Godspell: Worthington Christian’s Spring Musical 2010

Singing and dancing filled the Worthington Christian AC Auditorium on Saturday, May 9, 2010. Audiences of all ages watched as the musical Godspell was performed by the school’s students under the direction of Dave O’Roark.

This year’s annual spring musical has been performed at Worthington Christian before. According to director and dramatic arts teacher Dave O’Roark, Worthington Christian performs Godspell quite frequently. “I decided that I was going to do it every four years,” commented O’Roark. “That way each class can see it at least once.”

Repeating Godspell ensures that all students are able to hear its Biblical message. “I really like the show,” said O’Roark. “I think it gives the kids the opportunity to learn a lot of the parables from the Bible.” Although the play is set in a gypsy camp, all of the stories are taken from the Bible. The musical used the parables to relay the story of Jesus’ life in an intriguing way.

When considering the other plays performed at Worthington Christian, freshman Rachel Parrish said, “There is something different about Godspell, because the actors are able to live out the story.” The play truly affected the audience that attended. Junior Jack Price said that out of all the plays he has attended over the years, “Godspell is my favorite,” because he loves learning about the parables.

The response from the audience was overwhelmingly positive. “It was excellent,” commented senior Michael Bush. “It was well directed, well acted, well danced, and well sung.” Some audience members even went as far as seeing the play multiple times. Freshman Rachel Parrish attended the play three times, noting “It just got better each night that they preformed it!” Parrish’s brother Andrew was also one of the lead actors in the play.

People were surprised at the immense talent of the Worthington Christian cast members. In the majority of school plays, only the lead roles are considered to be strong vocally; however, Worthington Christian is fortunate to have strong vocal qualities in all of their actors. Director O’Roark said, “The cast was very strong vocally, which is good because even our smallest parts were able to sing a solo.”

The cast members from Godspell are very pleased about their performance as well. Actor Matt Rickly commented on the performance, “They were awesome and so much fun.” He later added, “The first week we had a lot of attendees, but the second week was packed!” The entire cast was thrilled at the number of people in attendance the second week. More seats even had to be added at the last minute because more people came than initially expected.

Overall the musical Godspell had an overwhelmingly positive response. Director Dave O’Roark’s goal was to do something about which the cast could be proud. He noted, “The actors were definitely glad to be a part of it.” Some said it was the best musical they had ever seen. The cast should be proud of their accomplishment.