ROBERT Readman is never slow to spot the opportunity to mount a production for maximum impact.

It could be the first release of a West End or Broadway show to non-professionals companies, such as Spring Awakening, or in this instance he is marking the 40th anniversary of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd’s first professional musical by staging this somewhat histrionic rock opera in Holy Week.

On a two-tiered, metallic stage design with Readman’s trademark walkways and stairs, his cast of 60 are all quickly into the action after Alex Hogg, playing Judas Iscariot for the fourth time in his career, hits the high notes in the opening Heaven On Their Minds.

Through Jessica Hardcastle and Lesley Hill’s funky choreography, the ensemble establish the Seventies’ musical groove with the adrenaline rush of What’s The Buzz, while updating the street clothing to today’s fashions that are then contrasted with the austere black robes of Annas (Callum O’Connell), Caiaphas (a deeper-than-deep voiced Terry Ford) and the Priests.

Hogg is not the only old hand in this show. York rock singer Henry Bird first played Jesus at the age of 19 for York Light Opera Company in 2004, since when he has added such professional musical engagements as Vampires Rock and Bad Boy Johnny And The Prophets Of Doom to his repertoire, to complement his gigs with his band, The Pauper Kings.

Not only is Bird’s Jesus “reassuringly better looking than everyone else”, as the gentleman in the row behind put it, but he is also a fantastic rock opera vocalist, full of colour, drama, expression and technical prowess. His haunting performance of Gethsemane (I Only Want To Say) is the show’s high point, the audience’s rapturous applause well merited. He has bags of stage presence too to lead the ensemble scenes. Readman has built up a raft of principal players who can be relied on to deliver the goods. Alicia Roberts sings a heartfelt I Don’t Know How To Love Him with customary aplomb; Nik Briggs’s Pontius Pilate is suitably snake-like and a tad camp too in Freddie Mercury mode; and Alex Papachristou’s white-faced, cross-dressing Herod is a vaudeville riot.

Adam Tomlinson’s band handles the over-the-top nature of much of the music with relish and is at home with all the contrasting styles.

As always, the finale is truly moving, Bird’s Jesus dying alone on the cross, his death marked by an orchestral coda, then silence as the curtain falls, the moment given over to quiet reflection rather than the cast gathering to take a bow.

Jesus Christ Superstar, York Stage Musicals, Grand Opera House, York, until Easter Saturday. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or grandoperahouseyork.org.uk