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Godspell

Godspell

Shows · Godspell

Godspell is a musical in two acts with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by John-Michael Tebelak. The show is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew, interspersed with music mostly set to lyrics from traditional hymns, with the passion of Christ appearing briefly near the end.

Opened
1976
Performances
527
Type
Musical
Era
Revolution
Music: Stephen SchwartzLyrics: Stephen SchwartzBook: John-Michael Tebelak

Productions2 on Broadway

1976 Broadhurst Theatre Original. June 22, 1976 · John-Michael Tebelak 527 performances
2011 Circle In The Square Theatre Revival. November 7, 2011 · Daniel Goldstein 264 performances

Every Broadway staging held in broadway-data, sourced to IBDB. West End runs are not yet held.

Licensing 1 entry

US Music Theatre International Godspell matched on title alone — a lead, not a confirmed licensor

Read from the licensor's own pages and catalogues. Rights move, and an empty row means we have not confirmed a publisher, not that the show cannot be licensed.

In the literature44 passages

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. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p225

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. book:broadway-musicals-show-by-show-seventh-edition-stanley-green-cary-ginell#p232

Godspell, another long-running off Broadway musical, moved to the Broadhurst, eventually managing 2,118 performances. book:broadway-its-history-people-and-places-an-encyclopedia-bloom-ken-1949-2nd-ed-new#p104

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. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p167

Several Broadway musicals, such as Godspell and Rent, have had their “tryouts” as off-Broadway shows. book:historical-dictionary-of-the-broadway-musical-volume-22-william-a-everett-paul-r#p395

The earlier Stephen Schwartz musical, which had been running Off-Broadway since 1971, had an enormous following of happily satisfied group sales buyers—the perfect market for The Magic Show. book:more-opening-nights-on-broadway-a-critical-quotebook-of-compiled-by-steven-suski#p596

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

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