History Theatre / Godspell

--> JUDAS: But who is the land for, the sun and the sand for?
--> You guessed! It's all for the best!

InvisibleWall: Judas tries to turn away from the betrayal, but finds himself in a three-sided mime's box, with walls in every direction except the one leading to Jesus.

* FakeOutOpening: The play begins with an ensemble number, "The Tower of Babble", in which Socrates, Thomas Aquinas, Martin Luther, Leonardo da Vinci, Edward Gibbon, Friedrich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Buckminster Fuller argue about philosophy.

It was released the year after the ''other'' 70's-rock-musical-about-Jesus ''Music/JesusChristSuperstar'', and definitely benefited from the resultant hype; furthermore, it lacked the DarkerAndEdgier quality that put a lot of Christians off the [[AndrewLloydWebber Lloyd Webber]] offering (if anything, ''Godspell'' is LighterAndSofter than the way the Bible is preached in many churches!). One of its songs, ''Day By Day'', was released as a single and achieved some success that way; it's toured about a gazillion times; there are a number of cast recordings out; [[Film/{{Godspell}} and there was a movie in 1973]].

* PassionPlay

In 2011, a revival opened on Broadway starring [[Series/{{Weeds}} Hunter]] [[Theatre/SpringAwakening Parrish]], [[Theatre/{{Grease}} Lindsay Mendez]], [[Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack Uzo Aduba]], [[HannahMontana Anna Maria]] [[Film/CampRock Perez de Taglé]], and more (with [[Film/{{HighSchoolMusical}} Corbin Bleu]] eventually replacing Parrish).

In 2011, a revival opened on Broadway starring [[Series/{{Weeds}} Hunter]] [[Theatre/SpringAwakening Parrish]], [[Theatre/{{Grease}} Lindsay Mendez]], [[Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack Uzo Aduba]], [[HannahMontana Anna Maria]] [[CampRock Perez de Taglé]], and more (with [[Film/{{HighSchoolMusical}} Corbin Bleu]] eventually replacing Parrish).

In 2011, a revival opened on Broadway starring [[Series/{{Weeds}} Hunter]] [[Theatre/SpringAwakening Parrish]], [[{{Grease}} Lindsay Mendez]], [[Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack Uzo Aduba]], [[HannahMontana Anna Maria]] [[CampRock Perez de Taglé]], and more (with [[Film/{{HighSchoolMusical}} Corbin Bleu]] eventually replacing Parrish).

In 2011, a revival opened on Broadway starring [[{{Weeds}} Hunter]] [[SpringAwakening Parrish]], [[{{Grease}} Lindsay Mendez]], [[Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack Uzo Aduba]], [[HannahMontana Anna Maria]] [[CampRock Perez de Taglé]], and more (with [[Film/{{HighSchoolMusical}} Corbin Bleu]] eventually replacing Parrish).

* [[AmericanAccents Noo Yawk]]: It's ''specifically'' written that Abraham speak with a heavy Brooklyn accent.

** The Act 1 opener, "Tower of Babble", is often confused as this, but is far from it. The song basically has most of the cast representing various philosophers (which change depending on the production) before singing in eight-part counterpoint as they fight amongst eachother. It is supposed to represent what the community is like before the arrival of the Jesus-figure, that they are too entrenched in their own beliefs and philosophies to get along. Over the course of the first act they are slowly brought together into a loving and tight knit community. Stephen Schwartz is often frustrated that the number frequently is cut by directors, and it doesn't help that the song was cut from both the original cast album (as it was intended as more of a pop album than a traditional musical recording) and the film (it is more of a stage number and probably wouldn't have worked well on film anyway).

** The performance script encourages this interpretation, suggesting that the cast invite audience members onto the stage or serve grape juice and bread to the entire audience. The point is that the audience get to share the disciple's meal.
** The ''entire show'' has potential for this. Most good productions run on ThrowItIn and AscendedFanon.

* ShownTheirWork: Jesus speaks the Passover Seder prayer in Hebrew. Most Christians forget that Jesus was a ''rabbi'' and The Last Supper was a ''Passover Seder''.

* [[AmericanAccents NooYawk]]: It's ''specifically'' written that Abraham speak with a heavy Brooklyn accent.

* NooYawk: It's ''specifically'' written that Abraham speak with a heavy Brooklyn accent.

In 2011, a revival opened on Broadway starring [[{{Weeds}} Hunter]] [[SpringAwakening Parrish]], [[{{Grease}} Lindsay Mendez]], Uzo Aduba, [[HannahMontana Anna Maria]] [[CampRock Perez de Taglé]], and more (with [[Film/{{HighSchoolMusical}} Corbin Bleu]] eventually replacing Parrish).

** The Act 1 opener, "Tower of Babble", is often confused as this, but is far from it. The song basically has most of the cast representing various philosophers (which change depending on the production) before singing in eight-part counterpoint as they fight amongst eachother. It is supposed to represent what the community is like before the arrival of the Jesus-figure, that they are to intrenched in their own beliefs and philosophies to get along. Over the course of the first act they are slowly brought together into a loving and tight knit community. Stephen Schwartz is often fustrated that the number frequently is cut by directors, and it doesn't help that the song was cut from both the original cast album (as it was intended as more of a pop album than a traditional musical recording) and the film (it is more of a stage number and probably wouldn't have worked well on film anyway).

* CompositeCharacter: The actor who represents Judas also takes on the John the Baptist role, in contrast to the other apostles who take on various philosophers who this trope also applies too. It also sets him up as Jesus' Lancer, who assists him with his teaching while still learning himself [[spoiler: which makes his eventual betrayal all the more painful for the both of them]]. Of course some people get confused or desperate for parts and either treat them as two seperate characters or have them played by different actors, which is CompletelyMissingThePoint.

** This one's been Jossed, however; Stephen Schwartz has claimed that they were merely supposed to be clowns, not flower children. If they looked like hippies, in the original production and the movie, that's probably because it was the seventies.