WGNO

John Legend cast as Jesus Christ in upcoming NBC live musical

**This image is for use with this specific article only.** John Legend is about to put his divine voice to perfect use. The 10-time Grammy award winner has been cast as Jesus Christ in NBC's upcoming live musical, "Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!"

(CNN) — John Legend is about to put his divine voice to perfect use.

The 10-time Grammy award winner has been cast as Jesus Christ in NBC’s upcoming live musical, “Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!”

NBC announced the casting on Tuesday and Legend expressed his excitement about the role.

“I’m thrilled to join the cast of this production of Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!,” Legend said in a statement. “It’s such a powerful, meaningful musical and I’m humbled to be part of this performance.”

The event will take place on Easter Sunday, April 1, 2018 at the Marcy Armory in Brooklyn, New York. Legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is one of the executive producers and rocker Alice Cooper is set to play King Herod. NBC’s live event is based on the 1971 Broadway musical about the last week of Jesus’ life.

Legend boasts a long list of accomplishments as a producer and performer. He won a Tony Award earlier this year as a producer of August Wilson’s “Jitney.” He also won an Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy award in 2015 for his song with Common, “Glory,” from the film, “Selma.”

Legend was also a producer on the highly acclaimed musical film, “La La Land” in 2016, and also appeared in the film. He recently wrote songs for Broadway’s “SpongeBob SquarePants.”

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.