I sinned when I was a high school student in Toronto. I did not see Godspell, the musical. For my penance I’ve regretted it ever since.
Who misses out on seeing Gilda Radner, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Andrea Martin, Victor Garber, Jayne Eastwood and later Dave Thomas getting baptised into showbiz? Not to mention hear Paul Shaffer on keyboards as musical director?
There were 488 chances to see the show from 1972-73. Because “God” was in the title, several Catholic Separate School classmates were bussed down for this spiritual awakening. One friend’s mother got a long, personal, hand-written letter from Radner thanking her for bringing her flock to several performances. Others got their programs signed by this comedy Hall of Fame cast.
Still, I’m not the only Torontonian who missed it. Hence the title of a documentary showcased at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival – “You Had to be There: How the Toronto Godspell ignited the comedy revolution, spread love & overalls, and created a community that changed the world (in a Canadian kind of way).”
Good thing cinema marquees don’t matter much anymore. The long title does, however, sum up the message behind this film, directed by Nick Davis and produced, among others, by the Patron Saint of the current comedy scene, Judd Apatow.
Yes, it took American producers to tell this very Canadian story, which will eventually shine as a CBC broadcast (and wind up on a North American streaming service).
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Here is the challenge, however: you truly did have to be there. Not one of those 488 performances were recorded. There were no cell phones in the audience in 1972-73. If you missed it, you missed it.
There was, thankfully, Martin Short’s handy cassette tape recorder (capturing on-and off-stage banter), as well as a surprise bit of rehearsal footage. Still, the challenge is this: how do you make a documentary without any substantial visuals of the main subject matter?
The answer, in this case, is you reunite this Hall of Fame comedy cast, most of whom are still, more than 50 years later, enjoying heavenly careers.
Levy emerges early as a selfless leader always looking out for his friends at the audition stage. Almost Christ-like, one might say, especially after he followed Victor Garber late in the theatrical run as Godspell’s lord and saviour.
Shaffer’s story is right out of a Hollywood dream. A piano prodigy way up in Thunder Bay, Ont., he was on a bus to Toronto when he made a detour to the big time. The future SNL and Letterman band leader wound up sitting next to Avril Chown who just happened to be on her way to audition for “Godspell.” Shaffer, 22 at the time, accompanied Chown as she sang her way onto the show. He was scouted on the spot by Godspell composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who kicked the other guy off the stool and put Schaffer in charge of his musical.
Short’s first impression of Radner was that she had blown her audition by singing, “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.” The future SNL star, however, radiated so much charm and personality that she instantly won over the producers (and, soon after, brief boyfriend Short).
The doc goes into more details when it comes to Short’s own backstory. Growing up just west of Toronto in Hamilton, he had lost both his parents before he turned 20. Auditioning at 22, he sang one of the many Sinatra ballads he had perfected in the attic of the family house. That is where Short spent days and weeks recording his own fantasy shows on that aforementioned cassette player.
The other way the story of “Godspell” is brought to life is through several animated sequences. They show caricatures of the cast performing sequences from the tuneful parable pieces. Eastwood, for one, wowed the audience with her cheeky, burlesque version of “Turn Back, O Man.” The cartoon version brings that to life in a delightful way.
The animation seems somewhat inspired by Jules Feiffer’s ‘toons of the time. That sketchy style is less effective in rendering Dan Aykroyd, very much on the scene in Toronto during those years and close friends with all the cast members. Aykroyd’s voice (over the phone?) is heard in the documentary. While his perspective is always valued (he shines on-camera in another TIFF 2025 doc, “John Candy: I Like Me”), the scribbled likeness does him no justice. Coverage could have been realized simply with stills from that era.
Some of the more intriguing stories in “You Had to Be There…” are from cast members who did not go on to have incredible showbiz careers. Avril Chown scored a lead role in the early ‘70s CBS children’s series The Hudson Brothers Razzle Dazzle Show. She tells a shocking story about being sexually assaulted during that experience. The report is jarring given the nurturing “Godspell” love-in that preceded it.
The doc does have a happier ending: a cast reunion in New York with Short and Shaffer leading the other surviving cast members in a nostalgic, showtune sing-a-long.
There are other voices in “You Had to Be There…”, including Mike Myers, Heidi Gardner and Janeane Garofalo. Would have traded all three to hear from another Toronto lad, Lorne Michaels, and find out if “Godspell” was where he first fell under the spell of Radner.
If you are still waiting in vain for that long delayed Martin Scorsese documentary about the origins of the series half the cast of “Godspell” ascended to, SCTV, consider “You Had to Be There…” as well as “John Candy: I Like Me,” to be like manna from heaven.
