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,,s Godspell: A Modern Day Crucifixion
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For a great retro-70’s time,
w atch “ G o d sp e ll” , one o f
Broadw ay's most successful
productions ever written. The
Gospel o f St. Mathew comes
alive in this rock musical version
o f the drama playing in Portland
at the All Saints Episcopal
Church, located at 4033 S.E.
Woodstock
“Godspell,” which means good
story in Anglo-Saxon terminol
ogy, tells the story o f Christ’s
last few days leading up to his
fateful crucifixion on a cyclone
steel fence. For a modem day
twist, Jesus is trailed by flower
children wearing tie-dyed T-
shirts and blue jeans singing 14
memorable classics such as “Day
by Day,” “All Good Gifts”, and
“Turn Back, O Man.”
The celebration o f the li fe and
teachingsofChrist in “Godspell”
was ironically written by an athe
ist, Stephen Schwartz. It first
opened at the Cherry Lane The
atre on May 17, 1971, which
immediately became a mega hit
with a record breaking 2,651
Broadway and off-Broadway
performances between 1972 and
1979.
As for the local production,
talented performers were drawn
from throughout the Portland
area. With only 8 weeks of
preparation time before the open-
ing, the cast and crew managed
to pull off a rousing performance
which its producer, Chuck Mar
tin called ‘a miracle’ to put to
gether. Overall, the play was
great fun to watch. Despite the
small stage at the All Saints Epis
copal Church, it allowed the au
dience to “ feel” the actors' pres
ence in an intimate and engaging
way. There was hardly a time
when the religious themes got
What Now? Whatnot
O ther Hand Productions at the
H ope Theatre and the H ollyw ood
Theatre bring late night theater to
the Hollywood District over the next
several months. B eginning Satur-
day.N ov. 11 at 11 p .m ,O th e r Hand
Productions presents W H A TN O T
featuring puppetry, m ask, m ove
ment, and music.
O th e r H an d P r o d u c tio n 's
W HATNOT ism adeupofindividual
images, phrases, or situations: a
xylophone m issing its eighth note,
masks created from tape recorders,
a dog that becom es a flowering tree.
It’sacollection o f fase mating, funny,
and som etim es poignant images
that cannot be labeled or catego
rized, but merely hinted at as WHAT
NOT.
The perform ance is very interac
tive, relying on the audience to pick
the order. A group o f objects from
w hich the audience chooses acti
vates each piece in the performance.
The show will not only be in a differ
ent order each tim e it’s perform ed,
but as the ensem ble adds new ly
d e v e lo p e d p ie c e s th e c o n te n t
changes at each show as well.
W H A TN O T was developed in
Portland three years ago and per
formed at the Rexal 1 Rose on A Iberta.
Critic Phyllis Yes wrote: “These thes-
pians are fine pretenders who trans
fo rm th e s p a c e b e fo re y o u r
ey e s...fro m an artist’s studio in
France to a neighborhood in Ja
pan." Last year an excerpt from the
show show cased O ff-Broadw ay in
N ew York to critical acclaim. Re
view er Larry Engler wrote: “O n e o f
m y personal favorites. ..It is one o f
those pieces that appeals to every
age group. I was totally charm ed
and captivated by this lyrical and
hum orous piece.”
Now the perform ers bring the
piece back to Portland for a hom e
com ing. The Hope Theater is lo
cated at 1807 NE 39lh above Baskin-
Robbins and offers a very intimate
setting w hich w orks well for this
production. The H ollyw ood T he
atre will show films on the weekends
at 11 p.m. fo ra 12-week-late-night-
series w hich will run in conjuction
with W HATNOT beginning in Janu
ary. These films are everything from
5 0 ’s cult classics to M ystery-Sci-
ence-T heatre type interaction
with films.
This show is the result o f a
very different w ay o f creating
for O ther Hand Productions
The ensem ble sat down with 3x5
cards and jo tted dow n various
ideas for the show. Through
improvisation, just a few o f those
ideas w ere developed. Som e o f
them, such as Old M an Who
Made Trees Blossom, have been
waiting to be produced for years
w hile others such as X ylophone
w ere b om in this process. The
com pany will continue to de
velop new pieces in this w ay
throughout the run o f the show ,
adding them as they are ready
for an audience. The first perfor
mance wi 11 be on Saturday, Nov.
11 at 11 p.m. and runs every
Saturday until M arch 3 (no per
form ance on Dec. 30,h) at the
Hope T heater located at 1807
NE 39lh. Tickets are $10 in ad
vance and $ 12 at the door. For
more information, call 503-282-
7048 or visit
www.otheihandproductions.com.
too heavy. Jesus Christ and his
followers lightened the moments
up with parables and storytell ing
using pantomime, charades and
vaudeville.
“Godspell” is a G-rated show
that’s sure to appeal to audi
ences o f all ages. The combina
tion o f modern-day humor,
catchy music and traditional dra
matic themes make this a play
worth going to see. Playingtimes
for “Godspell” are Nov. 17, 18
and 19 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15.
To order, call 503/786-0568. For
further information, call Chuck
Martin at 503/236-3895 or by
email at
chmartinfgfix.netcom.com.
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