IMHO, as someone who has seen all major cast changes in the tour

I have seen the tour over seventeen times now, and as a follower of the show in general, and specifically this tour, I have a few comments to make.

First and foremost, this concept of the show, in most fervent fans opinions, including mine, is muddled. It's not bad, but it is a conglomeration of old ideas, and new vision. In the confines of all of that, it can't seem to decide what it wants to be. particularly in the role of Judas. Now, that being said, it is a very good, yet clouded, entertaining version of muddled directroial ideas.

From the beginning of the tour, it seemed as though there was a competiton was going on between Carl Anderson and Sebastian Bach. This made the show almost unbearable to watch stroy wise. CAnderson's perfromance was breathtaking vocally, but did not seem to match the concept of the vision of the story being told. Sebastian Bach was just an embaressment. Plain and simple. He was awful.

When Eric Kunze moved in to the role of JC, things seemed to settle a bit between JC & Judas. But, EKunze as Jesus, IMHO, lacked the charisma, and vocal excitement that was really needed to spark an audience to rally behind him. He was suitable, but certainly not exciting.

When Danny Zolli took over for CA, it was a truly breathtaking experience. He commanded a presence, and story that seemed to somehow compliment, and make sence with the awkwardness of Kunze's Jesus. DZ seemed to make Kunze work harder. Much harder. The level of commitment that Kunze gave, both acting wise and vocally (which became something quite intersting, and exciting to watch), with Zolli's "take no prisoners" pained Judas, was an awesome sight to see. It was truly one of the best things I have ever seen. It blew me and my wife away.

When Lawrence Clayton came in for Judas after Zolli left (to go do another show from what I've heard), things seemed to go back to a more muddled, befuddled level of story telling. LClayton is wonderful vocally (although I personally don't care for how he sings around some of the more exciting parts of the score), but the story that he and Kunze tell together is a little strange. There is little real empathy or sympathy for the Judas he tells, or the JC that Kunze is now doing, and LClayton's relation with Ekunze's JC seems really forced & awkward. There is just something about it that doesn't seem to fly with me.

I think ultimately this is the problem...
Judas, in this version of the show, is staged as a villan. But the actors seemed to be forced to try and portray him as "not a villan"(which I happen to agree with. Judas should not be portayed as a villan.) The direction is unclear. It does not support what the actors are doing. All of them that have stepped into the role have tried to make it their own, and for the most part have done wonderful work. But ultimately the direction doesn't seem to support the actors doing the story telling. It's just wierd.

IMHO the best combination that I have seen was the Zolli-Kunze combo. It just worked. Zolli tore it up
(although he was a little vocally spent the night I saw him), and Kunze seemed to raise his level of show to try and match him. Kunze seemed to have reaped the benefits of Zolli's apparent willingness to give everything he had both vocally and acting wise for the audience. It was the best, and honestly the most passionate of all the combos I've seen.

Now what I might like to see is Zolli stepping in for JC (only because I've read that he is really wonderful in the part), and see how he would fare with Lawrence Clayton's Judas. I think that would be some interesting theater, and probably the most exciting combo the tour could offer without C.anderson.

But this is just my humble opinnion.