Godspell
Information
- Date
- 24th May 2025
- Society
- Stevenage Lytton Players
- Venue
- The Lytton Theatre
- Type of Production
- Musical
- Director
- David Slade
- Musical Director
- Jo Pierce
- Choreographer
- Olivia Dyson
Godspell is the story of a group of actors who get together to tell different parables from the Bible.
David Slade directed this production of Godspell. I could see what his vision was, but I felt that at times it missed the mark. The actors are supposed to be actors taking on the roles, for example the only named characters Jesus, Judas and John the Baptist are not supposed to be portrayed as the actual people, however I do not think in my opinion this was clear enough to the audience except for the actor playing Jesus announcing the doors being open and the end of act 1. The other thing with Godspell is it can lend itself to being very imaginative, and the parables being told in a variety of different and imaginative ways, and at times I felt there were missed opportunities which led to the pace of the show lacking.
Musically this show was stunning! Jo Pierce did a wonderful job, the harmonies were fantastic, and it was so lovely to hear some different voices being used by The Lytton Players it showed vocally they have talent that I had not heard before, this was a magnificent surprise!
The Lytton Theatre’s stage can be challenging for any choreographer; Olivia Dyson did her best but at times people were masked and it was obvious not everyone was as clear on the choreography as others. It was good that there had been a lot of thought gone into using different dance styles for the varying songs though.
Rob Paice played Jesus and Lewis Harrison-Barker played Judas and John the Baptist. Both are outstanding singers and every song was super. Rob as Jesus was fantastic, he commanded the stage with a calm demeanour, you listened when he spoke or sang. Lewis was always lurking in the background waiting for his moment as Judas, and his vocals in On the Willows were amazing.
Helen Dunlop, Sophie Carroll, Katie Musk, Joe Elmer, Emma Dorrington, Steve Wilks, Alice Moutrey and Nikki Hamilton took the various solos in the different parables. There were all great, special mention to Emma Dorrington for giving me goose bumps, and Joe Emler for ‘We Beseech Thee’ this was high energy and the best number I have seen him sing for The Lytton Players well done! One of the hardest things is balancing the tracks with the vocals especially when every performer has differing projection, it was obvious the balance was trying to be adapted but at times the vocals were lost over the track.
Miroslava Budin, Wendy Wartnaby, Zoe Nesteriuc, John Dunleavy, Lucy Paice and Claire Hallett made up the rest of the chorus for the performance, all were used well, a few could have been added to the last supper to make the traditional 12 disciples though.
On the whole all the performances were good, thank you as always for wonderful hospitality.
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