Godspell Play Analysis

Godspell, by Stephen Schwartz, is a musical that depicts counterculturalists from all walks of life coming together to learn from a Jesus figure. The play directly quotes the stories and parables found in the book of Matthew. While the play’s parables can be explored to find their overall message of love and redemption, the play can also be observed as an artifact of the countercultural movement.
Godspell follows themes of joy, community, and reformation. Godspell’s characters begin the play trapped in the monotony of their everyday lives. Most of the characters appear bored or unhappy. When they run away, they find a communal joy and freedom that remains with them for the rest of the play. The play shows the parallels that exist between the
One is a dancer, one moves laundry, one drives a taxi, and another works as a waitress. They all appear worn down and jaded. During the 1960s and 1970s, many people must have felt this way. Many people were rethinking the United States’ place in the world and the country was involved in another conflict. Jesus gives the hippies the opportunity to find freedom and community when they had none. Jesus placed all worldly value in the worship of God and goodwill towards others. Nearly all of the parables alluded to these things. The parables also spoke to the rejection of materialism and the sacrifice of comfort for the sake of others. A wealthy man would find it very hard to fill these shoes. This is directly discussed in the story of Lazarus. The fact that this play was written at all speaks to the time in which it was written. Stephen Schwartz must have felt that Jesus’ message of love and humbleness was being lost in a world increasingly focused on independence and materialism. People who value these things surely would have had trouble following Jesus. The hippies, on the other hand, had nothing to lose, and were therefore some of the most likely people to follow the Jesus depicted in the