Entertaining the community for over 100 years!
Nine patients or “bedlamites” endure being treated like a tourist attraction, as the well-to-do pay to view them. Then a new patient arrives. He is restrained, and for a while says nothing. But when he does speak, what he has to say will change their lives for ever.
Godspell is a musical by Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway. Several cast albums have been released over the years and one of its songs, "Day by Day" from the original cast album, reached number 13 on the Billboard pop singles chart in the summer of 1972.
The structure of Godspell is that of a series of parables, based on the Gospel of Matthew (though three of the parables featured are only recorded in the Gospel of Luke). These are then interspersed with a variety of modern music offset against lyrics from traditional hymns, with the passion of Christ treated dramatically near the end of the performance. Godspell originally started as a college project performed by students at Carnegie Mellon University before moving to Greenwich Village. It was then re-scored by the world renowned Stephen Schwartz (perhaps better known these days for his multi award winning Wicked) for an off-Broadway production which went on to become a phenomenal and long-running success.