Godspell
Opening Night: November 7, 2011
Closing: June 24, 2012
Theater: Circle in the Square
Conceived and originally directed by John-Michael Tebelakwith music and new lyrics by Academy and Grammy Award winner Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin), Godspell has continued to electrify audiences throughout the country since its original New York premiere in May 1971. Godspell’s Tony-nominated score features instantly recognizable hits including "Day by Day," "Turn Back, O Man," "Learn Your Lessons Well, "Prepare Ye the Way," "Light of the World" and many more. One of the most popular musicals in the world, Godspell originally ran for more than 2,600 performances in New York and spawned successful touring productions in major U.S. cities, a 1973 motion picture adaptation and countless international engagements for the past 40 years.
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November 7, 2011
Go easy on the caffeine if you’re heading to the Broadway revival of “Godspell” that opened on Monday night at the Circle in the Square. The cast of this relentlessly perky production of the 1971 musical, which transformed parables from the Gospels into a series of singable teaching moments, virtually never stops bopping, bouncing, bounding, even trampolining across the stage and up the aisles of the theater. It’s like being trapped in a summer camp rec room with a bunch of kids who have been a little too reckless with the Red Bull.
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November 7, 2011
The cast shoot confetti guns, pull up some audience members to share in the fun, bounce on trampolines, splash about in water, make Lindsay Lohan and Steve Jobs jokes, become human beat boxes and offer gorgeous versions of the songs "Day by Day,""Beautiful City" and "All Good Gifts."
READ THE REVIEWNovember 7, 2011
the show is, at its core, an exercise in youthful exuberance and letting one’s light shine before mankind. One could accuse this Godspell, with its slightly corporatized sleekness and unmistakable sense of salesmanship, of undermining the show’s homespun garage-rock charm. But I believe that’s my nostalgia acting up. Go forth and enjoy.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 7, 2011
Let certain sectors of society scream all they want about Zuccotti Park. For a calmer, friendlier, and infinitely more entertaining Manhattan occupation, you need look no further than Circle in the Square. That’s where the revival of Godspell has just opened, unleashing with its reappearance a tidal wave of good feelings that just might engulf the Financial District before it peters out. But even if it can’t, letting it sweep you away is one of the strongest feel-good experiences you’re likely to have in the New York theatre this fall.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 8, 2011
I’ve always thought of “Godspell” as "Hair" for the PG set. But while "Hair" found new relevance amid our latest war woes, "Godspell" entertaining as it is, seems hopelessly naive. Lacking cynicism, it reflects a time when idealistic young people could romp around a stage singing about love and peace…and win converts. Now in its first Broadway revival, “Godspell” turns out to be a 40-year-old relic that’s surprisingly irresistible.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 9, 2011
Broadway has a new pop idol, and he’s driving the kids wild. The young man in question is boyishly handsome, with a lanky frame and a spiky shock of blond hair, but has an endearing goofy streak. And unlike many of his peers, he’s not patently a show-biz creature; nothing about him seems manufactured or contrived.
READ THE REVIEWNovember 11, 2011
Skeptics be damned:"Godspell" is a joyously noisy romp that goes off like an extra-long string of firecrackers. It took 34 years for Stephen Schwartz’s once-ubiquitous rock musical, in which the gospel according to St. Matthew is enacted as a circuslike vaudeville turn, to make it back to Broadway, and by all rights the results should have been dated beyond hope of resuscitation. But Daniel Goldstein, the director of this revival, has blown all the dust off "Godspell," and the result is not a stale exercise in boomer nostalgia à la "Hair" but a fizzy, family-friendly show that deserves to run…well, forever.
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