John Legend Prepares For Shirtless Performance in ‘Jesus Christ Superstar Live’

Playing Jesus Christ in Jesus Christ Superstar is no easy task for singer John Legend. According to his wife Chrissy Teigen, Legend has been “juicing” in the days leading up to Sunday’s big show, which includes a shirtless scene.

“John’s eating really healthy right now for Jesus Christ Superstar,” Teigen told PEOPLE Magazine this weekend. “He has a shirtless scene he’s pretty excited about, but he’s actually starting to fast, like juice fast, starting today.”

Teigen said Legend’s strict diet has been a challenge for her, since she is expecting their second child.

It is “tough when you are eating for two,” she said. “We’re gonna get through that and then next week I’m just going to force feed him, basically.”

Teigen also told PEOPLE she plans on live-tweeting during the NBC broadcast, although their 23-month-old daughter Luna Simone will not be staying up for the show. She did visit her father on the set during rehearsals though.

“She’s so captivated by it,” Teigen said of Luna. “She hears music and she’s just immediately drawn, so for her to sit down and be able to watch him is really, really cool. She’s almost like in her zen. I don’t think she’ll make the show on Sunday — it’s a little bit late for us — but she’ll be so proud.”

In an interview with HollywoodLife, Legend said he did not take any shortcuts when preparing for the show.

“[There’s] pressure but it’s good pressure. It means you don’t take any shortcuts,” Legend said. “You don’t skimp under preparation. People are gonna expect a lot from this and I’m gonna try to give them the best that I can possibly give them.”

“I’m all about the art itself. If we give a great performance I’ll be happy,” Legend told HollywoodLife. “At the end of the day I’m gonna judge us based on if we put on a great show or not. We have control over that, we’re gonna go out there and do the best we can.”

NBC’s live broadcast of the 1971 Andrew Lloyd Webber-Tim Rice musical starts at 8 p.m. ET on Sunday. Alice Cooper plays King Herod, Brandon Victor Dixon co-stars as Judas and Sara Bareilles plays Mary Magdalene.

The original musical was a Broadway hit, earning Tony nominations for Ben Vereen’s performance as Judas and Best Score. It was most recently revived on Broadway in 2012.

Photo credit: Peter Kramer/NBC