I used to hear people on television refer to a great production of GODSPELL that was staged in Toronto, in the 1970s, but whenever I tried to find information about it on the Internet I would get only bits and pieces. I thought that it was important that this information be put together into one source, and since nobody else had done it, I made the site “godspell.ca”.
After more than a dozen years of running that site, I have transferred the information here to wordpress, where it can continue to educate and inspire theatre lovers worldwide. Over the past few years of collecting everything that I’ve found about the show, I have started to feel the brilliance of the show come to me, even though it’s been gone for decades. In fact, I see it more clearly, day by day.
Godspell opened for previews in Toronto on May 24th, 1972, and its official opening night was June 1st, 1972. It played at the Royal Alexander Theatre until September 3, 1972, and then moved to the 520-seat Bayview Playhouse, with the first performance there on September 8th. It closed on August 12, 1973 after a total of 488 performances (a record run for Toronto at the time). The show was originally going to run for six weeks, and in the end ran for more than sixty.
I consulted on the article associated with this video from the Washington Post.
Toronto's Legendary Production of Godspell 
I saw the performance at the Bayview playhouse with my church choir. The show touched my soul.
Jayne Eastwood was amazing! All the performers were amazing! I was very lucky to have been able to go.
Our grade seven music teacher took us. We went backstage afterwards and met the cast. Everyone was desperately crushing on Jesus ( victor garber. Wish I had kept the program they signed.
Thus is an incredible read. The theater can bring life in these tough times. Godspell ♥️
Man, to have been alive to see this!
Did this cast tour? Like to Kingston?
Not that I’ve ever heard, although there easily could have been a different, touring company in the 70s that came there.
1972: Toronto
The 1972–1973 Toronto production opened at the Royal Alexandra Theatre and was intended to be a run of a few dozen performances for a subscription audience. The cast was drawn entirely from local performers, instead of a touring cast. After an enthusiastic response from the audience, the scheduled run at the Royal Alexandra ended and the show moved uptown to the Bayview Playhouse in Leaside. The Bayview Playhouse production ran until August 1973, with a then-record run of 488 performances.[20]
The Toronto production launched the careers of many actors, including Victor Garber, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Gilda Radner, Dave Thomas, and Martin Short, as well as the show’s musical director, Paul Shaffer.[20] Howard Shore played saxophone for this production.
— Wikipedia
I was fortunate enough to see Godspell at the Bayview Playhouse with Gordon Thomson playing the lead. I loved it so much I went to see it twice more. Great show and memory.
Republics live in Righteousness.
I remember seeing this play with aforementioned cast..I think it played at the then called o’keefe centre…
My wife of 50 years was an alternate in this original cast. We began dating when the show first opened and she, our daughter and granddaughter are still acting today.
I saw the show at the Royal Alex.
I wish I still had the ticket but I do have the Playbill (somewhere around here).
My father-in-law worked as a driver on movies and he took my copy to Andrea Martin on a set and asked her to sign it. She did and cried a bit when she saw Gilda Radners picture.
I saw it at the Royal Alex with a church youth group…slammed my thumb in a car door on the way to the show and waited until after the show to get to a doctor.
Years later I was able to get Andrea Martin to sign my Playbill. She cried seeing Gilda Radners picture.
Did Gilda Radner and Andrea Martin come to Toronto to audition for Godspell?
Both actresses, although Americans, were living in Canada at the time of the Godspell auditions. Gilda has followed her boyfriend up to Canada and was doing children’s theatre; Andrea had been on tour with YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN in 1970 and had found such encouragement in the Canadian theatre scene that she stayed, and was doing small roles in TV and movies.
It was utterly an amazing experience!
We got free tickets dropped off at our nursing school in downtown Toronto.
For years I tried to remember where I had seen Gilda Radner before SNL (I didn’t keep a programme if there was one) And then it hit…Godspell when I was 19!