The Living Last Supper
What happens when Leonardo da Vinci's iconic masterpiece comes to life through music? This dramatic musical brings the moment of Jesus' announcement to the twelve disciples into vivid reality.
As the tableau of the Last Supper unfolds, each apostle responds with a brief, memorable monologue expressing their shock and innermost thoughts. Peter's fierce loyalty. Thomas's doubt. Judas's hidden guilt. The music passionately captures the pathos of the event while the disciples speak, creating high drama, emotional impact, and a spiritual reconnection with this pivotal biblical moment.
Flexible for Any Church
One of the things I'm most grateful for is how flexible this work can be. It can be performed with just one or two narrators reading the disciples' monologues, or with a full cast of thirteen actors portraying Jesus and all twelve disciples. Many churches start simply and expand their production over the years as more people want to participate.
Some churches have chosen to perform The Living Last Supper every year for almost twenty years now. Each Maundy Thursday, they bring out the costumes, set up the long table, and present this story again to their congregation. That kind of faithfulness to a work is deeply humbling.
Combined with Communion
Perhaps the most powerful way to experience this musical is when it's combined with the serving of communion. Imagine receiving the bread and cup from the hands of the actors portraying Jesus and the disciples. It transforms a familiar ritual into something that can transport us back to that upper room, to that night when everything changed.
A Hidden Prayer
Every song is a gift from God, but there is one song in this musical that is especially meaningful. One could say it is an "Easter Egg."
When I was a little girl and our church observed Communion, the pastor would read "and Jesus blessed the bread and broke it..." and I always wished I could know exactly what Jesus prayed. Then as I learned more about the Last Supper I realized that we can know exactly what He prayed, because the prayers that are part of the Passover Supper have been recited for centuries.
In "You Are the Bread," when the Sopranos sing that phrase, the other voices chant the actual prayer that Jesus spoke: "Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, Who bringest forth bread from the earth."
And it has an additional hidden meaning—that God will raise Jesus up, the Bread of Life, and bring Him forth from the earth as well. I just love the symbolism of it all.