Godspell - *1/2

Um, no.

Bringing Broadway shows to film just doesn't often translate. It took them 25 year to figure out how to do Chicago and after seeing Godspell, I'm thinking they should have taken as long if not longer. I'm all for musicals, even when the leads suddenly burst into song but the performances here are over-blown and dull. It's amazing to see how well an adaptation can be (Jesus Christ Superstar, Chicago, The Music Man, and almost anything from FOX in the 50's/60's) and how poorly it can be represented when you're basically doing the same thing; taking people singing on a stage setting and putting it to film in a "real-life" setting. JCS is about as basic as can be when it comes to it's main elements--the script is all music, the sets are a bare minimum and the performances carry over with great subtley, yet an there is an understanding with the filmmaker that the stage and screen are two different art forms but a story is a story. It just has to be handled differently, depending on the medium. This version of Godspell is just an out-door filming of actors turning in stage performances.