Fifty years ago on May 17, 1971, “Godspell” opens at Cherry Lane Theatre. In 1976, it close and reopened on Broadway. The musical by John-Michael Tebelak is a retelling of Jesus’ ministry structured around a series of parables, mostly from the Bible’s Gospel of St. Matthew. The play was tried out at the avante garde La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. Stephen Schwartz joined the production to write much of the music that made Godspell so captivating. Most of the lyrics not written by Schwartz come from the Episcopal hymnal.
In 1973, the musical was produced as a movie set in New York City. The song “Beautiful City” was written for the film.
Jesus is portrayed as an outlandish hippie clown. At first, his appearance can be off-putting and seem a bit ridiculous. But gradually you realize that your initial rejection of portraying Jesus as a clown is like the rejection of the real Jesus by the religious and political powers of his time. You begin to see the humanity of the actors shining through. Clive Barnes of The New York Times called the “whole premise rather nauseating…”
The concept was taken from theologian Harvey Cox’s book Feast of Fools. Cox was famous for his book proclaiming that cities like New York were irretrievably The Secular City. “Godspell” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” seemed to be rumors that maybe God was not yet dead in the secular city. The year after “Godspell” ended its run on Broadway in 1977, New York City started to experience the beginnings of an evangelical Christian revival, first in the boroughs, then twenty years later in Manhattan.
