The Drama Nerds Database

Godspell, 1976

Shows · Godspell · Broadhurst Theatre, 1976

Godspell
We hold no picture of this staging. This one is filed against Godspell and could document any of its runs. None
Original BroadwayBroadhurst Theatre 527 performances

The run closed September 4, 1977

Opened
June 22, 1976
Closed
September 4, 1977
Performances
527
Previews
Unknown

Of the 589 productions we hold that opened in the 1970s and carry a performance count, this is the 50th longest. That is a rank within what we hold, not within everything that was staged.

Other stagings of Godspell 1 more that season

2011 Circle In The Square Theatre Revival · Daniel Goldstein 264 perf.

Who was in it20 named

Laurie Faso
Lois Foraker
Elizabeth Lathram
Bobby Lee
Tom Rolfing
Marley Sims
Valerie Williams
Tony Hoty
Patti Mariano
Marilyn Pasekoff
Jeremy Sage
John Ann Washington

8 of these 20 names have a person record behind them and link to one. The other 12 are set from the identifier in the cast list, which is a slug of the name, so hyphens and full stops are lost and a few come out wrong. We hold nothing else about them. Nobody here is matched to a character: the cast list records who was in the company and not what they played.

Characters10 roles held

Hunter Parrish Jesus
Tom Rolfing John the Baptist/Judas
Robin Lamont "Day by Day"
Marley Sims "Learn Your Lessons Well"
Valerie Williams "Bless the Lord"
Lamar Alford "All Good Gifts"
Laurie Faso "Light of the World"
Lois Foraker "Turn Back, O Man"
Elizabeth Lathram "By My Side"
Bobby Lee "We Beseech Thee"

These came out of a wiki table. The names arrived with the table's own cell markup on them and have been stripped back. They are not linked to person records because the identifiers in that table do not resolve to ours.

Creative team

Producer
Edgar Lansbury, Stuart Duncan, Joseph Beruh

A producer is one string on this record, however many people or companies it names. Directors and choreographers are held both as text and as identifiers; where an identifier exists the name links to a page.

Recordings 18 held for the work

None of these is attributed to this staging. They are filed against Godspell, and nothing says which production any of them documents. Closing that join is the point of this catalogue and it is not closed yet.

Around this production

A New Musical Based on The Gospel According to St. Matthew

Originally opened Off-Broadway in 1971, the same year as Jesus Christ Superstar, taking the opposite approach: intimate and playful instead of operatic and grandiose. It transferred to Broadway in 1976.

Left: The Company in Godspell. Opened at the Circle in the Squre November 7, 2011 Theatre World 2011 12 Season V 68 Willis, p. 16

  • The show was presented in a Greenwich Village theatre for three months, then moved to the Promenade (on Broadway and 76th Street) for a total run of 2,124 performances, making it currently the fourth longest running Off-Broadway musical. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 225
  • The fifth longest running Broadway musical of the 1970s, The Magic Show was Stephen Schwartz’s third in a row — the others were Godspell and Pippin — to play over 1,900 performances. Broadway Musicals Show By Show Seventh Edition Stanley Green Cary Ginell, p. 232
  • Godspell, another long-running off Broadway musical, moved to the Broadhurst, eventually managing 2,118 performances. Broadway Its History People and Places An Encyclopedia Bloom Ken 1949 2nd Ed New, p. 104
  • Godspell is a modern retelling of the Gospel according to St. Matthew with Jesus and his disciples clothed as clowns. There was a delightful sense of innocence, and Jesus seemed like a regular guy (although he wore a Superman T-shirt), but little blunted the source’s religious message. Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical Volume 22 William A Everett Paul R, p. 167
  • Several Broadway musicals, such as Godspell and Rent, have had their “tryouts” as off-Broadway shows. Historical Dictionary of the Broadway Musical Volume 22 William A Everett Paul R, p. 395

Passages naming this production, found by keyword across 178 books. Where it turns up in the literature, not curated notes about it.

What this page does not know

  • No photograph of this staging.
  • Which of the 18 recordings of Godspell document this run, if any.
  • Reviews, box office, running order, understudies and designers: none of it is held for any production.

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