The Godspell Experience: Inside a Transformative Musical

by Carol de Giere, Stephen Schwartz (Foreword)

This book covers all things "Godspell." It includes a colorful behind-the-scenes account of the musical’s creative history, notes about each song, never-before-published photographs, "Godspell" movie development details, complete lyrics, and much more. In his Foreword for "The Godspell Experience," composer Stephen Schwartz shares some of his favorite personal memories from the earliest days of "Godspell." Author Carol de Giere has gathered fresh comments from original cast members, Stephen Schwartz, friends of the late John-Michael Tebelak (who conceived the musical and directed the first productions), "Godspell" movie cast members, and others. Fans, performers, and directors will find essential material to enhance their understanding of "Godspell." Come sing -- and read -- about love!

Genres: Music

386 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 6, 2014

About the author

After "meeting" Stephen Schwartz by way of his website, Carol de Giere began writing the authorized career biography of this award-winning Broadway and film songwriter (who wrote scores for Godspell, Pippin, Wicked, and more). A former librarian, Carol studied writing and launched her freelance career with this project that involved over 80 hours of interviews with Schwartz as well as with his colleagues. She and her husband Terry reside in Connecticut. "

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Godspell Experience is a loving oral history of the musical Godspell, from its beginnings as a master's thesis project at Carnegie Mellon University to a present in which it has a place in the heart of many lovers of musical theater. It was fun to learn that Sonia Manzano (Maria from "Sesame Street") was involved in the original production, and a young Stephen Schwartz was fresh out of college and trying to sell Pippin to producers when he was approached to write the music for Godspell. My favorite part of the book was "Godspell's Score – Song by Song": 100+ pages dealing just with the music. I won't criticize the writing (except by saying "I won't criticize the writing") because the value of the book is in the subject matter, and I think anyone who remembers Godspell fondly will enjoy this book.

When I was in 11th grade, I played violin in my high school's production of Godspell. That might sound odd to anyone familiar with the show, as it's scored for a rock band and not an orchestra. My school district had an exceedingly kind music teacher who orchestrated most of the music from Godspell so our pit orchestra would be able to participate in the musical, as we were all looking forward to doing. As an adult who has managed a volunteer orchestra, I now realize what a huge undertaking this was and have an appreciation for it that I didn't have then. My high school experience, occasionally seeing the movie clip of "Day by Day" at Musical Mondays at Splash, and seeing the Broadway revival were the sum total of my understanding of the musical before I came across this book. I loved learning that the creator/director Jon-Michael Tebelak found the inspiration for Godspell after a negative experience at church. He found it cold, unfeeling, and antithetical to the teachings of Jesus as they appear in the Bible, so he put Jesus and his disciples on stage in clown makeup and focused on his parables, not his divinity.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the 70s, I saw a college production of Godspell at Ohio State--which was excellent--and a professional touring company, and I own the DVD of the movie, which is interesting but flawed. After listening to the original cast album again recently, I got in a Gospell mood and decided I wanted to read a bit about the show, its background and production. There are several books about it, mostly either self-published or from small presses. This seemed to have the broadest coverage. I found some interesting tidbits here, but the book doesn't quite hang together as a unified work. The author got prime access to composer Stephen Schwartz, and to a handful of the original cast members, so there are some authoritative voices here. But there is also a lot of repetition--it seems like there are references to clowning as an acting device about every five pages, and the structure of the book is a little choppy. I'm glad to have read this, but I feel a more comprehensive story about this show could still be told.

[onthewillows · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book truly confirmed everything I already felt about Godspell, but went even further--I will forever have so much appreciation for this musical! It was beautiful learning more about the thought processes behind the show and the music. If you love Godspell, I highly recommend reading this; all the little tidbits and details are worth learning about!

[Chuck Zeitvogel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Must Read for Any Godspel Fan

I have been a part of several productions of Godspel. This book taught me many new things about the history of my favorite musical and how it evolved over 4 decades.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Godspell has been an influence on my spiritual life since I first saw it in high school. This book is pretty exhaustive with details that would only be of interest to a dedicated fan. But I enjoyed reading about the process, the songs and the different iterations over the years. Very enlightening.

[Beth Shorten · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was comprehensive, if not the most interesting read. If you want to know everything about the show from it's roots to now (which I did), this is a must.

[Surreysmum · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first became aware of this book through the author's decidedly fannish website, and did a bit of googling to discover that it is essentially self-published (the same imprint has put out the same author's biography of Godspell composer Stephen Schwartz, and there are a number of associated websites). However, there are bad fannish authors and good fannish authors, and Carol de Giere appears to be one of the better ones. Her volume is nicely produced, clearly written and well copy-edited. It also appears to be based on a respectable amount of original research in the form of personal interviews with creators and performers at all stages of the development of the work. If I had a complaint, and it's a fairly minor one, the structure's a bit bumpy - lots of tiny chapters clearly derived from a highly comprehensive outline in bullet points! However, that same structure allows the author to present, I am guessing, pretty much every piece of information she has gleaned about "Godspell" in its various incarnations rather than having to shape some sort of through line or thesis, and that's welcome. Nor is the tone breathless or mendacious - the less-than-favourable critical reception of the 2011 Broadway revival is not glossed over, and the comments of Schwartz and some original cast members are interesting in that regard.

I could have wished there were more on the subject of the Toronto production which launched the careers of so many Canadian notables (Victor Garber, Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Paul Shaffer), but that may be just my local bias showing. At least de Giere pointed out in her Bibliography - yes, there are notes and bibliography! Big points from me! - the existence of a book by Paul Shaffer which may well be more illuminating.

Having the close cooperation of composer Steven Schwartz meant that there were some very interesting tidbits on details of the music and the lyrics (why they sing "we hung up our lives" instead of "lyres" in "On the Willows", for instance).

A good addition to my showbiz shelves. It can sit right next to the Jesus Christ Superstar book!

[Elizabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Carol de Giere's detailed book tells the story of such a fascinating musical that became a stage and screen classic. With detailed accounts from original cast members and its creative team, the insight into the creation of such a revolutionary musical was such a treat to read. Definitely recommend for all theater lovers, actors and theater creatives who have been moved by this remarkable show.