You Had To Be There

* NY TIMES CRITIC PICK * “An irresistible documentary”

“Exuberant and Essential...shows you that something was in the air up there, and that it spread like the world’s happiest virus.” - Variety

An intimate, funny, and emotional documentary about the legendary Canadian production that changed entertainment forever. The 1972 Toronto production of Stephen Schwartz's Godspell starred a then-unknown cast of Martin Short, Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, and Victor Garber, et al, with Paul Shaffer serving as musical director – a crazy confluence of talent rivaling ‘Paris in the 20s.’ In fact, the production lit the spark that ignited the comedy revolution that followed, leading to Saturday Night Live, SCTV, and a host of movies and TV shows all the way up to Schitts’ Creek and Only Murders in the Building. Featuring interviews with all the surviving members of the cast, as well as other show business luminaries who testify to the production’s profound and lasting influence, the film also makes use of never-before-seen-or-heard archives from the cast, including rare audio recordings of the musical itself, as well as the hilarious cast parties of the gang hanging out at Marty and Eugene’s apartment at 263 Avenue Road late into the night, which will shed joyful new light on this magical time and place.

THE SCORE

In addition to getting to score the stories of these comedic giants, we also had the enjoyable task of getting to recreate the original music from Godspell. These songs feature the amazing singers Karen Lloyd, Amy Van Roekel and Aaron DiPiazza, as well as guitar work by the brilliant Kirk Schoenherr.