Godspell
Did I know there was a movie of this?!? I really don’t think I did before this week lol. Anyway … holy sh*t, what a f*cking fantastic opening this movie has. I have only ever experienced this show via cast recordings, several of them at that, and I’ve always loved it, in particular that opening song “Prepare Ye”, but nothing could’ve prepared me for the way it’s done here on film, culminating in all the cast diving into the fountain … just an astounding sense of freedom right there. The movie is packed with such moments, taking a similar approach to its material that the Jesus Christ Superstar movie did, starting in the modern day – though here, it pretty much stays there, the New York surroundings evident in almost every shot; one startling sequence, “All for the Best”, taking place atop the twin towers, which of course now adds a whole new meaning to the moment.
This is just such a happy movie – I always did think of this as kind of the anti- Jesus Christ Superstar, like some try to say “which is best” of the two musicals but they really couldn’t be more polar opposites in philosophy and are both amazing in their own way. You get a sense of such real joy and vitality from all the players here that I find absolutely priceless in any film. Of all Stephen Schwartz’s songs, I’d say only one or two try my patience, and while I really felt like this would be a movie I would settle back and end up just listening to while doing other stuff on the computer, etc, I more often than not found myself unable to drag my eyes away from the energy and colour onscreen. I had no idea either that Victor Garber had done work as early as this – he makes a fantastic Jesus, though I’m sure anyone who knows him as I do through his more recent screen work like Titanic and Annie will struggle to even recognise him with the afro, lol. Just simply joyous, and an instant favourite for me.