Would comedy be the same without the 1972 Toronto production of “Godspell“?
So many of the performers who turned “SCTV” and “Saturday Night Live” into cultural phenomenons in the ’70s and ’80s and later cooked up Emmy-winning sitcoms like “Only Murders in the Building” and “Schitt’s Creek,” got their start doing a musical version of the Book of Matthew at the Royal Alexandra Theatre. The list of actors playing Jesus and his disciples includes Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin and Dave Thomas, plus musical director Paul Shaffer, all of whom would go on to have renowned careers on stage and screen. The show and its legacy are the subject of “You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (In a Canadian Kind of Way),” a new documentary that premiered, fittingly enough, at the Toronto Film Festival.
All of the surviving cast members, many of whom remain friends and collaborators were happy to reminisce about “Godspell,” but Nick Davis, the film’s director, faced another problem. There was barely any surviving footage of the show, except for a primitive audio recording made by Short. But the filmmaker says the lack of archival material improved the finished product, which relies on those tapes, interviews with the actors and animated depictions of their memories.
“It feeds the myth,” says Davis. “If we had footage of Loch Ness Monster, it wouldn’t be the Loch Ness Monster.”
Ahead of the film’s Toronto premiere, two of the figures who made “Godspell” so mythic, Martin Short and Eugene Levy, sat down with Variety to talk about their origin story and the impact the musical’s 14-month run had on shaping five decades of comedy history.
What did you think when Nick Davis approached you about making a documentary about your 1972 production of “Godspell”?
Eugene Levy: Well, the first thing that I thought of was there wasn’t a whole lot of footage that was shot back in 1972. So how is this going to work?
Martin Short: I thought same thing — there’s no footage. I understood that it was a fascinating story. Through the years, when I would tell people about “Godspell” Toronto, and all those people that were in it, like Paul Shaffer and Gilda and Andrea, they were always fascinated by it. And people were always fascinated by that era in Toronto where all these people were just waiting to be found, like John Candy and Danny Aykroyd.
There was an audio recording that was made of one performance. Why did you tape the show Marty?
Short: Why did I do it? Why am I in show business? I mean, I was that kid who used to tape imaginary albums. I taped everything. I taped my siblings and I doing bits or my brother playing the piano and my sister singing.
Levy: Marty taped people under the Christmas dinner table. He taped his whole life.
When you were doing this musical did you feel like you were doing something really special? Did it seem mythic?
Levy: No, the great thing about “Godspell” was it was the first professional job that we all had. We couldn’t really believe we got it. It marked the beginning of our careers and our lives in show business. This documentary is certainly exciting for us, because it’s like a narrated home movie of our beginnings. We made friends with some very talented, lovely people, and that same group of friends, 50 some odd years later, are still the same group of friends. It was a magical time. I mean, we’ve spent years telling “Godspell” stories every time we’re together.
Short: We couldn’t believe we didn’t have to do homework or study for an exam. We were getting paid. We were having a riot. The show was fabulous. It was a thing that rarely happens in show business. “Schitt’s Creek” is an example of it, where all the stars line up, and it’s an actual home run. You’re good in it. The show’s great. The people you’re working with are great. You love going to work. And then we’d go to The Pilot and discuss what had happened that night on stage and drink beer. But there was no perspective on it. No one was sitting back and saying, “Oh my god, we’re historic,” you know? As we talk about in the documentary, later on, Gilda and I called Paul when he moved to New York, and he said, “I think you guys are just as good as anyone here.” We didn’t believe him.
Levy: The show itself was kind of magical, because literally every performance got a standing ovation. And it became so popular that we kind of became local celebrities because our names were always appearing in the paper.
There were so many great comedians coming out of Toronto in the 1970s. What was it about the city and its scene that helped launch so many careers?
Levy: Toronto was a hotbed for theater in the early 70s. There were a lot of local productions. I think the first time I met or encountered John Candy was in a show called “The Stag King.” We went on an off-night of “Godspell,” and John really stood out as this kid up there who’s got some charisma. There was a lot going on. But I don’t think we looked at it as the Paris of the 20s or something. There was work available and a lot of talent floating around.
Were there things about that experience of doing “Godspell” that shaped you as performers?
Short: It’s the first experience I had of doing eight shows a week, week after week after week after week after week. So right away, you’re learning a kind of discipline. You’re learning what you must do, what you can’t do if you want to be able to show up every night. Mostly, I remember it being so much fun. I have all these tapes of us hanging out together at 2:30 in the morning and what are we talking about? “Godspell.” How that night’s show went and what we can do tomorrow to make the next one better.
Levy: It was great for people just starting out in their careers, because the premise of “Godspell” was they didn’t want polished performers. It was supposed to be kind of a ragtag band of, you know, hippies and kids that were just, you know, putting on a show.
Gilda Radner clearly impacted everyone who worked with her or saw her perform. What made her so dynamic on stage?
Short: She was just a unique personality. I don’t think any of us had quite met someone like Gilda, who was so funny and loose and eccentric and just original. Everything from her purse to her hair was original and funny, really funny. And she loved to laugh.
Levy: There was no way in the world that Gilda could bomb in a scene, because she would somehow find a way by just being herself to get out of it and the audience always loved her.
There’s a great scene in the end of the documentary where all the surviving cast members reunite in an apartment to reminisce and sing the songs from “Godspell.” What was that like to film?
Short: It was fabulous. When we got there, we had mics put on us, and we quickly forgot they were on us. So there was a great deal of uncensored, real conversation and behavior. It was Richard Rogers’ grandson’s apartment and the piano had belonged to Richard Rogers. And the guy who owned the apartment, said to Nick Davis, “just make sure no one pounds the piano,” and Paul said, “Have you heard me play? All I do is slam the piano.”
It seems unlikely that so many people in this cast would go on to have long and distinguished careers in the toughest business in the world. Why do you think that happened?
Short: In show business, you have to have talent and you have to have endurance. You also need to have luck. Many years ago, I saw the pilot for “Friends.” They showed it after a taping of “SNL,” and I was totally blown away. Everyone was great. Everyone was cast perfectly. The characters were already realized, and the script was hilarious. Those things rarely happen. When “Second City” came to town, it hired most of the “Godspell” cast, and that became the new hot vehicle to be in. And it was connected to Chicago, so if Lorne Michaels was going to cast a new variety show at 11:30, he came and saw “Second City” in Toronto. The timing was great. Going back to the “Friends” analogy, if that pilot hadn’t been picked up, I don’t know if Jennifer [Aniston] or Matt [LeBlanc] or everyone else would have found such a great showcase for their talents.
Levy: As Marty said, we were lucky. If “Godspell” didn’t come to Toronto, and “Second City” didn’t open up in Toronto, who knows whether we would have all ended up in show business.
