I love Godspell. I think it's a well told musical that is the teachings of The Gospel According to Matthew.
The thing with this show is that it is done differently every single time it is performed. There is no set way to do it, and you probably did see a weird "trippy" version of it.
A lot of the show is improvisational parable storytelling. Simple plot. But many a director or even the actor playing Jesus can mess up this production.
Schwartz had posted something on the Godspell website about how as simple as this show seems, it is not an easy show to put on.
If you want an updated version of the musical (and a great recording) I suggest hearing Godspell 2000. They changed the music to make it more "modern", even though I still find the original recordings to be very good.
I do not recommend seeing the movie, as it should have never been done. It's different when seeing adult's on stage act like kids, and you can respect the art of theatre. But when they are adult's acting like kids around the streets of NYC in the seventies, it really doesn't work, especially when a lot of the comedy is dated. (Although, Lynn Thigpen was great in it.)
"Do you know what pledge time is, Andrew"? said the PBS Executive.
"Yes", Lloyd Webber replied. "My 50th birthday special must be one program that gets done a lot."
"No", mused the man from PBS heedlessy. "Not so much. Our Stephen Sondheim Carnegie Hall concert. That's a big one."
Spoons, forks and knives seemed suddenly to suspend their motion in horror, all around the table.