From Nina Faso

(A picture of Nina Faso and Producer Edgar Lansbury taken around the time of the film.)

Nina Faso was the Production Stage Manager for Godspell, and I've been fortunate enough to be in touch with her. She has many memories to share, and is an incredibly sweet person!

Dear Annette,

John-Michael Tebelak, Stephen Schwartz and I were all Directing Majors at Carnegie-Mellon U. During those 4 years we were good friends, and we would take turns being Production Stage Manager (essentially an assistant director and in charge of the physical productions) on each others' directing projects. On Broadway this position is called Production Stage Manager, and it is a very demanding job.

Anyway, in 1970 I was in San Francisco being a summer replacement at the COMMITTEE , an improvisational comedy group in North Beach. John -Michael was developing the idea for Godspell, as he was still at Carnegie getting his Masters degree. He called me and asked me to come to NY, and help him create this improvisational show with many of our classmates, like Jeffrey Mylett, Steve Nathan, Gilmer, Peggy, Robin, etc. I said I couldn't afford the ticket, but John-Michael said "I already called your parents and they'll pay for the tickets and you can live with me in the Village, near Cafe La Mama, where we were to do the first production."

During the rehearsal process we improvised quite a bit, and when it came time to do the show, I was always considered a member of the company and was included later in the Commune payments (a small percentage for the original cast and me.) When we were a big hit at the Cherry Lane, Joe Beruh and Edgar Lansbury felt I should be in charge of directing as many big companies as possible, so I directed the Boston company, while John-Michael and S.S. went to London and mounted that very successful company . They returned to NYC and went to work on the screenplay while I worked on translating the show into French with a French writer, and went to France and directed the Paris company (in French) with French actors. The show was an enormous success, and it ran for years and was even invited to the Vatican. Meanwhile, J-M and S.S. were working on the screenplay for the film. At some point Jerry Sroka joined one of the big companies, Boston, Washington, or later San Francisco (I had a black Jesus and a white Judas.) Jeffrey was my friend throughout this period and I spent a lot of time with him, Gilmer and Steve Reinhart at their houses in Connecticut when I was in town.

I had known Jeffrey from college and on thru the end of his vibrant, wonderful life. Thank you for caring so much for him. He was the most fun you could imagine and I and all of us in the Godspell family adored him. Also, Jeff did a children's Fable Company video which I directed that probably never made his resume.

These were frantic, hectic years for me and I am quite proud of the companies I directed. Much later, I was asked to create and direct a musical fable company for video (new at that time) and Jeffrey and Jerry were both in it and it was very very funny, but was never "picked up". As for the fabulous Lynne Thigpen, she auditioned in NY very soon, perhaps a week or so near the Cherry Lane opening, and we loved her and hired her as an alternate. Until I came back to the US, she was in the New York show, but I wanted her to open the Washington production at Ford's Theater-which she did and that company also did very well.

Stephen Schwartz and I were always wanting to do shows and when he read the book "Working" by Studs Terkel, we decided to improvise a play about it---Must run for now. Will give you "Chapter Two" another time! Thanks for loving Godspell.