This season, Broadway’s finding its faith.
The subject matter of “Godspell” and “Superstar” seems tailor-made for devout audiences, but as successful outreach for pics including “Justin Bieber: Never Say Never” has made clear, faith-based auds can often be attracted to entertainment in which the tenets of faith aren’t a central topic but a thematic undercurrent.
“Never Say Never,” for instance, is essentially a concert pic, but it includes multiple segments that showcase the teen idol’s spiritual roots, including a scene in which performers say a group prayer before taking the stage at Madison Square Garden. On Broadway, secular title “The Color Purple” did strong biz with African-American church groups, drawn by the well-known story’s themes of healing and forgiveness.
Similarly, “Memphis,” about the 1950s interracial romance between an African-American singer and a white DJ who becomes one of the first to play black tunes, doesn’t deal primarily with religion, but the faith-based demo has been sympathetic to the tuner’s themes of tolerance, perseverance and overcoming bigotry. To spur interest among churchgoers, Allen invited some of Gotham’s religious leaders to take in the show.
Allen describes a network of gatekeepers to faith-based auds — including Catholic bishops, pastors at megachurches, leaders of nonprofit ministries and the personalities on faith-oriented radio stations — who can serve as powerful motivators to a demo that’s as hungry for entertainment as any other seg of the population.
In the case of both “Godspell” and “Superstar,” any outreach to the faith-based demo is just one initiative in an overall campaign to target several potentially interested niche auds, along with the broader swath of general theatergoers.
For instance, “Godspell” producer Ken Davenport says the musical revival can also target fans of composer Stephen Schwartz and his megahit “Wicked.” Plus, it benefits from the tuner’s status as a familiar staple of stock, amateur and regional theater.
Like “Godspell,” “Superstar” has made it into the pantheon of landmark tuners regardless of its biblical inspiration. As illustrated by a recently tweeted photo of a man in a yarmulke standing at the box office of “Godspell,” not everyone who wants to see these musicals would identify themselves as a Christian. “There’s a cross-pollination of faith on Broadway,” Lee says.
“Superstar” producer Michael David anticipates courting faith-based auds alongside other demos likely to be interested in the show. A partner in Dodger Properties, David also was involved in the 1988 Broadway run of the Oedipus-with-gospel tuner “The Gospel at Colonus,” and he recalls that at the time, Broadway outreach to religious audiences was haphazard at best.