Microsoft, Dell Computers, and Facebook weren’t the only successes created in a dorm room.
John-Michael Tebelak wrote the musical “Godspell” in 1970 as a master’s thesis as a student at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh.
The play debuted off Broadway May 17, 1971. It ran for over 2000 performances, making it one of the longest-running off-Broadway plays.
In 1976, the play graduated to Broadway where it stayed for 14 months and 527 performances. “Godspell” returned to Broadway in 2011 and ran for nearly 300 performances.
Tebelak’s “Godspell” followed in the footsteps of the popular musical “Hair.” The story was based on parables, mostly from the Gospel of Matthew.
“Godspell” revisits the idea of Jesus as a revolutionary figure, according to the Berkshire Theatre Group.
“His plan was to re-approach the Biblical parables and text with the innocence of a child, and to play with the material as if it was a school recess,” according to another writer.
Stephen Schwartz, a Carnegie Mellon alum who wrote the music for “Pippin” and “Wicked”, was asked to come up with new music when the play moved from Pittsburgh to New York. He was given five weeks.
Our Song of the Day, “Day by Day,” was the biggest hit.
The song was released as a single in 1972. It peaked at number 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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