Godspell Tour?

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/6/13 at 11:59pm

Is this thing still happening?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 12:11am

In short: yes.

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/7/13 at 1:36pm

"Long live God!"

[caskey]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 10:11pm

Yeah...kinda

[caskey]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 10:12pm

sorry...link didn't work first time

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpk5eOCJ7OQ&feature=youtu.be

[disneybroadwayfan22]

Posted: 10/9/13 at 11:11pm

I'm sorry: Having grown people wearing costumes designed for teenagers/young adults isn't working for me at all. And the set is kind of weird.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 12:13am

That's the tour? Who is in this? What? When did they even have auditions?

[JBZicker2009]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 1:46am

Is the show out on tour right now???? Who is producing it?

[xoffender45]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 2:39am

I love that he's all like "Everyone in the play plays themselves..." but everyone is clearly playing their Broadway counterpart.

This casting was no accident. Updated On: 10/10/13 at 02:39 AM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 3:28am

That is eerily like a watered-down version of the Broadway show. But is that the tour? The producer is some Canadian company.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 10:35am

Yeah, it's the tour. A list of (some of) the dates can be found below.

Godspell Tickets

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 10:41am

Also, the fact that it seems to be a watered-down representation of the Broadway revival does not surprise me in the least. Recently, MTI has begun licensing something labeled Godspell (2012) (link below) that purports to incorporate (quoting the site) "some of the changes and updated references used in the 2011-2012 Broadway Production."

Having seen the script, it is absolutely not as customized as some would expect. It's pretty much the standard "director's notes" edition of the script with character names changed to 2012 cast members' names and some ideas from the show, and some really sloppy cut-and-paste jobs (count all the times they screwed up if you ever get the chance to license it). Now, I understand that you can't stage the average 2012 Godspell outside of what they did for Circle in the Square. What they did was a very specialized, in-the-round production tailored to that venue, re-designed significantly from the more white-bread Papermill Playhouse production it was originally a transfer of. You couldn't do the dangerous crucifixion scene or the trampolines in the round at your theater like Godspell '12 did, and if you can, your theater is likely the exception to the rule. They're not going to mention stuff you can't do like "Here's the trampoline number" or "This is the bit where So-and-so swung from a rope."

But this? This, to me, is money for old rope, a transparent ****-show of a cash-grab with the new orchestrations/arrangements/whatever sanctioned, which is silly considering the "original" Godspell is licensed on a much different basis, with your ability to use the new arrangements of the 2000 (Dan Schachner) or 2001 (Alex Lacamoire) orchestrations grandfathered in, in a much less costly manner. Basically, if you pay MTI for this script, you're licensing the right to use the revival arrangements, some new lyrics, and some updated laugh lines. Frankly, for that trouble, you're better off using a perusal copy of that script to create an errata sheet, licensing the normal script (which is still putting money in their pocket, btw, I never advocate theft), and getting the orchestrations from somewhere else and working out your own royalty arrangement with Michael Holland, as others have been able to do with Schachner and Lacamoire in the past.

Godspell (2012) - MTI

Updated On: 10/10/13 at 10:41 AM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 1:14pm

Is it a canadian cast?

[JohnyBroadway]

Posted: 10/10/13 at 1:32pm

That looked like a college production vs. national tour.

[jbainbr]

Posted: 10/12/13 at 1:43pm

This show actually did start as a very low scale yet professional production in my very small hometown of Petrolia. It was quite good. But certainly a let down after seeing the Broadway production with Hunter Parrish (amazeballs!). Not quite tour quality, IMO.

Updated On: 10/12/13 at 01:43 PM

[musical3]

Posted: 11/3/13 at 9:31pm

People here seem so negative. I just saw the show. The tour may have started today above Bangor, Maine. It was fantastic. I'm a professional musician. It was great! Five-piece band. A great set. Great cast. Canadian talent. Fabulous.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 11/3/13 at 9:37pm

I kind of want to see it on Long Island. I don't like the show at all, but kind of curious to see a non-union Canadian touring cast of Godspell.

[Tag]

Posted: 11/3/13 at 9:43pm

It's not non-union. The cast are members of (Canadian) Equity.

[musical3]

Posted: 11/3/13 at 9:46pm

They leave Maine on Tuesday morning,. It is amazing!

[csmithmusictheater]

Posted: 11/3/13 at 10:56pm

In response to g.d.e.l.g.i. comments:
Having just finished Music Directing the revival version for an amatuer group, I can attest that the new orchestrations are vastly different from the 1971 books. Sadly, I'm old enough to have played the original charts twice. While 3 guitars in the new version seemed redundant at first, the Michael Holland layering of sounds is masterful. And vocally the arrangements went from easy to really difficult, but in a good way. While the Director chose to not include all the updating in our production, I believe the impovisational nature of the script allows such leeway. And our Director was very surprised at the reasonalbe royalties. The fees were only negligibly more expensive then the original that he did 6 years ago with another group.

Musically, in my opinion, the show is much improved. The addition of Beautiful City alone is priceless. And I sincerely doubt most directors/music directors would have the wherewithal to have the 2000/2001 arrangements 'grandfathered' into the contract. Best of Luck to the tour!



Updated On: 11/3/13 at 10:56 PM

[operavore]

Posted: 11/4/13 at 2:33am

Oh wait it's a tour of a Drayton production? Hrmm.

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 11/4/13 at 4:28am

The guy that plays Jesus... I want to do naughty things to him... Yummy.

[musical3]

Posted: 11/4/13 at 7:52am

gdelgi's comments seemed really odd to me, but "csmith" seems accurate. I saw the show yesterday. Two guitars. It was phenomenal. It's funny. It seems up to date. The cast is great.

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 11/4/13 at 8:46am

And I sincerely doubt most directors/music directors would have the wherewithal to have the 2000/2001 arrangements 'grandfathered' into the contract.

Your past with the show notwithstanding, these arrangements have been available to use for a nominal fee negotiated with the orchestrators themselves for some time (e.g., "grandfathered in" -- you don't need to license a "whole new" version of Godspell to get them). I know whereof I speak. See Stephen Schwartz's FAQ on his website. The only outlier is the 2012 version, and I suspect that rather being an attempt to exploit a flop revival (which you could do by giving out the Holland score and parts and an errata sheet of the new lines and occasional new lyrics; seriously, it's that simple, as proven by the rampant copy-pasting, sometimes not entirely corrected, in the "new" script), it's a cash grab to get money back for the countless investors.

Question 6: May we use the new GODSPELL Orchestrations for our production?

Updated On: 11/4/13 at 08:46 AM

[musical3]

Posted: 11/4/13 at 9:24am

Will you see it? I loved it. I at least am reading your comments, and rereading. I am an arranger so I focus less on that aspect. To me I can write out what I hear, but you've made interesting points more about finances. Thank you for this thread and as you write more, I will respectfully read on.