Godspell revival will now arrive in the fall

The first ever Broadway revival of Godspell will not arrive on Broadway in the Spring/Summer of 2011, as previously expected.

The New York Times reports that "a person familiar with efforts to revive the Stephen Schwartz musical Godspell first seen on Broadway in 1976, said this week that the lead producer, Ken Davenport, was now aiming for a fall 2011."

Rumors that the revival, originally expected to arrive on Broadway in 2008, would play in the Spring of 2011 appeared to be confirmed by Equity casting notice in Sep 2010. However, according to the latest rumors producer Ken Davenport is now "aiming for a fall 2011 opening rather than one this spring, chiefly because of a lack of available theaters."

There are only three Broadway theatre's that have no show's confirmed for the Spring of 2011; The Booth, The Cort and Studio 54. Devenport told Variety in Dec 2009 that his revival of Godspell will be housed in one of the smaller Broadway theatre's and will have a 'modest capitalization pricetag.' The Booth houses 806 making it one of Broadway's smaller theatres, but it seems Devenport is holding out for somewhere smaller.

The Broadway revival will reunite director Daniel Goldstein (Boradway debut) and choreographer Christopher Gattelli (Tony Award-winner: South Pacific), the creative team of the critically-acclaimed 2006 Paper Mill Playhouse production of Godspell.

Goldstein and Gattelli are the same team that were to have helmed the 2008 Broadway revival of Godspell by producer Adam Epstein that was set to open at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre on 23 Oct 2008. In Aug 2008 Epstein announced that his production had been indefinately postponed. That revival was to have starred Gavin Creel in the title role of 'Jesus,' alongside 'American Idol' finalist Diana DeGarmo as 'Mary.'

Godspell features a score by Academy and Grammy Award winner and six time Tony Award nominee Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin), and includes recognizable songs, such as "Day by Day", that have become staples of both the American musical theatre and popular culture alike. The musical's book is written by John-Michael Tebelak and is based upon "The Gospel of Matthew."

The original production of Godspell opened off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre on 13 May 1971 and in August of 1971 moved to the larger Promenade Theatre where it ran for 2,124 performances making it one of the longest running Off-Broadway musicals in history.

After five years of sold-out audiences Off-Broadway, Godspell made its Broadway debut on 22 Jun 1976 at the Broadhurst Theatre. The show moved to the Plymouth and the Ambassador before closing on 4 Sep 1977 after 527 performances. In all, the musical achieved more than 2,600 performances both on Broadway and off.