Talk:Godspell

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Albums, an attempt at building a useful resource on recordings from a variety of genres. If you would like to participate, visit the project page, where you can join the project and/or contribute to the discussion.
Start	This article has been rated as Start-class on the quality scale.
???	This article has not yet received a rating on the importance scale.
The article has been rated for quality and/or importance but has no comments yet. If appropriate, please review the article and then leave comments here to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the article and what work it will need.

	Musical Theatre Portal Godspell is part of WikiProject Musical Theatre, organized to improve and complete musical theatre articles and coverage on Wikipedia. You can edit the article attached to this page, or visit the project page, where you can join the project and see a list of open tasks.
Start	This article has been rated as Start Class
WikiProject Musical Theatre tasks: Help out with one of the WikiProject Musical Theatre tasks below. You may add your name to the Participants list to the right. edit this Open Tasks template Collaborate and work on the Collaboration of the Month Articles needing a content fork Mainly, these are articles on films and either their source or subsequent musicals. There are a couple where the musical needs to be "forked" from the source material. Feel free to add or remove as necessary. Important: If you split an article, please make sure that you move all the relevant links from the first article to the new one. To find which links to move, click on "What links here" at the old article and look through the list to see which links should be pointed to the film related link (for example, articles on actors in the film). Then, click on those links and update them to point to the film article. Thanks! Don't Play Us Cheap Roberta How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying I Married an Angel Lady in the Dark The Band Wagon - musical adaptation will to be forked after it opens in April.

The song I added isn`t actually non existant but I agree I may have got the title wrong:I quoted the first line.Can anyone help?andycjp

I believe the song you are referring to is called "Finale" on the soundtrack albums. If you can confirm this and want to re-add a mention of the song, please also describe what makes this particular song notable within the overall work. Jgm 14:49, 7 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Contents 1 Different versions of the show? 2 Beautiful City 3 Synopsis 4 Removal 5 Carnegie Institute of Technology? 6 London Production 7 Proper English 8 Similarly themed??? 9 WikiProject class rating

[edit] Different versions of the show?

Some of the recent changes to the article are in bright, bold disagreement with the way the show was staged in New York City. Are the editors sure that the facts they're inserting are true for the show as a whole and not just for some local production of it?

Atlant 12:12, 29 July 2005 (UTC)

Anonymous Bystander says: With all due respect, have you not the power to edit as you see fit? If something disagrees with you, by all means, do something about it.

—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 71.112.171.31 (talk • contribs) .

Generally, Wikipedia works better if we reach a consensus on the talk page first, before making sweeping changes to an article. I have no problem being bold, but I'd rather have consensus if possible.

Atlant 20:19, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Beautiful City

The song "Beautiful City" is placed in the Act Two listing where it appeared in the movie version. Strictly speaking, Beautiful City is not part of the original stage version, and maybe shouldn't be listed as part of Act Two at all. Maybe the article would benefit from a section on the song itself -- that, while not part of the stage version, is added by many directors in subsequent productions wherever he or she sees fit, at the full behest of Stephen Schwartz. MusicMaker5376 23:10, 11 March 2006 (UTC)

However, "Beautiful City" is in the Godspell Junior version of the show. Maybe they should add this info to the Modern Productions section. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.251.54.194 (talk • contribs)

Done. —  MusicMaker 20:40, 17 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Synopsis

Perhaps some mention could be made of the "tradition" that Jesus wears a Superman shirt. This is common enough that a recent production at the Paper Mill Playhouse made a reference to it (Jesus rejects the superman shirt for a more modest, white shirt), to the knowing chuckle of many in the audience.Tetyler 00:47, 26 September 2006 (UTC)

There is a definite requirement for a synopsis for this show, but I don't think it should be germane to any one production. If possible, a synopsis of the show as currently rented from MTI, without directorial influences or copyright infringment. I think, too, that this article would benefit from a section of settings and production ideas: Godspell is one of those shows that cannot exist in a vacuum; each production is different. Furthermore, it exists mostly now as an amateur piece; the professional productions aren't necessarily more important than the production of a local high school. MusicMaker5376 20:02, 13 March 2006 (UTC)

I've added a synopsis, but in it I capitalized "Him" when refering to Jesus. It didn't feel right, but it felt wrong not capitalizing it. It's a pretty fine line, but if anyone knows the correct gramatical convention when referring to Jesus as a character, feel free to change it. MusicMaker5376 02:24, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

Oh. And I didn't put a spoiler warning. Lets face it, if there's any show completely devoid of surprises, it's this one. If someone REALLY feels it needs it, go crazy. MusicMaker5376 03:42, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I think you're safe (without a spoiler tag). ;-)

Atlant 15:30, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I've changed the Hes and Hims to hes and hims. I saw a review by Roger Ebert on The Last Temptation of Christ where he used lowercase to refer to the character. I can only assume that he (or his editor) knows what he's doing. I noticed, too, that it wasn't uniform -- lots of places I didn't capitalize -- so I think this works better. I did, however, leave a capital Y in "Your" in a quote where the company is referring to Jesus. Since they believe him actually to be Him, I thought it appropriate. Someone can change it if they don't like it. MusicMaker5376 19:51, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removal

To the person of this website:

Licking County Players is a non-profit community theater. At no time were you given permission from LCP of Music Theatre International to post this website or the pictures that Tim Stanton took. It is a violation of copyright laws in accordance with our contract with Music Theatre International. Please remove your website immediately. Not doing so could result in legal action by both LCP and Music Theater International.

Sincerely, LCP Board of Directors —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.165.20.116 (talk • contribs) .

There is nothing on this page that, in any way, violates any copyright. We don't need MTI's permission to post details regarding the history of the show, various productions, or a synopsis. There are no photos by Tim Stanton or anyone else. What, exactly, are you talking about? —  MusicMaker 18:06, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

Perhaps this is just another form of vandalism? Or perhaps they intended to complain about this: [1]?

Atlant 19:43, 4 June 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Carnegie Institute of Technology?

How could the show have originated in 1970 at the Carnegie Institute of Technology? By that time, CIT had become Carnegie Mellon University, and thus CIT would refer solely to the engineering college at CMU.

[edit] London Production

Godspell also showed in London's West End in 1971-72, long enough ago that I was too young to buy a programme. It was a fantastic production, starring David Essex, Jeremy Irons, Julie Covington and someone else who made it big later (I think it was Marti Webb). This should have a section on the main page, I think.JohnGU47 18:46, 31 August 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Proper English

I have changed "while not part of the show proper" under Beautiful City as it isn't proper English. Tobzhooli 13:28, 11 November 2006 (UTC)

Actually, that wording is perfectly acceptable. 128.122.253.196 09:58, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Better recheck your dictionary, Tobzhooli. Definition #6 of proper according to Merriam-Webster is "strictly limited to a specified thing, place, or idea <the city proper>". — Walloon 15:42, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

Ok...it's just that where I am from part of the show proper is not good English. Tobzhooli 16:42, 14 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Similarly themed???

I don't want to be so bold as to make a change based purely on my own opinion, but it seems to me that the reference at the very front of this article to "the similarly themed Jesus Christ Superstar" is also opinion, and a pretty dull and suspect one at that. Sure, two musicals came out in rapid succession whose central character was Jesus of Nazareth. They both employ creative anachronism in costuming, sets, and cultural references. Beyond that, I can't really see any more similarities--certainly not thematic ones.

JCS was an anxious, angry, and--most importantly--agnostic retelling of the story of Jesus's last days, full of barbs at the very notion of his divinity and reminders of the hypocrisy of, well, pretty much of the human race; whereas Godspell is an enthusiastic Christian fantasy-revue featuring conventional (if somewhat flower-child-inflected) interpretations of Jesus's "teachings." They may both end with the crucifixion, but Godspell anticipates the resurrection (with a reprise of "Prepare ye the way of the Lord") while JSC pointedly does not (the final instrumental being named for the verse in the Gospel of John in which Jesus is interred). In Godspell, Christ is serene, beatific; in JCS, he's so whiny you want to smack him. Godspell's music veers from pretty, sweet ballads to praise-the-Lord blues to earnest patter-song renderings of parables; JCS's music ranges from jazz-inflected guitar rock to post-Bernstein classical, and absolutely none of it serves the glorification of Jesus. Even the title tune and its appellation of "superstar" are ironic and baiting; and Simon's song subtly perverts the "power and the glory" phrase from the so-called Lord's prayer.

To me, the similarities between these two shows are as superficial as, say, those between that pair of great 1964 nuclear doomsday movies, Fail-Safe and Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.

Others' thoughts? Sebum-n-soda 20:07, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

I think you have a very valid point. I do believe, however, the statement was incorporated into the article to draw the connection between only two things:

1. The sole similarity between the religious nature of the pieces
2. That Godspell was released in very close timing to Superstar.

Other than that, the statement has no validity. I'll try and find a way to incorporate the other two aspects without implying any "thematic" connections. Best Regards. --omtay38 20:12, 30 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one WikiProject had rated the article as start, and the rating on other projects was brought up to start class. BetacommandBot 19:20, 28 August 2007 (UTC)