“The show must go on.” A common phrase heard in theater, but one that is embodied by Beaver Area High School’s music department.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, their 2020 musical, My Favorite Year, was forced to be halted and eventually cancelled.

However, they wouldn’t let their ambitions be quelled, and when the new school year started they began to prepare for a new production.

This year’s musical is 1971’s Godspell, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, a story of connecting parables from the Gospel of Mathew that brings a community together after Jesus’ death.

Senior Spencer Hagan will be playing Jesus, and senior Jonah Janicki will be playing Judas. All other leading cast members will be referred to by their real name.

Mrs. Susan Metelsky, musical director, shared, “I chose Godspell because no set pieces were needed. With us [debuting the musical] later than originally scheduled we did not want to have any set pieces in the way during concert season. It also has great music with an ‘earthy’ appeal.”

The current projected dates for the performance are June 4, 5, and 6. There may be livestreams of the musical, due to mandatory small audience sizes, although the idea is still being considered.

Rather than a full pit of musicians, Godspell calls for an instrumental combo, which means guitars, keyboards, bass, and drums.

“We are hiring adult musicians [rather than a traditional student pit orchestra], and this will help with our limited numbers permitted inside,” explained Mrs. Metelsky.

“I really love the opening number ‘Prepare Ye’ which comes back in the finale, which is another awesome song,” revealed Metelsky. She continued to exclaim, “I really love all the songs!”

While the pandemic has limited many opportunities, it has also opened some new avenues. It’s likely this musical wouldn’t have been selected without the outside factors. According to Mrs. Metelsky the musical had “never been on her radar” to do.

Interesting fact: Godspell has Pittsburgh roots. The original version sprang from John-Michael Tebelak’s master’s thesis while he was a student at Carnegie Mellon University in 1970. In fact, the musical’s very first production was on the CMU campus. Within a year it was wowing audiences in New York, London, Washington D.C., and beyond.

The musical spawned the hit song “Day by Day” and was made into a successful movie in 1973.

Make sure to support the musical by seeing it this summer! To all those performing—break a leg!