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Every once in a while I hear people on television refer to the great production of GODSPELL that was staged in Toronto from May 1972 through August 1973, but whenever I tried to find information about it on the Internet, I get only bits and pieces. I thought that it was important that this information be put together into one source, and since nobody else had done it, I made this site.
Over the past few years of collecting everything that I've found about the show, I have started to feel the brilliance of the show come to me, even though it's been gone for decades. In fact, I see it more clearly, day by day.
Two members of the cast have died in the last little while: Gerry Salsberg and Nancy Dolman (Short). They will be missed not only by all those who knew them, but also by those they have inspired. Here's what I've put together so far: Godspell is a rock musical based loosely on the Gospel According to St. Matthew, and is a whimsical blend of mime, charades, vaudeville routines and impersonations. On May 17, 1971 Godspell opened off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre in New York City. It then moved to the Promenade at Broadway and 76th Street where it ran for 2,124 performances. The show's "official" Broadway opening took place at the Broadhurst Theatre on June 22, 1976 and played an additional 527 performances on Broadway.
That original off-Broadway production was such a great success that permanent companies soon opened across North America, in Boston, Washington, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago, and Toronto. The Toronto show officially opened on Thursday, June 1, 1972 at Ed Mirvish's 1497 seat Royal Alexandra Theatre. Mirvish Production's records show that Godspell played at the Royal Alex, including previews from Friday, May 26, 1972 through Sunday, September 3, 1972 (not including a "pre-preview" for 200 members of the clergy on May 25, 1972).
After leaving the Royal Alex, the Toronto company moved to the Bayview Playhouse. The Bayview Playhouse was located at 1605 Bayview Ave. below Eglinton. It was originally a cinema with 674 seats, but in 1960s and 1970s it became a legitimate theatre. Today the building is used on the first floor as a fine food store, and the second floor as a furniture store. What made this show so legendary was the cast of newcomers that went on to great fame. The original Jesus of the production was Victor Garber, who went on to play the same role in the movie, and has had a long, successful television and film career.
The supporting cast was the really amazing part, as they went on to great careers in comedy, being key members of both
Second City and Saturday Night Live. The cast included:
In the Spring of 1973 many of the cast left to form the Second City company in Toronto, including Derek McGrath, Gilda Radner, Jayne Eastwood and Don Scardino. Several actors portrayed Jesus, starting with Garber, and also played by Don Scardino (who took over the role of Jesus when Garber went to make the movie; Scardino then moved on to the New York company and was Jesus when that show moved onto Broadway), Robin White, Gordon Thomson (famous for playing Adam Carrington from Dynasty) and Eugene Levy. Godspell closed on August 12th, 1973 after 488 performance, a Canadian record not broken until Cats in 1986.
Godspell was originally conceived, written and directed by John-Michael Tebelak (who originally wrote Godspell as his Masters Thesis project at Carnegie-Mellon University in 1971), with music and new lyrics by Steven Schwartz (Schwartz's credit of "new lyrics" is because several of the show's original lyrics originated from the Episcopal hymnal).
The show was staged by Howard L. Sponseller Jr., who also staged the Chicago production, based on Tebelak's direction (Sponseller was a college roommate of Tebelak's and played Herb in the NYC cast).
The musical conductor of the show was Paul Shaffer, who went on to Saturday Night Live and is now famous as the band leader on the Late Show with David Letterman. Apparently Paul came to the auditions for Godspell to play for a female friend, and they liked his playing so much that they hired him. Paul had only recently graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology and Philosophy at the University of Toronto, and until then had planned, albeit reluctantly, to go on to law school and join his father's practice.
Stephen Schwartz also liked Paul's playing and had him come to New York to play on the soundtrack of the movie. The drummer for the production was Dave Russell. Howard Shore, the multiple Academy Award winner for composing the soundtrack for The Lord of the Rings trilogy, played saxophone for the show. Tisziji Muņoz played guitar.
Original costumes were by Susan Tsu and were executed by Reet Pell.
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