GODSPELL
Performed at Luton Sixth Form College - April 2003
It is an open secret that I am no great fan of religious musicals. Too much wearing of the heart on a sleeve for my taste. And besides, bible study classes never had quite the teenage appeal of the densely packed broadsheet pages of The Sporting Life. Religion, for me, has always been something comfortably in the background, with devout prayers usually reserved for an unworthy nag in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
With any other company I would probably have turned up for ‘Godspell’ with all the enthusiasm of a turkey ticking off the days to Christmas. But you learn quickly as a reviewer, and anything packaged by director Stuart Farrar is usually a gilt edged guarantee of breathtaking verve. Last year's ‘Copacabana’ may have only just got by on the skin of its glittering teeth, but earlier presentations, most notably ‘West Side Story’, oozed theatrical class. Stephen Schwartz 1970’s hit, a high octane musical of Jesus and the Parables, was no exception to recent form. Surrounded by an adult technical team of the highest theatrical quality, Mr Farrar knitted together a razor sharp cast emphatically continuing this young company’s triumphant tradition.
Dale Stacey was a mature and relaxed Jesus and Carl Davidson, suitably dressed in black, a majestic Judas. If Mr Stacey had the edge in acting, Mr Davidson came into his own as a singer, especially All For The Best and Light Of The World, and both these intelligent actors gave the show its only serious dramatic base. But if the narrative, on Ned Lawton’s effective urban deprival set, uneasily moved from high school playground parables to the reality of crucifixion, song after glorious song unerringly filled the structural gaps.
In such a collective piece picking out individual turns is invidious but Leon Witter impressed for everything he comically did and Aaron Harris (Prepare Ye), Caroline Needham (Day By Day), Michelle Rolt (Bless The Lord), and Katie Brennan (Turn Back O Man) stood out in a universally strong and highly disciplined team. Miss Brennan’s depiction of a classy hooker showed a maturity in acting and singing style almost unpardonable in one so young.
I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t have some caveats. Diction was occasionally wayward, the white screen, to project Lucy O’Hare’s thought provoking opening video, intrusive and the clumsy crucifixion did not play to the company’s obvious technical strengths. But other than wishing that Stephen Schwartz had provided a deeper dramatic structure and that Stuart Farrar had more effectively realised the little he had, I have nothing but praise. Fred Rayment’s lighting was superb, Lynda Haxell’s slick choreography sharp as a button, and Simon Tabert’s band earblastingly wonderful. This ‘Godspell’ more shamelessly shook the emotions than stirred them, but suffered hardly a jot for it. I never did go, but I suspect bible classes were never like this.
Roy Hall