If you loved the original Broadway production of Jesus Christ Superstar back in 1971, or any of the many other stage and film versions that have followed, you may love the one now playing at the Neil Simon Theater just as much. Or, it could have you running for the doors. It will all depend on your own perspective, and whether or not you can appreciate the now-modernized, yet gruesome play that unfolds before you.

The show, just like the original, comes to New York from the Stratford Shakespeare Festival held in Stratford, Canada every year, and its brought much of its cast and crew with it. Most notably, Josh Young reprises the role of Judas, the ultimate betrayer and Paul Nolan continues on in the role of Jesus. Mary Magdalene is played by Chilina Kennedy and Paul Nolan plays out the role of Jesus, while Bruce Dow plays the part of Herod, the king who is out to destroy him.

While the show does mainly keep true to the original rock musical written by Tim Rice and Andrew Llyod Webber, it’s punctuated with elements that can only come from a more modern era. Women in miniskirts, men with nothing but leather and chains strapped across their body, and all of them dancing in between metallic stairways and other highly modern-looking parts of the set. But, it might not be the contemporary spin on this performance that leaves some audience members disappointed. That comes at the end of the play, with the climax of the crucifixion.

You have to know going in that it’s not going to be a pretty sight, but this is Broadway gore at its finest. Between the crown of thorns, the flogging and other forms of torture administered to Jesus by the kings’ men, and the lashings that depicted with garishly red slash marks across a big screen, all make this a show for adults only.

For those that don’t mind a bit of dramatic punch added here and there, no matter how bloody; and who like to see new spins put on old stories (this one’s perhaps the oldest of them all!) get your tickets today. It opened last night at the Neil Simon Theater and will be running all the way through to September!