Godspell, by the Real Theatre Company at the Beaumont Centre

By JAY PEACH

The first surprise of Godspell's opening night was its venue, the Beaumont Centre, surely Auckland's best-kept secret.

This enormous modern church, tucked away at the bottom of College Hill and across the road from Victoria Park, seats 3000 people, has ample parking and is appropriate enough for this gospel romp. Unfortunately, there's no wine at halftime.

The religious fervour with which Godspell's cast of 10 sang and danced was rather intense, to the point when you could almost imagine maimed people in the audience walking again and the sightless to see. But most of the 2000-strong audience stayed the two hours and any disquiet levelled out as the 1970s musical unfolded.

Performed for the second season by North Shore's Real Theatre Company, after a sellout run last year at the PumpHouse, this ambitious production is like looking through a fluorescent kaleidoscope - with shades of Joseph's Technicolour Dream Coat, Hair, Woodstock and the Wiggles fleeting by.

Godspell is a bastion of amateur theatre and has attracted most actors at some stage.

It is based on the gospel according to St Matthew and was first performed off-Broadway in 1971 where it was a huge hit, producing chart-toppers such as Day by Day and spawning productions worldwide.

Like the original, written by John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz, pantomime, clowning and charades are used to tell St Matthew's parables, making it a solid family show.

The actors do their best to draw the audience into the action. Cameo gems from Trygve Wakenshaw (Herb), who sometimes seemed to be in a different show to everyone else, and Fleur Ritchie (Gilmer), whose cheeky Scottish whimsy was fun and professional, helped to keep the show alive.

Kane Parsons, as Jesus, sported waist-length dreadlocks.

Costume designer Sarah Burren, ex-couturier to Princess Diana and Fergie, did her best with the clown brief, making actors look suitably ridiculous.

But director David Coddington, founder of South Seas Film and Television School, lacked the story-telling vision needed to turn a disparate set of religious vignettes into a fully coherent show.

* Godspell at the Beaumont Centre, 98 Beaumont St, Freemans Bay, until July 17