This article is about the musical. For the movie Godspell (film)

Godspell (film)

Godspell, released in 1973, is the film adaptation of the Off-Broadway musical Godspell created by John-Michael Tebelak.Set in modern New York City, the film stars Victor Garber as Jesus and David Haskell as John the Baptist/Judas...

. For the albums see Godspell (1971 Off-Broadway Cast) and Godspell (album)

Godspell (album)

The soundtrack album of the movie Godspell was released in 1973 on Bell Records.-Musicians:*Drums and percussion: Ricky Shutter*Bass: Richard LaBonte, Steve Manes*Guitars: Jesse Cutler , Don Thomas...

Godspell is a musical

Musical theatre

Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...

 by Stephen Schwartz

Stephen Schwartz (composer)

Stephen Lawrence Schwartz is an American musical theatre lyricist and composer. In a career spanning over four decades, Schwartz has written such hit musicals as Godspell , Pippin and Wicked...

 and John-Michael Tebelak

John-Michael Tebelak

John-Michael Tebelak was an American playwright and director. He was most famous for creating the musical Godspell based on the Gospel of Saint Matthew. The music was by Stephen Schwartz...

. It opened off Broadway on May 17, 1971, and has played in various touring companies and revivals many times since, including a 2011 revival now playing on Broadway. Several cast albums have been released over the years and one of its songs, "Day by Day

Day by Day (Godspell song)

"Day by Day" is a song from the 1971 Stephen Schwartz and John-Michael Tebelak musical Godspell.Day by Day is the third song in the show’s score and it is also reprised as the closing number for the 1973 film version...

" from the original cast album, reached #13 on the Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

pop singles chart in the summer of 1972.

The structure of the musical is that of a series of parable

Parable

A parable is a succinct story, in prose or verse, which illustrates one or more instructive principles, or lessons, or a normative principle. It differs from a fable in that fables use animals, plants, inanimate objects, and forces of nature as characters, while parables generally feature human...

s, based on the Gospel of Matthew

Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel According to Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels, one of the three synoptic gospels, and the first book of the New Testament. It tells of the life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth...

 (though three of the parables featured are only recorded in the Gospel of Luke

Gospel of Luke

The Gospel According to Luke , commonly shortened to the Gospel of Luke or simply Luke, is the third and longest of the four canonical Gospels. This synoptic gospel is an account of the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. It details his story from the events of his birth to his Ascension.The...

).