Stephen Schwartz is most likely known by younger audiences for Wicked and The Prince of Egypt but more mature theatergoers may know him for Pippin and his 1971 Off-Broadway classic, Godspell, that introduced a new way to spread “the good word”. The newest production being mounted at Artistry in Bloomington, MN.
Usually set in an abandoned part of town, among the brambles of a rundown park or the ruggedness of a construction zone. Godspell brings a group of people together who encounter a man that may or may not be Jesus. Throughout the show, a string of parables are told to illustrate a number of life lessons about how to be a better person and how we should treat those around us with love, kindness, and respect.
While the show typically takes place in an older time period, recent productions have chosen to update the time and place to more modern locales. Artistry’s production program mentioned they had sought to set it in 2023 but unfortunately, the only thing that felt modern, were the cell phones and the abundance of pop culture references that were shoehorned into the script.
It is understandable that the production team wanted to update an older show, with modern references to demonstrate that this story is universal to millions around the world. Unfortunately, it seems like they didn’t count on the audience being in the more mature ages range. Therefore, the number of modern references was almost too many and sadly for those on stage, they didn’t have much laughter from the audience to propel them to the next bit.
The cast clearly loves every minute on stage, enjoying one another’s company, but their overzealousness seems to hinder the pace of the show. At times it felt like the audience was sitting in on a rehearsal of what was to become Godspell due to the continuous moving around and being staged in a way that blocked the audience from seeing actions happening upstage (I.e. a moment between Jesus and one of his new followers playing on a swing).
The ideas of “play” and games were used heavily in the Director’s Notes and they mentioned that they hope the audience would see that brought to the stage. The audience did see that but it seems like there was very little editing of what parts of the games were brought to the main stage, making it feel unfinished and not “tightly” paced. Which seemed to lead to the audience squirming at times to get to the next song, which then provide some much-needed relief.
The cast is very vocally talented. Big voices fill the Artistry theater and when they are allowed to belt it out, the cast does a great job. As each cast member gets their time in the sun, they made sure not to waste a moment to shine and absorb the audience’s admiration.
Godspell is not for everyone by nature. With the extremely heavy-handed religious story, some may find it a difficult show to see. Artistry has asked those who are not of a particular faith to replace “god” with a word or ideal that they prescribe to. Although this production had its rough edges, it should be noted that there is an infectious joy throughout the production, emanating from the cast’s giggles, and joy is something everyone can use a little bit more of, nowadays.
PHOTO CREDIT: SAM LAVINE
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