In May, the Cathedral Church of this diocese will be presenting the classic musical theatre piece, Godspell. The cast and crew have quickly discovered that theatre is instant community. Last October, the Reverend Andrew Halladay and the Reverend David Taylor agreed to direct and musically direct this play. With that excellent groundwork set, it was time to collect an equally talented cast. Not only did we gather some actor gems from our own diocese to the cast of Godspell, but we welcomed some new faces into our artistic group. Each cast member auditioned in the sanctuary of Christ Church Cathedral and showed their singing talent, some proved to be fantastic dancers. Thanks to David and Andrew, competent musicians joined the gathering and before long we had a, costume designer, technical director and sound tech.
Each Sunday afternoon in the sanctuary and halls of the cathedral, the joyful noise of singing resounds. Director Andrew’s concept for the show is that Godspell takes place in a church youth group. Jesus joins late as the awkward last member and is “bullied” by the group. So rehearsals have been all about re-creations of a youth group. Phil Colvin, Diocesan Youth Coordinator and cast member, has even created fictitious posters and a website for the Godspell youth group.
The preceding is an excerpt from Kate Newman and Lucy Darlington's article which will be published on the Youth Page of the April issue of Topic the Diocese of New Westminster's monthly publication.
Godspell is being performed on May 26th in two performances and tickets are available by clicking GODSPELL TICKETS
There is a special preview performance on Friday May 25th for youth groups and parish Bible study groups. For more information on this, get in touch with Kate Newman
You can meet the characters from Godspell and explore the background of the show at the St. Jude Youth Group blog
REHEARSAL IMAGES by Phil Colvin and Rev. Chris Dierkes