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Women's Wear Daily
“Godspell”… Jesus in Kindergarten
by Joseph H. Mazo
“GODSPELL” ALTERNATES BETWEEN MOMENTS OF irresistible charm and episodes of high school drama club cuteness.
The entertainment, which I saw at its final preview Sunday night at the
Each of the participants has a musical number and, now and again, one plays at a specific character. Most often, they work as an ensemble. Stephen Nathan, an ear nest young man with a heart painted on his forehead, is an ever-smiling Jesus, telling his followers about love and morals in the manner of a kindergarten teacher playing with a beloved; if slightly retarded, class.
The others respond like kindergarteners, ooh-ing and ah-ing and playing out their parts. Even the division of the sheep from the goats is done so playfully that everyone knows it is all in fun. There is no hellfire in the play-universe, and no dark strength in this Messiah.
The theme is “suffer little children to come unto me,” without the corollary about coming “not to bring peace, but a sword.” As a result, the play has no tensions and no conflict. Even the play-for-all style is too loose and unorganized to hold the attention without interruption.
Basically, “Godspell” is an agape — a love-feast —dedicated to light and joy and love. As such, it is delightful, but somehow I doubt that is all the original author had in mind.
The music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz are remarkably eclectic, drawing on rock, folk, gospel and Broadway. (One of the best numbers is a parody soft shoe for Jesus and the Baptist.) All the songs are enjoyable — in fact, the best part of the show — tuneful and rhythmic, but they do not stay in the memory.
Each song is so much a representative of its type that it lacks any individuality or distinction. Schwartz sings successfully in many voices but seems to lack a true sound of his own.
Strangely, considering the ensemble style of the production, the songs are not really integrated in the text. They could be divorced from the play and still be pleas ant, while others could be inserted in their places. There is no sense of necessity in the construction of the play, any more than there is in the treatment of its theme.
“Godspell” is, in a way, a 20th Century mystery play. However, the medieval craftsmen who performed on their pageant wagons believed, intensely, in the words the said and the acts they represented.
The performers in “Godspell” do not. Religious evangelism is not a requisite of good theatre, but a belief in something outside one’s self is. The kids in “God- spell” are interested only in being loved. They are remarkably lovable, and their play is gentle and charming but, in the theatre, charm is not enough.
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