Patriot Players venture off Broadway to update ‘Godspell’
May 7, 2008
By Administrator
A parking lot of a thrift shop is where this year’s Patriot Players’ spring musical story unfolds.
The newly re-envisioned and modernized “Godspell,” originally created by John-Michael Tebelak and composed by Steven Schwartz, hit the Liberty High School stage April 25.
The off-Broadway musical debuted in 1971 and featured classic folk-rock songs, like “Day by Day” and “By My Side.”
“I love the singing more than anything,” said Connor Callahan, a sophomore, who played the lead role of Jesus.
“It’s based off the book of Matthew, where there are a lot of lessons, but we modernized them so they can relate to people more,” he said. “It is really about a bunch of people who are in a bunch of different cliques, putting aside their differences to come together to form a community.”
Travis Conner, a senior cast as John the Baptist and Judas, enjoyed performing in “Godspell.”
“Even though it is a religious story, I really like the message it portrays and brings out,” he said.
While the musical is based on the Gospel of Matthew, director Katherine Klekas said the play is more about the script’s universal themes of acceptance, love, understanding and the formation of community that drew them to produce the show.
“I approach this as a piece of literature,” she said. “There are universal themes, like Steven Schwartz says. In his mind, it is more of a story about people coming together to make a community than it is about the Messiah and resurrection. That is the approach we are taking.”
The department updated the story to suit a modern-day audience.
“In our particular information age, where people are increasingly isolated and families are fractured, this is a story of how an isolated community, by coming together for a good cause, found joy,” Klekas said.
The department also has a new group of students in its program, and Klekas said it was necessary for her to take a step back and look at the pool of incoming talent.
“We didn’t know the kids well enough to envision what they could sing or what they could dance. So, we held preliminary auditions in January,” she said. “We ended up looking at two different shows and had the students help us select it.”
She said she warned the students that putting on a show with religious overtones might stir up some controversy.
But aside from some people deciding not to take part in the production and others deciding not to come, they didn’t have any problems, she said.
“To pull something like this together with a new cast has been great,” Conner said. “I think we developed a good production that makes me proud to have helped develop. And I know when I leave this place, it’s in good hands.”
The Patriot Players also collected donations at the production benefiting the Seattle chapter of Gilda’s Club, an organization to support people living with cancer. It was formed in memory of actress Gilda Radner, who debuted in the original production of “Godspell” in 1972.
Donate in honor of Liberty’s musical at www.gildasclubseattle.org/donate.
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