A BRIEF BACKSTORY OF "GODSPELL": It's All About Building A Community

 

The Famous Godspell Logo

BACKSTORY WITH BOBBY KENISTON

Just to get this out of the way, I, your humble essayist, played the part of Jesus once upon atime---actually, it was in 2010 in Dover-Foxcroft at the Center Theatre, but this isn't about me (never an easy thing to say). Do forgive my lapse down memory lane. 

Like many great pieces of art, one could say Godspell was created in the kind of frenzy achieved when passion connects with a looming (and extremely important) deadline. God knows that's when I have had to use my creative powers to their fullest.  But this isn't about me. 

Picture, if you will, a young man by the name of John-Michael Tebelak, a student at Carnegie Mellon University in 1970, with a thesis due in two weeks. John-Michael had been studying Greek and Roman mythology, but became fascinated by what he called “the joy” expressed in the Gospels. Nowpicture this young man attending an Easter Vigil at St. Paul Cathedral in Pittsburgh--- he is wearing his almost constant garb of overalls and T-shirt. And finally, please picture this overall-wearing churchgoer being frisked for drugs by a police officer after the service, most likely because of the long hair and hippie clothes.

Later, when explaining the origins of Godspell, Mr. Tebelak wrote of this experience, “I left with the feeling that, rather than rolling the rock away from the Tomb, they were piling more on.” He went home and worked on the manuscript for the entertainment you are about to watch in a nonstop race to completion. He first staged the script at Carnegie Mellon with students from the music department, then moved it to the La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club for a two-week run in 1971, utilizing much of the same cast.

Tebelek's production came to the attention of Edgar Landsbury (Angela's brother--- you know Angela Lansbury--- not only a Grand Dame of the Theater, but also a famous teapot and a woman who inexplicably finds murders wherever she goes), who, with other producing partners, wanted to move it to Off-Broadway. They hired Stephen Schwartz, another Carnegie Mellon alum (known these days as the composer of Wicked and Pippin, among many others) to re-score the show (though the lovely “By My Side” from the original Carnegie Mellon production by Jay Hamburger and Peggy Gordon was kept in the final show--- I may write a separate blog post about just this song some day because I love it so much). Shcwartz incorporated several styles, including folk, pop, and even vaudeville to complement the energetic, colorful nature of the piece.

Before taking New York by storm, however, Godspell had a rich life in prominent productions in Australia, England, and South Africa. I personally wish I could have been around in 1972 for the Toronto production which helped to launch the careers of Victor Garber (who reprised his role of Jesus in the film adaptation), Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, Dave Thomas and Martin Short, all under the musical direction of a fellow named Paul Shaffer! The nomadic feel of Godspell's early life, and its reputation later on as a touring show, only adds to the nature of the script itself, which feels like a tight ensemble community helping to spread Jesus's message to each individual audience, inviting everyone who watches into their community for the duration of the performance, perhaps even after.

I think the reason that a show like Godspell is so popular in community theater (despite some mild controversies along the way that are, to be honest, so very silly), is because it is a show that is about building communities and inviting all people into it. Which is exactly what community theater should be about, too.

John-Michael Tebelek died in 1985 at the age of 35 from a heart attack, but he is survived by this musical, and every family of actors who perform it, including this lovely tribe of storytellers here at Lakewood Theater. May its music lift your spirits, and its message of Peace, Love and Acceptance follow you long after the curtain has closed.

Note:  This essay originally was written for and appeared in the program for Lakewood Theater's production of Godspell.

To learn more about his musical, you can visit https://www.godspell.com/

If you would like to produce the musical, you please visit Music Theatre International to obtain licensing rights.  You can do that by CLICKING HERE