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Godspell

Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz based on a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The musical first premiered in May 1971 and was a great success. It was revived multiple times and produced on Broadway in 2011.

The musical was based on the Gospel of Matthew, the first book of the New Testament. Godspell was divided into a series of parables interwoven with musical numbers. The lyrics were taken from traditional hymns.

The musical began as a drama project by students at Carnegie Mellon University. Later it was produced on Off-Broadway, which soon became a success and a long-running show. The main musical has two acts, with nine songs in the first act and seven in the second. In Act II, the musical numbers were changed for the Broadway revival in 2011.

There's a condensed one-act version titled Godspell Junior, developed for an audience aged less than 18 years.

History and Interesting Information about Godspell

Godspell’s first version was the thesis copy of John-Michael Tebelak. The musical performance was given at Carnegie Mellon in 1970 by students from the department. The university alumnus helped in the show finding producers. They wanted to transfer it to Off-Broadway. This version was first produced at La Mama as a play. It included eight songs from the original and added a few more.

The musical was also performed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1971. And the next year, i.e., 1972, in Sidney, Australia. Further, it opened at the Roundhouse Theater in Chalk Farm, London, in 1971. Then it was transferred to Wyndham's Theater in 1972. Godspell opened at the Royal Alexandra Theater in Toronto in 1972. It also opened in South Africa and Iran in the later years.

An adaptation of the musical was made into a film in 1973 and was set in New York. However, the prologue was removed from the film, and a new song Beautiful City was written exclusively for this adaptation. A couple of other songs were limited to interludes. The film had Victor Garber as Jesus. The original cast was also a part of this film.

There was a little controversy about some characters dressing as hippies in the musical. The musical's director, Stephen Schwartz, said that John-Michael Tebelak created it based on a concept from the book Feast of Fools by Henry Cox.

While Godspell successfully blended rock and roll culture with Christianity; however, the evangelists weren't happy as the musical didn't deal with resurrection and atonement. Come!