Sincere but misguided, The Fantastiks meets Bozo meets St. Matthew. The familiar story is retold in the simplest of terms, casting Jesus (Garber, in sweatshirt and overalls) as a modern-day flower child living and dying in the Big Apple. When it's good, GODSPELL is filled with energy,
fun, and zip; when it's bad, which more often is the case, it's juvenile. The worst part of the production is the over-the-top mugging that director Greene allows--as if Jerry Lewis were interpreting the New Testament. Schwartz's score is often repetitious, and the picture, filled with famous
Manhattan backdrops, looks more like a rock 'n' roll travelogue of New York than anything else. Still, the dancing is often quite good, and Garber and Haskell do a nice job with "All for the Best," softshoeing through Gotham and eventually winding up at the Bulova Watch sign.
Those who lived through the 1960s will enjoy this more than those who haven't, but in the final analysis, GODSPELL is generally a disappointing film version of a small musical that rocked audiences with its fervor. In this case, opening it up for the camera did the original a disservice. Songs
include "Day by Day," "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" and "Turn Back O Man." leave a comment