One of two Jesus-rock musicals transferred that year from Broadway to movies — Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Jesus Christ Super Star was the other — this Hasidic hippie show, by John-Michael Tebelak and composer Steven Schwartz (Wicked), spawned the Top 20 charter “Day by Day.” Director David Greene set the film on Manhattan’s city streets, and the climax in a city playground. On The Daily Show in 2004, Rob Corddry accurately described the Godspell‘s Christ figure as “a ’70s pop rainbow suspendery kind of Jesus.” Victor Garber (later Jennifer Garner’s father on Alias) stresses the Messiah’s gentility in sensitive-clown makeup: teardrop eyeliner and a cute heart on his forehead. The rest of the young cast follows suit, miming up a storm, sipping imaginary sacramental wine from invisible chalices. Drinks for the Last Supper are served in paper cups. Was the Peoples Temple’s Jim Jones watching?
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