Soundtrack – Godspell

Godspell is a musical that opened off-Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has since been produced by multiple touring companies and in many revivals. Godspell began as a project by drama students at Carnegie Mellon University and then moved to the off-off-Broadway theater La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan.

The show was then rescored for an off-Broadway production, which became a long-running success. Several cast albums have been released over the years. “Day by Day”, from the original cast album, reached #13 on the Billboard pop singles chart in the summer of 1972. The show features eight non-Biblical characters, who sing and act out the parables:

Gilmer (silly, a great storyteller); Robin (a tomboy); Herb (goofy and entertaining); Jeffrey (happy and excited); Joanne (eager and enthusiastic); Lamar (clumsy and unintentionally funny); Peggy (shy and loyal); and Sonia (dramatic with a put-on sensuality). In the original script, licensed through Theatre Maximus, the “Christ” character and the “John” and “Judas” role are assigned the names of the original performers, Stephen and David.

All ten characters are always on stage. When the movie shooting began in August 1972, the actors didn’t have a copy of the shooting script. They were simply told which parable or scene they would be doing the next day. They were all so experienced with the musical that they didn’t need much rehearsal. They would show up in the morning ready to improvise, explore the possibilities in the location, and then start the shoot.