It’s got to be difficult playing the same role more than 3,000 times, especially when that role is Jesus Christ and requires very high falsetto singing.

So when Ted Neeley as Jesus utters this line before his crucifixion: “Then I was inspired/now I’m sad and tired,” it’s easy to empathize with both character and singer.

Jesus Christ Superstar, on its farewell national tour, plays through Jan. 6 at Civic Theatre as part of the Broadway San Diego season.

Neeley, who has played the part everywhere but Broadway (where he was the Jesus understudy), still hits most of those notes 35 years later, but at 63 the voice sounds tired and he seems to have lost the enthusiasm many of us remember him for.

In fact, the whole production has too much noise and too little heart. Everyone is overmiked, especially Judas Iscariot, (Corey Glover, lead singer of the rock band Living Colour), who screams rather than singing. Earplugs are advisable.

Mary Magdalene (Tiffani Dodson) sings prettily (with a country/western inflection), but without conviction in her signature song, “I Don’t Know How to Love Him.” Even the comic relief scene of Herod (Aaron Fuksa) in a bathrobe surrounded by five dancing girls manages to fall flat.

Best in the vocal department are Darrel R. Whitney’s growling bass as Caiaphas and Craig Sculli’s Pontius Pilate.

There’s always a danger in bringing back a show as widely known as Superstar, and though comparisons may be odious, they are unavoidable. With its minimalist set and tiny group of musicians in the pit, this Superstar sounds as weary as Jesus feels, a nifty “living picture” scene of the Last Supper notwithstanding. Thirty-five years later, it’s even difficult to imagine that this show inspired picketing on Broadway.