GODSPELL....WOW...- Page 2

[Gaveston2]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 4:12pm

Thanks for refreshing my memory, GothamPC.

I believe the show can work for Christians, Jews and atheists alike with no theological crisis for anyone.

But just for the record, the Jewish Mr. Schwartz also teamed with the Jewish Leonard Bernstein to write a Mass. Again, it was a Mass that tended toward the secular, but a Mass nonetheless.

[darquegk]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 4:13pm

Actual conversation I had...

ME: "You know Jesus was Jewish, right?"

NOT ME: "Jesus wasn't Jewish! He couldn't have been! Everybody knows Jesus was a good Roman Catholic."

ME: "Like a church on Sundays, holy communion, no meat on Fridays Catholic?"

NOT ME: "Of course- he was Jesus, remember?"

[PopAria]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 5:14pm

Portlandia, anyone?
Have you seen that show? It's a bunch of random stories and they finish one at the end. It's so funny to me. Maybe that's why I liked Godspell.

One song I didn't enjoy when i first saw Godspell was Turn Back, O Man. I just thought it was staged very tacky and cheap. Idk
Now that I listen to the new cast recording regularly I don't mind the song.

I'd love to see it again.

[Jamie Pierce]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 7:19pm

If you saw Godspell last night, then you saw me on stage! I got pulled on for the Lazarus section and I felt bad because I had already seen the show and I knew the bit and what was coming so I tried to play it off as though I was clueless.
I think the audience participation aspect of this production is good, not too much or too little. However, as fun as that was, no one has ever done it quite like Spelling Bee. I remember being baffled by the fact that they led the outsiders through an actual musical number! Being in CITS makes me miss that show. I do enjoy very much enjoy Godspell too though. The cast is giving it everything they've got (which is quite a bit!)

[LFazin]

Posted: 1/18/12 at 11:45pm

I personally loved the show. I think what helped, for me at least, was being familiar with how Godspell is portrayed...goofy/silly, not so much plot driven, and heavily based on improv, comedy sketch, vaudeville, etc. I think if I had gone into the show blindly, I wouldn't have enjoyed it as much. That being said, I walked out of the show feeling so religiously and spiritually inspired (and I'm NOT a religious person) and hummed the songs for days. Those two qualities alone make me want to see the show again and again.

[AADA81]

Posted: 1/19/12 at 2:24am

I've always found "Godspell" too coy and corny for words. It also leaves lots of room for a young cast to either overdo the enthusiasm or suffer from an attack of the cutes. I've done the show twice and saw the Papermill revival on which the current show is based, and I think the tradition holds.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/19/12 at 10:48am

"I've always found "Godspell" too coy and corny for words."

But the corny aspect is taken from the vaudeville days. Think of the genre where they tell a joke and then there's the drum that goes buh-duh-bum

In one of the versions, I think it's the one they lease to amateur groups and not what's currently playing, there is the following dialogue:

Jesus goes up to cast members who are quite touchy-feely. I forget the exact dialogue, but it goes something like:

Guy: She has a weak back.
Jesus: When did this happen?
Guy: About a week back. (bah-duh-dum)