By: Sydney Franklin
For you non-Broadway enthusiasts, you may be asking: What exactly is Godspell? Funny you should ask. You probably know more about the 40-year-old musical than you think.
Godspell is structured around a series of parables based on the Gospel of Matthew. If you’ve taken New Testament Survey here at Milligan, you will easily follow along. But the show isn’t just about Jesus telling stories to his 12 disciples. Godspell is a mixture of Biblical teaching with contemporary music set to lyrics from traditional hymns, sung by a cast full of the Bible characters you’ve studied since childhood.
This October, Milligan College will be reviving Godspell during Homecoming Weekend, with Professor of Theater Dick Major serving as director and producer.
Senior Matt Rees will be playing Jesus.
Milligan isn’t the first student-setting in which this show has been performed. Fittingly, Godspell started as a college project by students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn. in 1970. After its opening performances, the show was picked up by producers in New York City. They then hired Carnegie Mellon theater department alumnus Stephen Schwartz to write an updated score.
The show opened Off-Broadway in 1971. Since then, several revivals of the musical have popped up all over the world. In October 2011, the first Broadway revival performances began starring Hannah Montana’s Anna María Perez de Taglé and High School Musical’s Corbin Bleu. Weed’s star Hunter Parrish also played the role of Jesus before dropping out halfway through its run.
So, if you’ve ever wondered where all those Disney Channel stars went once they grew up, chances are they landed on Broadway.
In Milligan’s cast, thirteen students will take on Godspell and reteach the community the opening passages of the New Testament via song and dance.
Godspell is the first musical done by Milligan’s theater department since 2011. Director Dick Major expects audiences to be captivated.
“For over four decades Godspell has delighted audiences virtually all over the world with its unique retelling of the Gospel of Matthew,” he said. “Fresh off a Broadway revival in 2012 the score has been revamped and the songs capture the zip and energy of the 21st century.”
For those of you freshman who haven’t studied this section of the Bible yet, come spring semester, you will have at least one book engrained in your memory because Major promises to entertain.
“I’m confident not one single audience member will be able to leave the theatre feeling anything but joy,” he said.
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