I saw the stage production of Godspell in Cleveland in the early 70s, and absolutely loved it. Saw it again the following week. That production starred Robert Englund (pre-Freddie Kruger) as John the Baptist (he sings!) I saved my babysitting money and purchased the soundtrack (on tape cassette) and listened to it constantly. When the film version came out I saw it twice too. I recently saw the movie again, and it was nearly unwatchable. What was it about hippie-clown costumes that was so mesmerizing? What was it about broad over-acting and dancing around deserted Manhattan that captured the attention of the hard-earned-money-paying movie audience? What was it about the skinny kid who played Jesus that was so familiar? It took a while, then I realized it was Victor Garber from Alias and Titanic (he sings too?) I realize we were all very young and naive then, but why did we love that infantilized condescending craptastic nonsense so much that the movie industry decided to stick it to film? I tried, really I did, but couldn't watch the whole thing. I realize my innocence is gone, but I require more sophisticated entertainment than that.
