Initial Research

Godspell

• Godspell is a book written by John-Michael Tebelak and was made into a musical by Stephen Schwartz.
• It was First Performed on Broadway in 1971
• -The structure of the musical is in a series of parables based on the Gospel of Matthew
• -The songs are or have been adapted by hymns sung is church. 

Characters 

- The names of the characters are taken from the actors who performed it first and it is mainly an ensemble work.

- John The Baptist doubles as Judas; this is interesting as John baptized Jesus and therefore is seen as a fairly good character where as Judas was the one who ultimately betrayed Jesus which allows the actors who portrays the character(s) to show the contrast between the two personalities. 

Society At The Time (America)

In 1964 Birth Control pills where made legal as was abortion for cause e.g Rape. This was controversial with in a Society that was heavily Religious/Christian because abortion was seen as murder one of the 10 commandments and Birth Control was seen as stopping the act of God.

Much of the younger generation turned from Mainstream protestant to mystic eastern religions such as Zen Buddhism and Transcendental Meditation.

The Hippie movement promoted Drugs, "Free Love", Rock Music, Mystic Religions and opposed violence. 1969 saw the moon landing. Society was changing drastically and it was seen as a new age. Into the 1970's they begun gay rights marches, and anti-war marches. 

People where still coming to terms with the Vietnam war that lasted for over 18 years. At the time The Musical war performed it was coming to the end however it did not finish until 1975.

I will use this research to apply context to how the original cast may have felt at the time and how I could also apply it to my character(s) as like Americans at the time; the characters are looking for faith and hope in something as well as experimenting with new religions/views in life.