The Northern Lakes Arts Association’s (NLAA) production of “Godspell” opens on Thursday, June 22, at 7 p.m., with subsequent evening shows on June 23, 24, 29, 30 and July 1, also at 7 p.m. Matinee performances will be at 2 p.m. on June 25 and July 2. The June 29 performance is a “pay what you can” show, with a suggested donation of $10 per seat.
The musical will be on stage at the Fine Arts Theater at the Vermilion Campus of Minnesota College North in Ely. The show is the first of NLAA’s “Broadway in the Boundary Waters” summer season productions, performed by a summer theater company with a mix of professional and local actors.
The 1971 off-Broadway musical “Godspell” was written by the prolific Stephen Schwartz, who also wrote the hit Broadway musicals of “Pippin” and “Wicked.” Composed in the pop-rock style of the early 70s, the musical put one of its numbers, “Day by Day,” on the Billboard pop singles chart at slot #13 in the summer of 1972.
The 1973 film version of the musical garnered greater renown for other numbers, especially the sultry “Turn Back, oh Man,” and the Jesus and Judas duet “It’s All for the Best,” with the famous scene that used the giant billboard on Times Square to form the shadows of the performers as they sang and danced on the building’s marquee.
“Godspell” is one of the trifecta of “hippie musicals,” along with “Jesus Christ, Superstar,” and “Hair.”
The production of “Godspell” presented by NLAA’s Broadway in the Boundary Waters Company is not the 1971 version, but the version from the second Broadway revival of 2011-12. The changes are minor revisions of staging, the addition of some music and lyrics, and some modernizing of humor.
The Timberjay snuck into “Godspell” rehearsals over the last week to snap some sneak previews of the production which opens next Thursday night.
Tickets are available by visiting northernlakesarts.org/tickets or calling 218-235-9937. Ticket prices are: general admission $25, NLAA members $20, and 16 and under $15, excluding June 29, which is a pay what you can admission.