Godspell- Prologue??
Godspell- Prologue??
#1Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 6:41pmWas the "Tower of Babel" Prologue written for the original production? Also, I have never seen a production of Godspell that uses this song. Is it optional in the script?
#2re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 6:44pm
My high school performed the number. And it was in the recent off-Broadway and Tour productions.
I always thought it was one of the best numbers in the show.
#2re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 6:47pm
^^^^ I like it too, but it doesn't seem to quite fit with the rest of the score...
Maybe I just need to see it in context.
Updated On: 6/16/09 at 06:47 PM
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#3re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 7:42pm
It's not "optional", but lot's of productions cut it.
It's not on the original cast album, so it requires singers who are actually capable of LEARNING the music, rather than just imitating the cast album.
Godspell is one of those shows people think they can make all sorts of changes to without getting into trouble.
dramamama611
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/4/07
#4re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 7:48pm
People feel that way about ALL shows. (But you are given license to add gads of contemporary stuff.)
And yes, Tower of Babel is nothing new. I did it in all three of my productions.
#7re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 8:03pmIt's one of my favorite songs in the show, but it does seem very out of place from the rest of the score.
#8re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 9:08pmThe only reason Tower of Babble was left off of the original recording was so that it could cross over to the pop charts.
Unknown User
Joined: 12/31/69
#10re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 9:11pm
According to IBDB, it WAS in the original.
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Godspell (06/22/1976 - 09/04/1977)
Lyrics and music by Stephen Schwartz
Song List
Act 1
Tower of Babble
Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord
Save the People
Day by Day
Learn Your Lessons Well
Bless the Lord
All For the Best
Light of the World
Act 2
Learn Your Lessons Well (Reprise)
Turn Back, O Man
Alas for You
By My Side
We Beseech Thee
On the Willows
Finale
Updated On: 6/16/09 at 09:11 PM
nydirector2
Featured Actor Joined: 10/4/05
#11re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 9:24pmI did my Senior Thesis on Godspell in college...and yes, it has been in the production for a long time...but has changed quite a bit form its earliest inception. I honestly don't know if it was in the original, though. The original production wasn't even a musical, so I doubt it. The Broadway production came about years after the original...but is that what your asking? As for if it's taken out of productions...not so much now that MTI has it, but back when it was licensed by less scary licensees, it was often cut. It is important to the over all arch of the show...to me, it would be like taking the Prologue away from West Side Story or the Overture from Tommy.
#12re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/16/09 at 9:54pmI own a Playbill, or should I say Playfare from the opening night at the Cherry Lane in May of 1971 and can verify that Tower of Babble is indeed listed, so yes, the Godspell that we all know and love (not the non-musical version that played at La Mama), has always included this song.
fgreene1938
Leading Actor Joined: 10/25/06
#13re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/17/09 at 8:00amIt was in the original off-BW production but was left off the cast album. When I was in Godspell at St. John's University in the early 80s, we did it and learned it from the written score (by the way, our Jesus in that show was Dr. Jeckyll himself, Robert Cuccioli).
Jon
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
#14re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/17/09 at 10:44amAlso, some recent revival have used a revised version (by Steven Schwartz) with some more recent "philosophers" such as Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
#15re: Godspell- Prologue??
Posted: 6/17/09 at 1:21pm
To quote Stephen Schwartz:
"A note about the Prologue, 'Tower of Babble' -- Since this musical number does not appear on the original cast album, its importance is often misunderstood. The Prologue was left off of the cast album for commercial reasons, so that the album could more easily 'cross-over' as a pop album. But within the context of the show, the Prologue is vital. Because Godspell is essentially about the formation of a community, it is necessary to see what the individuals are like when there is no community -- how lost they are and how easily they descend into violence and chaos."
The original Prologue featured quotes from such philosopher figures as Socrates, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Leonardo da Vinci, Edward Gibbon, Frederic Nietzsche, Jean Paul Sartre, and Buckminster Fuller. The new one retains Socrates, Aquinas, da Vinci, and Sartre, and adds Jonathan Edwards, L. Ron Hubbard, and Marianne Williamson.
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