Godspell Soundtrack CD

All original music composed by Stephen Schwartz except "By My Side" (Peggy Gordon/Jay Hamburger).

Godspell, the second musical of the early '70s to be based on the life of Jesus Christ (following Jesus Christ Superstar, which hit the record racks, but not the stage first), was something of a sleeper, opening off-off-Broadway in May 1971, with an original cast album that belatedly became a big success in 1972 after "Day By Day" was released as a single and hit the Top Ten. By then, the show had moved to off-Broadway and was well on its way to a run that would exceed 2,500 performances (and eventually reach Broadway itself). Bell Records, a subsidiary of Columbia Pictures, had released that cast album, and the film company quickly put a movie version into production. Happily, composer Stephen Schwartz retained musical control, and the film, other than using various deserted New York City locations as its set, was quite faithful to the stage version. Five of the ten ensemble performers were ...