics when christ rises out of the dumpster" is genuinely the funniest sentence i've heard in years

I would genuinely unironically like to know what this congregation considers blasphemous. I don’t even mean that as an insult, it’s just genuinely fascinating how every vaguely Christian subgroup or denomination has their own standards and “crucifying Batman on the bat signal to represent Jesus” would be a dealbreaker in a lot of them I think

Iron Man whipping out Chumbawamba mid crucifixion was way more than I can handle.

Iron Man in a crucifixion pose stoically staring into the distance and ignoring the woman lamenting at his feet was definitely my favourite thing. He didn't even try to look unconscious, he straight up just looked like a 5-year-old whose mum hadn't bought him the sweets he wanted and now he is refusing to speak to her or even acknowledge her presents 😂

"Butch Chastity" is a god tier character name and they probably didn't even foresee the implications.

I lost it at the middle aged man screeching out “WHOA!” just a few beats too late during “Walking on Sunshine.” He just knew he wasn’t gonna hit that note. 🤣

This is in my hometown. AMA. Fun fact: Simba is the pastor's daughter.

"Captain, even you coming back from the dead would seem... highly improbable." -Spock, a character who has come back from the dead

Avengers' Loki singing Call Me Maybe is the most 2012 tumblr thing ever.

Honestly Simba's actress mumbling "man they make Pride Rock higher every year" after almost falling is a very charming save! Good on that actress!

1. I have to know what happened between the former Prima Donna and the Choir Director. The former Prima Donna just disappears when the Choir Director shows up and then the flex of singing "I'll Be There" again and 100x better really suggests some juicy backstage drama. 2. The moment where Loki sings a heartfelt, ballad version of "It's the End of the World As We Know It," interspersed with snippets of Chumbawamba sung by Iron Man Jesus, mid-crucifixion on an I-beam is so utterly perfect and bizarre that it will be with me for the rest of my life. 3. I went to high school 10 minutes away from Altona, MB with a bunch of low-German speaking, pacifistic Mennonites and then lived in Winnipeg so this hits weirdly close to home. (I am also a pacifistic former Mennonite, although I do not speak low-German.) 4. Genuine shoutout to everyone who played live instruments as they all knocked it out of the park. Also, the sets and costumes are awesome. (Except when they're hilariously bad) 5. This is a church equipped with professional lighting, pyrotechnics, a rotating stage, harness equipment, numerous lapel mics, a teleprompter, an LED screen and a backstage area. Let's just let that sink in for a minute. Do they use this stuff for anything else? Does the pastor descend weekly from the rafters onto stage to deliver the sermon while pyrotechnics blast the dancing girls who are rotating gently in the background? I guess we know where the tithes are going.

In the production Robin of the Hood, the narrator isn't trying for a Brooklyn accent. It's actually a racist impression of a first nations accent common in Winnipeg. It's not uncommon to hear to areas with high first nations population referred to as "the ghetto" or "the hood", so having the narrator sport the stereotypical accent fits right into the theme.

I never understood the message of our lord and saviour Jesus Christ until I saw Him depicted as wisecracking alcoholic womaniser Tony Stark singing Chumbawumba while being crucified. Much like an ARC reactor, the Lord truly works in mysterious ways.

Suggestion: “Mean Girls”. Jesus is Cady, and she gets crucified to the front of a bus after the burn book stuff comes out. The post-crucifixion lament is “Girlfriend” by Avril Lavigne.

38:55 The "NOT Welcome to HELL Valley" sign is the kind of attention to detail that sets these productions apart.

I’m here due to the “starwars hotel” video. I am so glad that I kept watching your videos. The evermore video was great, but this just made me so happy. The thought of these churchgoers going so hard on the Easter play was really just endearing to me.

As a professional Canadian theatre artist... the fact that its THESE plays that get to have this absurd level of production value? Kills me. Kills me dead. Nails me to a Bat signal crucifix.

“~i’m walkin’ on sunshine~……….. Ẉ̸̛̔̀̉̈́̈́͆̑̀̓̃̿̀̓͝ͅḨ̸̨̹͎̫̱̩͚̦̗͍̺̖̽̄͊̽̆̿̓̓̍̿͘͘͝͝ͅͅÚ̴͕̻͎͔̪̙͇̠̩̲̤̻͎̗̌̚U̴̢̟͂̉̽̋̋͜-“

The idea that a church would use "Believer" in a religious play fucking kills me. Dan Reynolds has specifically stated the song is about how his father, a devout Mormon, essentially abused him in order to make Dan a better Christian. Hell, in the play they used it in, they are literally arguing against free will and the second verse begins with "Second thing second, don't you tell me what you think that I could be/ *I'm* the one at the sail, *I'm* the master of my sea..." Church Play directors attempt to have a scrap of media literacy challenge (LITERALLY IMPOSSIBLE)

Missed opportunity for "Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Chapel"

It wouldn’t be an evangelical church play if the youth pastor wasn’t rapping at some point 🤷🏼‍♀️

Lol. The Luke joke you were confused about, "Altona" is a town/city in Manitoba near Winnipeg. There is a prominent religious population and many speak a form of low German. So it's just a local geography culture joke.

2024’s play was _“Murder on the Jerusalem Express”_ for those who were wondering

Absolutely rolling when the titular song "Captain Jack", by the Artist "Captain Jack" was mistaken for a pop song where "Captain Jack" is replacing existing words. From the clips played, I think they just did a live cover of the actual song "Captain Jack". Look it up, it's great.

I would give ANYTHING for an annual reality show about the making of this play. The behind-the-scenes drama has to be INSANE.

"Bonus points for the pyrotechnics when Jesus rises out of the dumpster" is one of the most amazing out-of-context lines I believe I will ever have heard.

ok but “Butch Chastity” would be a really good drag king name

It would have been peak meta humor if they did a parody of "Life of Brian" rather than the The Holy Grail. They could say they were reclaiming it or something.

I have to know why they felt the need to force a literal crucifixion into every single play... Imagine if Aslan had to be nailed to a cross for the metaphor to carry

For anyone wondering, the church of the rock’s 2023 Easter play was Beauty and the Beast and Belle was crucified

I am highly amused that this church has rediscoved the old Roman Catholic tradition of Liturgical Plays and Passion Plays. Considering their evangelical, this is highly amusing.

I come back to this video every now and then and i just remembered seeing the loki call me maybe parody lyrics on tumblr years ago, they just took the lyrics from an old tumblr post istg

i'm going to be recovering from the thought that Butch Chastity is a better drag name than i could ever hope to come up with for the next couple days

The image of Jack Sparrow crucified on a pirate ship's mast saying "It is finished" in a deathly serious tone, while lit by harsh stage lights and surrounded by a black void will forever haunt me now.

The Jenny Nicholson Church Play Cinematic Universe video is my favorite Easter movie

I'VE BEEN LOOKING AT THE COMMENTS FOREVER AND NO ONE IS SAYING IT, I MAY BE LATE BUT I MUST SPEAK MY TRUTH REGARDLESS OF IF YOU WANT TO HEAR IT 1:10:29 ^ this sequence *fucks* The pacing, the swagger, the weird rock and roll Cats musical mashup costumes, the hyena bringing their lieges guitar out to him and circling around to prepare their choreography, the Hayes code vaguely British(?) gravitas of his voice, the conversational way he says the line AND THE FUCKIN ROAR BLASTED FROM THE SPEAKERS BEFORE HE GOES "chugh!" In his accent and starts vague guitar motions. I don't care if none of the performance is real this awakened a primal feeling in my bones and in this moment I was so unbelievably attracted *to this moment.* I could watch it a thousand times without getting tired, it will live engraving in the folds of my brain for the rest of my life. I have seen the face of God and this is the scene in which it struck me and I became changed. I don't know if I want to be him, or be with him, or view him in this perfect moment forever but it is a fucking CRIME no one in this comment section is talking about this.

I'm truly obsessed with how the other protagonist characters just have to stand around making "oh no" and "do you see this?" gestures when the person is getting crucified.

I think the audience should pitch in to help resurrect Jesus by clapping like they do with tinkerbell

My jaw dropped at Sulu's part. That poor man

I love the Indiana Jones that travels around destroying the idols of long dead cultures just to stunt on them

that guy playing scar is either the frank-n-furter for their local rocky horror troupe or has been waiting his whole life to become the frank-n-furter for the local rocky horror troupe

I love the idea that the references are so dated that many of the kids in the audience will never have seen them before. Then, some day down the line, they’ll see another reference to that piece of culture and feel totally baffled that someone is making an allusion to their church’s feverish Easter plays.

I don't know how to describe how deeply canadian these plays are

It would be an Evangelical Christian pastor who whines about getting called out for racist shit, and then go on to do play most offensive Asian stereotype since Breakfast At Tiffany's.

I can’t decide whether the Christian Gangnam Style rendition or the female nazi singing Adele is my favorite

Jenny: Robin of the Hood Me: Oh No. Jenny: If the title makes you nervous, that's a good impulse. Me: Oh NO.

Bro I watched the Joy Story one and in the sermon afterwards the pastor says he thought Gaston was ‘awesome’ and ‘the hero’ of Beauty and the Beast 👌

It's crazy when you said Winnipeg I crapped my pants and realized I've lived beside this place for YEARS without knowing what was going on lmao. Like I biked by this place daily😳

I can't believe they didn't change "I'm walking on sunshine" to "I'm walking on water"

I am happy to report that the Church of the Rock is still going strong in 2023, with an excellent rendition of "Beauty and the Beast", featuring yet another performance of Call Me Maybe, Gaston pulverizing Belle with a log battering ram, and a stirring performance of Freebird as the crucifixion lament. 11/10 live experience.

This video has convinced me that copyright law should be abolished. Look at what we are missing out on by discouraging works based on 20 different pieces of intellectual property at once.

The Nazis are characters from “Hogan’s Heroes”, which anyone under 50 will not recognize.

There’s something hilariously disturbing about imagining crowds of children watching their favorite fictional character dying on a cross while the supporting cast sings a cover of a pop song.

If this church still does these Easter plays. Can’t wait to see them do a Mario play where we see Bowser and the Koopas crucifying Mario on a cross

The great year 2023 saw our favorite post-crucifixion lamentist as Mrs Potts from Beauty and the Beast singing Free Bird. Chef's kiss.

"So, my recent fascination has been obscure Canadian church plays." That's not an opening hook, it's a harpoon.

"So my recent fascination has been obscure Canadian church plays." Jenny Nicholson never disappoints.

The performance of the numa numa song hit me like a brick

its also hilarious because all of these shows are probably happening at 9:30 AM

That R.E.M./Chumbawamba mashup is a serious stroke of genius. I'd love it if someone a lot more skilful than me put it together to a professional standard.

Obsessed with the fact that almost every crucifixion is preceded by the cast chanting "Crucify him!" or "String him up!" in perfect chorus.

i love how they inadvertently made simba and nala lesbians. good for them.

Resident Canadian checking in, bud the spud is a song about Prince Edward Island potatoes, they grow a lot of potatoes there and that song is basically an ad

The captain Jack crucifixion is my absolute favorite. The spotlight, the ship turning around... True artistry

I can’t process the backwards logic of renaming Marty “Jesse” just to sing Jesse’s Girl instead of just changing the song to “Marty’s Girl”

The continual use of "string him up" no matter the universe or characters to begin the crucifixion always amuses me

Love seeing everyone coming back to this around Easter. Annual tradition

I can’t get over how Indy is so scared of his whip 😭 I can only imagine that during a rehearsal he hit himself and so now every time he has to use that prop he’s filled with the righteous fear of god

I get so sucked into Jenny's commentary that I forget that one of the characters in this play is going to get horribly and hilariously crucified in just a few short moments.

Top five moments: 5. 'I'm walking on sunshine.....WOA' 4: The moment of dawning horror when you realising they're having Sulu sing 'Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting' 3. The 'It's the end of the world as we know it/Tubthumping' crucifixion remix 2. 'He who lives by the sword dies by the sword' spoken by Westley, one of the most accomplished swordsmen in the whole movie 1. Lotso being branded a heretic and revealed to be Satan for making incredibly reasonable and down-to-earth observations

I know the casting drama for these plays was INSANE

No idea how I stumbled on your content and even less sure how you stumbled on theirs... I grew up in Winnipeg and was fairly good friends with one of the main actors. There's even a chance I'm in the audience for one of the plays. I've been fully removed from that insular Christian culture for many years, so it was very interesting to experience this from a more distant and objective lens. As for the "Altona sector" joke (28:10 ish), Altona is a small Rural town surrounding Winnipeg (the main population center where Church of the Rock is located). Many small towns in the area tend to be dominated by a specific cultural group - in this case it's Mennonite, a German/Dutch speaking Protestant sect that tends towards being more conservative than what I would assume is the average Church of the Rock parishioner. Sometimes they would be lightly ridiculed for being a bit stingy, but I think in this case it's just a bit of friendly elbow throwing. Honestly I feel like the only reason it got any laughs was because it's "insider knowledge" with a hint of racism, and even back then it was likely geared towards the elderly crowd. @Jenny, thank you for the nostalgic trip!

“It is finished” -Captain Jack Sparrow, as he is crucified on a ship sail This is absolutely insane and I’m so ready to binge all of these

I love that shriek at around 16:30 when the guy is singing "walking on sunshine" One can only assume he is trying to sing "woah-oh-oh" But it comes out as "WUUUGHHHHHH!"

This is the acceptable use of collection plate money.

Bet Alef is a Jewish temple that does something similar every year for Purim to tell the story of Esther. Most are uploaded to their RU-vid channel. I saw them do it with Les Miserables & another year saw them do it with Earth, Wind, and Fire songs. They've also done Bohemian Rhapsody (that Queen biopic), and one time was a tribute to Disney.

The pause between “I’m walking on sunshine” and the scared sounding “WHOOOA!” is too funny

"Bonus points for the pyrotechnics when Christ rises out of the dumpster." A brand new sentence.

Fun fact @Jenny Nicholson. On the stamps 34:10 and 46:52. The youth pastor both times has verbatim ripped lyrics from rap artist Lecrea in his song - Don’t waste your life. In the Star Wars and Indiana Jones shows. Below are the stamps from his music video where you’ll find the lyrics they ripped from. 2:34 and 0:55

I love how you can see Jenny’s laser blaster shield from the Starcruiser in the background

I'm so Jennypilled at this point that any time there's a dramatic moment like Jack Savior dying in the rigging I expect a hard cut to China Beach.

"Bonus points for the pyrotechnics when Christ rises out of the dumpster" This is one of my new favorite out-of-context statements.

its' great watching one of these whenever you release a new video, and seeing how many other people are also rewatching, so many comments from the past 24 hours lol

Happy (a bit late) Easter! Can’t believe we’ve been given 2 more plays since this video…man, time flies

The 'I'm walking on sunshine' followed by the out of time and key 'woah' is the pinnacle of live performance for all of human history and I will die on this hill.

It just struck me how amazing these actors are. You either need absolutely no ego or no self awareness to do the rap break on a church cover of counting stars while dressed as han solo

it's gotta be in here and i know jenny said " i don't wanna know" but also: the song "captain jack", BY "captain jack", was a popular 90s eurodance song. it is probably best known here in the states, where i am, for its memorable appearance in early dance dance revolution games. and when the church play jack sparrow started singing it i was like "!!"

"bonus points for the pyrotechnics when christ rises out of the dumpster" is one hell of a sentence