Godspell

This is the second time I have seen this musical this year as it celebrates its 40th year. I have made no bones about the fact that I have issues with the show itself and I had high hopes for this production at The Union, which was put together by the same team that created Company & Assassins at the Union previously. Sadly, despite great production values and some genuinely thoughtful and often rousing performances, this musical has again failed to engage me.

Director Michael Strassen has created a piece that ventures to translate the shows message in much broader terms. Strassen's lucid programme notes detail the need for a sense of community in our lives and focus on the death of an innocent within this structure. This is an interesting and appealing approach but as Strassen himself points out, much has changed since this piece was written.

Schools now no longer exact Christian studies as part of the curriculum and so the language of the libretto has become somewhat obsolete. Swathes of the text appear as excerpts from The Bible, making the language vaguely archaic and the further one attempts to make the scenarios accessible - modern colloquialisms and the odd expletive - the less engaging or believable they become. Godspell is very much a reaction to the era in which it was written and unless there is a major re-working of the book, it is unlikely to ever sustain a valid revival.

Notable performances stood out in this particular production such as Sophie Issacs and Jeremy Batt but praise is due particularly for its vocal arrangements by Iain Vince-Gatt.