{ "id": "ep8w3z19p0", "slug": "godspell-1973-film", "title": "Godspell (1973 film)", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music", "label": "Musical and music films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s", "label": "Musical films of the 1970s and 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Musical films of the 1970s and 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music", "label": "Musical and music films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s", "label": "Musical films of the 1970s and 1980s", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s" } ] } ], "excerpt": "Godspell (1973 film), David Greene's Columbia Pictures adaptation of the Tebelak-Schwartz Gospel of Matthew musical, shot on empty New York streets with Victor Garber as Jesus and the song \"Beautiful City\" written for the film.", "snippet": "Godspell (1973 film), David Greene's Columbia Pictures adaptation of the Tebelak-Schwartz Gospel of Matthew musical, shot on empty New York streets with Victor Garber as Jesus and the song \"Beautiful City\" written for the film.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.musical-music.musical-films-of-the-1970s-and-1980s", "markdown": "# Godspell (1973 film)\n\n*Godspell* is a 1973 American musical film directed by David Greene, adapted from the 1971 off-Broadway stage musical by John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz, which retells parables from the [Gospel of Matthew](https://www.edgepedia.org/gospel-of-matthew) in contemporary New York City. [Columbia Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/columbia-pictures) released it in April 1973 with a G rating and a running time of 103 minutes.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) Its most distinctive choice was to film entirely on location in New York, with the streets emptied of passersby so that the cast could sing and act out the parables against a deserted urban backdrop.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Release | April 1973, Columbia Pictures; G rating; 103 minutes[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) |\n| Source | The stage musical *Godspell*, based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew; play conceived and written by John-Michael Tebelak, score by Stephen Schwartz[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) |\n| Director and writers | David Greene (director and co-writer); Tebelak credited onscreen as co-writer and creative consultant[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) |\n| Principal cast | Victor Garber as Jesus; David Haskell as John the Baptist and Judas; eight disciples played under their real first names[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) |\n| Filming | Entirely on location in New York City, including the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Times Square, and Coney Island[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) |\n| New song | \"Beautiful City,\" written by Stephen Schwartz for the film, partly replacing \"We Beseech Thee\"[2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/) |\n| Hit song | \"Day by Day,\" which the stage show spawned as a hit[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/you-had-to-be-there-how-the-toronto-godspell-ignited-the-comedy-revolution-documentary-film-review-2026) |\n| Critical standing | 63% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (16 reviews); 71% on the audience Popcornmeter (5,000+ ratings)[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godspell) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story and staging\n\nThe film opens in the crowded streets of Manhattan, where [John the Baptist](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-the-baptist) (David Haskell) blows a horn that only a few can hear and gathers a band of young disciples who forsake their jobs to follow Jesus ([Victor Garber](https://www.edgepedia.org/victor-garber)).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godspell) The ensemble then acts out a series of parables from the first Gospel through song, dance, and comic sketches, and the story runs from the baptism through the betrayal by Judas, also played by Haskell, to the crucifixion.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) • [5](https://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/g/godspell.q.shtml)\n\nThe disciples are called by their real first names, and the performers work in a stylized, exaggerated manner, as if spontaneously improvising the Biblical stories. Their costumes are circus-inspired; Garber wears a Superman t-shirt and clown shoes. The musical numbers draw on lighthearted theater styles including cabaret, vaudeville, burlesque, puppetry, and mime.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) Once the disciples are gathered, the streets around them are empty; in the final scene the crowds return.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL)\n\n## The empty city\n\nThe deserted New York setting was a deliberate design. Producer Edgar Lansbury judged that the intimacy of theater could not simply be filmed, so the filmmakers needed a unique concept for the screen.[2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/) Tebelak had developed the idea of an abandoned playground bounded by a cyclone fence; composer Stephen Schwartz proposed extending that notion to all of New York, reasoning that if none of the city's millions of inhabitants were visible, the world would not be an ordinary day-to-day one, and therefore people could sing in it.[2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/)\n\nAchieving the emptiness took coordination: a January 1973 *Hollywood Reporter* article reported that the New York police department helped control activity around the shooting sites. A later critic remarked that the effect made New York look deserted, \"downright eerie at times.\"[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL)\n\nSeveral numbers use landmark locations. The cast sings \"Prepare Ye\" while splashing through a baptism in the Bethesda Fountain in [Central Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/central-park), and \"All for the Best\" was danced on city rooftops, including one of the then-unfinished [World Trade Center](https://www.edgepedia.org/world-trade-center-1973-2001) twin towers, which were completed in 1973 after the film's release; during that sequence Jesus and John dance a soft-shoe in front of the Accutron by Bulova sign in [Times Square](https://www.edgepedia.org/times-square).[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) • [2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/) Historic interiors include the Cherry Lane Theatre, where the off-Broadway musical had opened in May 1971, and the Andrew Carnegie Mansion, used for \"Turn Back O' Man.\"[2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/)\n\n## From stage to screen\n\nTebelak wrote *Godspell* as his 1970 master's thesis at [Carnegie Mellon University](https://www.edgepedia.org/carnegie-mellon-university)'s theater program. After the play ran as an off-off-Broadway workshop at the Café LaMama theater, Tebelak invited fellow Carnegie Mellon alumnus Stephen Schwartz to add songs and a score, and the reshaped musical opened off-Broadway in May 1971.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL) • [2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/) • [6](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/music/godspell-the-40th-anniversary-celebration-1971-2011/)\n\nThe producers moved quickly. According to the musicologist Paul R. Laird, Professor of Musicology at the [University of Kansas](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-kansas), they realized the musical was at the height of its cultural moment and released the film while the stage production was still running in various cities, creating direct competition between stage and screen versions; film adaptations normally appear after a stage show closes.[7](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34868/chapter-abstract/298299086) The film arrived amid a small religious revival in American popular culture: [Leonard Bernstein](https://www.edgepedia.org/leonard-bernstein)'s *Mass*, [Andrew Lloyd Webber](https://www.edgepedia.org/andrew-lloyd-webber)'s *Jesus Christ Superstar*, and *Godspell* reached the stage within months of one another, and a Jesus image appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1971.[7](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34868/chapter-abstract/298299086)\n\nGreene's screen credit relationship with Tebelak was contested at the time. In a December 1972 *Variety* letter to the editor, Greene stated that Tebelak was not co-directing the film, did not write the screenplay, participated only minimally in pre-production, and attended very few rehearsals, despite his onscreen credit as co-writer and creative consultant.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL)\n\n## Casting and the soundtrack\n\nThe cast was drawn from previous stage productions of the musical.[5](https://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/g/godspell.q.shtml) Garber had played Jesus in the 1972 Toronto production, whose company also included [Martin Short](https://www.edgepedia.org/martin-short), Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, and [Paul Shaffer](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-shaffer); Garber was the only member of that Toronto cast carried into the film.[3](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/you-had-to-be-there-how-the-toronto-godspell-ignited-the-comedy-revolution-documentary-film-review-2026)\n\nBefore shooting began, the songs were recorded at A&R Studios in New York. Music director Stephen Reinhardt recalled that Schwartz wanted the soundtrack to be a major recording event, made with one of the city's top engineers. Schwartz had Shaffer flown in from the Toronto production, impressed by his keyboard work; Shaffer played Hammond B3 organ on the session, and his improvised solo runs under the end credits.[2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/) Schwartz wrote \"Beautiful City\" during the planning phase, in part to replace \"We Beseech Thee,\" which Greene wanted cut from the film.[2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/)\n\nShooting began in August 1972 with an unusual working method: the actors had no copy of the shooting script and were simply told which parable or scene they would film the next day. Because they knew the material from the stage, they arrived each morning ready to improvise around the location.[2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/)\n\n## Reception\n\nReactions to the film were polarized, and it remains, in Laird's phrase, an important document of a moment when Jesus appeared throughout American popular culture.[7](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34868/chapter-abstract/298299086) Roger Ebert gave it four stars in the *Chicago Sun-Times* in March 1973, praising its simplicity, \"no tricks, no intellectual gadgets, and a lot of openness,\" and calling a musical based on the Gospel of Matthew \"strangely irreverent, wacky, and endearing.\"[8](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/godspell-1973) • [4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godspell) Other critics were cooler: Penelope Gilliatt in *The New Yorker* called much of the writing pastiche that leaned on a happy-happy mode that seemed dated, and Phil Hall of Film Snobbery rated it 2 out of 5 as \"a lesson in how not to transfer a theatrical musical to the big screen.\"[4](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godspell) The DVD Journal's retrospective review credited the film with a unique stamp on the material through its New York street setting, while finding some of the comic bits wearing, and judged Schwartz's score the reason *Godspell* became such a popular American musical.[5](https://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/g/godspell.q.shtml)\n\nThe film was for many years unavailable on home video; [Spirituality](https://www.edgepedia.org/spirituality) & Practice noted it had never been released on video until a late-1990s edition, and it has since appeared on Blu-ray with interviews, a commentary track by film historian Lee Gambin, and an audio segment on the songs' origins by Carol de Giere, author of *The Godspell Experience: Inside a Transformative Musical*.[9](https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/1118?id=1118) • [2](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/) The stage musical itself has remained in circulation, moving to Broadway in June 1976 and returning in a 2011 revival, and the film continues to be licensed for group screenings by churches, schools, and other organizations.[6](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/music/godspell-the-40th-anniversary-celebration-1971-2011/) • [10](https://www.affirmentertainment.com/movies/godspell)\n\n## References\n\n1. [Godspell (1973), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/54795-GODSPELL)\n2. [The Godspell Movie Origins: From Ideas to the Top of the World, Godspell the Musical (official site)](https://www.godspell.com/godspell-movie-origins/)\n3. [You Had to Be There review: Godspell doc captures a moment in comedy history, RogerEbert.com](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/you-had-to-be-there-how-the-toronto-godspell-ignited-the-comedy-revolution-documentary-film-review-2026)\n4. [Godspell, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/godspell)\n5. [The DVD Journal: Quick Reviews, Godspell](https://www.dvdjournal.com/quickreviews/g/godspell.q.shtml)\n6. [Godspell: The 40th Anniversary Celebration (1971–2011), Masterworks Broadway](https://www.masterworksbroadway.com/music/godspell-the-40th-anniversary-celebration-1971-2011/)\n7. [Paul R. Laird, \"The Fascinating Moment of Godspell: Its Cinematic Adaptation in the Shadow of Jesus Christ Superstar and Leonard Bernstein's Mass,\" in The Oxford Handbook of Musical Theatre Screen Adaptations, Oxford University Press, 2019](https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/34868/chapter-abstract/298299086)\n8. [Roger Ebert, Godspell review, Chicago Sun-Times, March 21, 1973](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/godspell-1973)\n9. [Godspell film review, Spirituality & Practice](https://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/films/reviews/view/1118?id=1118)\n10. [Godspell, Affirm Entertainment](https://www.affirmentertainment.com/movies/godspell)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Musical and music films (individual works) › Musical films of the 1970s and 1980s*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/godspell-1973-film", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/godspell-1973-film.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"Godspell (1973 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/godspell-1973-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[Godspell (1973 film)](https://www.edgepedia.org/godspell-1973-film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/godspell-1973-film](https://www.edgepedia.org/godspell-1973-film). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"Godspell (1973 film)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/godspell-1973-film. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "Godspell, David Greene's Columbia Pictures adaptation of the Tebelak-Schwartz Gospel of Matthew musical, shot on empty New York streets with Victor Garber as Jesus and the song \"Beautiful City\" written for the film." }