Any thoughts on the production "Godspell"? Obviously the second commandment comes to mind but story wise is it more faithful to the gospels?
I have to admit that, in high school, I used to love listening to that musical over and over. Of course, I went to a Roman Catholic High School.
The character that plays John the Baptist morphs into a disciple and eventually into Judas himself as the betrayer.
The songs of Godspell are devoid of Christological content. I know a few of them by heart. I would say it's more of a morality play than anything else with the theology of the musical summed up in Day by Day:
"...Day by day, oh dear Lord, 3 things I pray, to see thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, follow thee more nearly, day by day..."
Might not be too bad except the reason why Christ is being followed is not really spelled out. Christ is kind of a nice hippy guy that makes everybody happy except the robot that represents the lawyers and pharisees.
Let me just put it to you this way about Godspell: it appealled to a hippy, Jesus movement crowd that was sort of at the fore of the new "Experiencing God" movement over doctrinal content. The message is so amibiguous and non-threatening that I knew a plainly homosexual man who was the worship leader of a Roman Catholic Church I attended in college. It was the chapel right on the campus of R.P.I. He was friends of the Priest who, in retrospect, was probably gay too and reminded you of the guy from Godspell. I played guitar in the Chapel folk group and sang. Leaving aside the fact that the two were effeminate men, I shared their love of that form of music and that approach to "spirituality" at the time having come out of a charismatic Roman Catholic Church in my home town.
