Ted Neeley recalls pushing through picket lines to reach the theater when “Jesus Christ Superstar” by Andrew Lloyd Webber and TimRice first opened on Broadway. Three decades later, he comes to Wolf Trap in the musical so popular that the current tour is extended to 2009.

“When the show came to New York, many believed that it was blasphemous without having seen it, so I invited the protesters in as my guests, and those who accepted walked away loving it,” Neeley says.