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Victor Garber .... Jesus |
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Directed by |
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Prologue |
| David arrives in New York to bring good news. His herald has caught the attention of 8 young people: a waitress, a dancer, a student, an actress, a taxi driver, a clothing delivery boy, a parking lot attendant and a consumer. There is little to no dialogue during this opening. The direction of the film is across the board amateurish which is offset by some of the best cinematography of the city of New York I have ever seen... |
Prepare
Ye |
| David, takes on the duties of John the
Baptist. He proclaims for the Lords preparations. Each of the 8 people have
abandoned their life concerns introduced during the prologue to help spread the word of
the Lord... or at least to tell this particular story. David, baptizes them in a
fountain in Central Park. The piece sounds great. The photography is
wonderful. The energy is bubbling over. But, the choreography is borderline
chaotic... or non-existent. In a strange introduction, Jesus is seen overlooking the
fountain scene wearing only swimming trunks. David seems to be the only one who sees
him. The song ends as everyone runs away presumably to change their costumes...
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Save
the |
| Jesus splashes through the fountain
toward David. Giddily he asks to be baptized. David is reluctant, (he'd rather
be baptized by Jesus), but gives in. Jesus kneels and as the baptismal water hits
his head (or should we say Mighty big afro), He begins to sing this beautiful song.
When he stands, he is now in his Jesus costume" Striped Clown Pants, A Superman
shirt, Orange hightop sneakers with red Pom Poms and finally suspenders. (I am gonna
go out on a limb and say this is probably not historically accurate.) As the song
grows, the cast members return in their new garb... The group is seen leaving
central park in a wonderful birdseye view. And the song continues down what would
normally be crowded New York Streets (Which are shown empty and clean!) That in
itself is a miracle. A word about Victor Garber as Jesus. Garber (who played Applegate -the devil- in the recent Broadway revival of DAMN YANKEES, Daddy Warbucks in the Disney television production of ANNIE, and played the ship designer in the movie TITANIC) sports an exceptional singing voice that is appropriately soothing. His Jesus is brilliant but appears innocent. Sometimes, he seems to act like an elementary school student and yet, his communication and just the look in his eye is that of a most learned scholar.
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Day by Day |
| Robin admits her love for Jesus with
this song. The song, like so many others in the show, grows to include everyone
singing as they paint a building, a car and each other. This song became quite
popular back in the early 70s and this recording of it is vocally my favorite.
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Turn
Back, |
| Joanne sings this song based on a
parable (like just about every other song in the show) from the bible... It
succeeds in making the entire film a vaudeville experience. But, the setting (inside
a abandoned house) is far less interesting than other recognizable New York locations.
And, as before, the choreography is lackluster. It appears, in this may have
been the intention, that all elements of the film were totally planned out except
choreography. It looks like it was done on the spot.
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Bless
the |
| Lynne sings this great song while she
and the company are in a band shell decorated in silver mylar. The vocals are great
and some of the comedic use of the mylar are quite effective. Great fun.
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All
for the |
| Jesus sings a slow piece set to a
soft-shoe beat. Next, David sings, a much quicker piece while floating in a pool
atop a skyscraper roof. In a spectacular birdseye view, we move from David in the
pool over to Jesus several buildings away atop a vast roof. Once again, with
the exception of our 9 performers we see no life or movement in this city of millions of
people. Now, David joins Jesus while they each sing their piece in counterpoint.
This is a definite high point for me, on stage and onscreen. The shot
of the two of them dancing atop a moving billboard (which is showing them doing the same
dance in silhouette) will be with me for a long time.
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All
Good |
| Merrell gets a song of thanks and it is
a treat for the listener. The choreography is as usual, beyond unspectacular.
This type of 'movement' will date this film even more so then the costumes and the
hairstyles... Okay, Merrell's afro is ... really huge.
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Light
of the |
| The crew sing this group song while
aboard a tugboat. Once again, it seems the plan was to shoot onboard the boat, all
the camera shots were prepared, but all movement and dance were improvised.
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Alas
for |
| An hour and ten minutes into the film
and this is the first concrete attempt at moving a story forward. Jesus is
addressing the "Pharisees" represented by an amalgamation of garbage found in a
pier warehouse. Garber must suddenly reveal a darker side.
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By
My |
| Katie leads this song of support for the
upset Jesus. They have seen him vent toward the Pharisees and now wish they could be
of more support to him. The song is pretty enough but certainly doesn't marry well
with Stephen Schwartz songs already in place. In the middle of the song, David
delivers dialogue that tells of Judas' intention to betray Jesus...
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Beautiful |
| The company sings this last upbeat song.
It has very little to do with anything but acts as a distraction from the darker
feeling that has come over the story.
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On
the |
| This song is not performed onscreen,
rather it comments on the action that would be the equivalent of the last supper.
Jesus does a very symbolic gesture, he removes the face paint from his followers that he
had placed on them at the beginning of the story...
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Finale |
| Now, Jesus is crucified, tied to a fence
in a playground surrounded by shining police car headlights. After his death, his
followers remove his body and carry it off. On their journey they begin to celebrate
and in a final bit of cool, turn the corner. As the camera follows them around the
corner, the city is suddenly filled with people again, something not seen since the
prologue.
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A cult film at most, the unstructured stage production was destined to become. But, it didn't even get that cult following. The film boasts some poor acting, dated costuming and most annoyingly, dated concepts. Still the New York photography is stunning and obviously takes the viewer where the stage production could not go. The most difficult thing to grasp in watching the film is any semblance of story. Not until the second to last song is their any suggestion of plot. We as movie goers have grown accustomed (even subconsciously) to plot driven stories so, to be in the proper frame of mind, consider Godspell as Fantasia without dancing flamingoes. |
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