Webber's Really Useful Group sueing Jesus Christ Superstar promoter

Michael Cole, the promoter whose company, Options Clause Entertainment, was putting on the touring edition of Jesus Christ Superstar, is being sued by Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Company over the cancellation of the tour.

The tour, which was scheduled to go to over fifty North American cities from June through August, was to star Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child as Mary Magdalene, Brandon Boyd of Incubus as Judas, John Lydon of the Sex Pistols and Public Image Ltd as King Herod, JC Chasez of N'Sync as Pontius Pilate and Ben Forster as Christ.

Even though the production was well underway, including rehearsals, promoter Cohl cancelled the tour less than two weeks before the opening night in New Orleans, LA. Cohl cited poor ticket sales, saying that "it just did not make business sense to continue."

A representative for the Really Useful Group said in a statement that they had tried to reach and out-of-court settlement with Cohl but they now had "no option but to proceed with legal action to recover its costs associated with the project and in turn, satisfy outstanding payments to suppliers and contractors."

Barney Wragg of Webber's company said that they were very disappointed in the results of the U.S. tour adding "We had a sell-out UK Arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar in 2012 and, in 2013, the same production toured Australia also playing to capacity audiences with unprecedented success."

Cohl reacted to the suit in a statement, saying "The fact is that the show did not sell. We look forward to our day in court."