Movies - Godspell

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Godspell

	Movies - Godspell

Godspell is a musical based on the Gospel of Saint Matthew with music and new lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and book by John-Michael Tebelak.

Following closely on the heels of the similarly-themed Jesus Christ Superstar
, it opened off-Broadway on May 17, 1971 and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since. Several cast albums have been released over the years and one of its songs, Day By Day from the original cast album, reached #13 on the Billboard pop singles chart in the summer of 1972.

The show originated in 1970 as Tebelak's master's thesis project at Carnegie Mellon University. Most of the score's lyrics were from the Episcopal Hymnal, set to music by the cast members. Tebelak then directed it, with much of the student cast, for a two-week run at New York's experimental venue Cafe La MaMa, opening February 24, 1971. It caught the eye of producers Edgar Lansbury and Joseph Beruh, who wanted to open it off-Broadway.

The producers hired Stephen Schwartz, another alumnus of Carnegie Mellon's theater department, to write a new song score (although By My Side was retained from the original score). Schwartz's songs included a variety of musical styles, from pop to folk-rock, gospel, and vaudeville. As with the original score, most of the non-Schwartz lyrics were from the Episcopal Hymnal.

Godspell became one of the longest-running off-Broadway musicals before moving to Broadway in June 1976, where it ended its run in September 1977 after an additional 527 performances, for a total of more than 2,600.

A film version of the musical was released in 1973, set in modern New York, and featuring Victor Garber as Jesus, David Haskell as John the Baptist/Judas, and Lynne Thigpen in her first film role. One filming location was the roof of the World Trade Center's Twin Towers. The song Beautiful City was written for and first included in the film, while the songs Learn the Lessons Well and We Beseech Thee were left out.

Toronto production

Although Godspell was produced in many cities throughout the world, the Toronto production in 1972-1973 had a lasting effect on the city's theatrical community and the entertainment world as well.

In May 1972, Toronto's theatre community was essentially limited to short runs and touring companies of Broadway and West End plays. When Godspell opened at the Royal Alexandra Theatre it was expected to be a run of a few dozen performances for what was largely an audience of subscribers to the theatre's season. However, the Toronto run had a cast drawn entirely from local performers instead of using a touring company. After an enthusiastic response from the audience, the show moved to the Bayview Playhouse after its scheduled run at the Royal Alex ended, and ran until August 1973, setting what was then a record run of 488 performances. This record was not broken until the Toronto production of Cats in 1986. Godspell established Toronto as a major theatre center which could support its own productions with its own talent.

Moreover, the production provided the first regular acting job for several performers who would later go onto bigger things, including Victor Garber (who won the role of Jesus in the film version), Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner and Martin Short. Radner came to the attention of Lorne Michaels during the production, which also had several performers who had worked with him on his Canadian comedy specials. Three years later, Radner was the first cast member hired for Saturday Night Live
. Jayne Eastwood left the cast to become a member of the original Toronto troupe of The Second City which has been in almost continuous production since, and Levy, Martin and Short went on to join that company as well. Another person to establish his reputation in the show was its musical director Paul Shaffer, who would also join Michaels and Radner on Saturday Night Live.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Godspell ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Godspell; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - Godspell

Toronto production

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay