Theater Reinventing Godspell
By RETTA BLANEY
Advertised as reinvented 30
years later, Godspell has returned to Off-Broadway. Gone are
the hippies and clowns of yesteryear. With new lyrics and updated dialogue that
includes references to Johnny Cochran, MetroCards and Reebok, this production
seems contemporary -- with one major exception. The language of scripture
remains in the past, with reference after reference to the deeds of men and
brothers. Didnt anyone think to pick up a New Revised Standard Version of
the Bible?
In a telephone interview with composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz,
he admitted he hadnt thought about updating the scriptural language. But
he defended the shows adherence to the King James version, saying
inclusive language fails as art and falls tinnily on the
ear.
I take the word man to be generic rather than
gender-specific, he said.
I saw the original Off-Broadway production in the fall of 1972 as
part of my senior class trip to New York from Notre Dame Prep in Towson, Md. In
those days we knew nothing of inclusive language. We enjoyed the show for the
same reason the largely 20- and 30-something audience in the Theatre at St.
Peters Church seemed to enjoy it now. Its lively, its funny
and the music is great. Turning St. Matthews gospel into a rock musical
worked then, in the era of rock musicals, and, judging by the young audience,
it still works.
Actually, Godspell has never stopped working. This
Energizer Bunny of musical theater is still performed a couple hundred times a
year from high school auditoriums to regional theaters, has been translated
into a half dozen languages, played before popes, produced a gold record
(Day By Day), and its music was used in Catholic liturgies into the
late 1980s when, as graduate students at New York University, we were still
singing Long Live God at Masses sponsored by the Newman Center. The
power of this musical even reached South Africa where, in 1974, it became the
first show to break the color barrier after Schwartz insisted it be performed
by an integrated cast before integrated audiences.
Perhaps the key to the shows endurance is its simplicity.
With no set to speak of and few props, 10 actors share Jesus final days
in song and story, bringing out the humor as well as the message. The talented
cast in this production, under Shawn Rozsas direction, turns familiar
stories into campy skits, in one case making the Prodigal Sons father
into a Marlon Brando-like Godfather to emphasize family loyalty.
The cast still engages the audience by involving people in the
front rows and along the aisles in jokes and by inviting everyone on stage at
intermission. When the invitation was extended to us in 1972, it came with the
lyrics: We all need help to feel fine/Lets have some wine. We
happily would have joined the cast for a glass, but our headmistress blocked
us. Now the invitation is to join the cast to dance to the music of the
shows band, Shirley Temple of Doom. About half the audience, representing
a variety of ages, did.
Godspell is about the formation of
community, Schwartz says. If you dont have that, the show
doesnt work.
He says many productions miss this point and become either
10 people doing competing nightclub acts or going the other way and becoming
ponderous, like a Sunday school lesson. For this reason he attended some
rehearsals and talked with the New York cast about his original intent that
these strangers come together and form a community, and the audience is
part of that.
Born in 1971 when musical theatre of the past was giving way to
rock musicals like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar,
Godspell was a hit the first time out for Schwartz, then 23, who
quickly followed it with two more, Pippin and The Magic
Show. With all of them playing on the Great White Way by 1974, Schwartz
became the first composer/lyricist to have three shows running on Broadway at
the same time.
In the last decade Schwartz has found success in the world of
animated feature films, first with Disney where his lyrics to
Pocahontas, including the song Colors of the Wind were
part of the score and won Academy Awards. In 1998 it was back to the Bible,
this time the Moses story, as he wrote music and lyrics for Prince of
Egypt, the first animated feature of DreamWorks SKG.
And now along comes Godspell again, back from the
hinterlands, first into a successful production Off-Off Broadway at Third Eye
Repertory and then into the current Off-Broadway venue. After this, who knows?
A tour is planned and, given its crowd-pleasing history, if
Godspell shows up on Broadway again I wont be surprised.
Schwartz says Godspell came out of his 1960s mentality
that people should respect each others beliefs, especially at that time
when the country was divided over issues like the Vietnam War. He says the
message remains the same.
Theres a necessity for us to pull together as a
community instead of dividing even more into armed camps and niches. This is
the most mean-spirited time Ive lived through if you care about how
people treat other people.
Schwartz is right. Godspells message
doesnt need to change. But the language does.
When I told Schwartz that I found the stories constant
references to men -- such as Dont practice your religion before
men and Whatever you do for your brothers you do for me -- to
be painful, I suggested neighbor as an alternative. Schwartz
responded enthusiastically and said he would talk to the director about
changing it. You make a good point, he said.
If the language is changed, then this new generation will truly
see a reinvented show. Right now, in a significant way, its still their
parents Godspell.
Retta Blaney, an arts and religion writer in New York, is
founder of Broadway Blessing, an interfaith service held every September to
bring the theater community together to ask Gods blessing on the new
season.
National Catholic Reporter, September 15,
2000
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