Though one might argue that it was divine intervention, it was likely excellent word-of-mouth and relentless self-promotion that sold out all four "Godspell" performances this past weekend. I saw the show on Friday, and I walked in with higher expectations than usual, since I figured the School of Liberal Arts would be pulling out all the stops for their debut performance. And honestly, for the most part, I was not disappointed. Though I found a couple of things I might change, I laughed at most of the jokes and I generally agreed with the direction.
The play opened with the Prologue, in which Jesus (Eddie Grosskreuz) had a monologue. Back to the audience, on a platform upstage, Grosskreuz faltered in neither his stone-still stance nor his speech.
The nine other members of the cast then traipsed onstage for "Tower of Babble." Susan Yzquierdo brought her outside theater experience to Godspell, her strong vocal conviction and talent lighting up the opening bars of "Tower." Clad in nondescript black suits, the cast each had a few verses to sing and the audience had their first glimpse of the group's sound as a whole. Their voices blended well, which reflected good direction.
John the Baptist (Joe Cummings) sounded strong during "Prepare Ye," which he sang with the ensemble. A talented musician as well as actor, he blasted out a few bars on his trumpet and then proceeded to walk down the aisle of the theater onto the stage.
Jesus was back in soloist action for "Save the People." While, unfortunately, there were technical problems with his microphone at the show I caught, Grosskreuz managed to project his voice over the musical accompaniment, and I could still hear him from all the way in the back of the theater.
"Day by Day," sung by Kate DeAngelis and the ensemble, was a standout number. Leaving any attitudes or baggage at the theater doors, the grinning cast trooped down both aisles and onto the stage, crooning out the sunny lyrics. Kate's clean, resonant voice is clearly not that of an ama-teurrr.
Stephanie Speranza belted out "Learn Your Lessons Well," and I was happy to see Yzquierdo in her solo, "Bless the Lord." While all the cast demonstrated vocal talent, she stood out, and I would look forward to seeing her in a weightier role in another musical.
Jesus and Judas seemed to charm the majority of the audience with their duet "All For the Best." However, I was somewhat less than impressed with the lack of chemistry the two appeared to have onstage. There was not as much interaction as I thought there should have been between the two of them, and though the program lists Cummings' character as Judas, it didn't seem like there was much of a distinction between the two historically-infamous foils. The only excuse I can think of is that perhaps the complex, "you go up and I'll go down" choreography prohibited the two from making eye contact, lest they break concentration and mess up such key movements. In fact, they looked relieved to finish it successfully.
And though the rest of the cast had long since changed into their "movement clothes," Judas could have used improvement in his costume. His leather pants unsettled me, and I had to wonder if he could have perhaps purchased something a little more practical with those 30 silver pieces.
Ryan Defoe was the last soloist of the first act, coating the audience with his soothing vocals in "All Good Gifts." The whole cast came together again for "Light of the World," at the end of which they invited the entire audience up to the stage for bug juice and cookies. While I would have preferred jumbo shrimp, I had to keep in mind that Jesus only multiplies fish on very special occasions, and that the School of Liberal Arts is on a budget. Plus, it was highly and appropriately nostalgic, as I felt like I was back in Sunday Bible school. Even the discipline hearkened back to my earlier years-my date tried to smuggle a cookie offstage, and was promptly scolded.
The more emotionally-volatile second act opened with "Turn Back, O Man," performed by Lesley Henderson with the rest of the cast. Henderson strutted among the audience, seductively interacting with various theater-goers and demonstrating a great stage-and, for that matter, offstage-presence.
Jesus then sang "Alas for You," coming to terms with his bleak future. Grosskreuz was convinc-ingly emotional, if somewhat more wistful than I would think a man who knows he is condemned to death would typically be.
Alyssa Ciampaglio and Yzquierdo sang a really lovely duet on "By My Side." Their voices worked really well together and both demonstrated skillful vocal control. Justin Zacek and the ensemble sang "We Beseech Thee," which I think may have needed a bit more polishing, but was not out of place in the overall excellent program.
John Norton, Defoe and Henderson sang "On the Willows," which segued into the finale. Unfortunately, the finale consisted of a rather disturbing scene that seemed like a grotesque mix of dying zombies and a scene from "Fosse." The cast members clung to various pieces of the set and writhed as Jesus was put on the cross and died. Jesus' death was mostly painful to watch only because it .
A general grievance I had was that some of the characters' identities were hard to pinpoint. Sometimes they seemed like perhaps they were playing a different role from one song to the next, while other characters remained the same, personality-wise, throughout the whole play. This was somewhat confusing to me-I think more clarification was needed here.
Other high points of the show included the cast's solid grasp of physical comedy and their general chemistry. And not to be overlooked is the G-Spell Band, with conductor Liz Toleno on keyboards, Lauren M. Jackson on electric and acoustic guitars, Chris Wasilewski on bass, Meghan O'Neil on drums, and Jessica McNamara on flute. They adeptly kept the pace of the show going, feverishly exercising the muscle that is their craft.
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