The Styrous® Viewfinder: GodSpell ~ Part 2: Turn Back, O Man

May 17, 2026

GodSpell ~ Part 2: Turn Back, O Man

GodSpell poster - 1971

Today marks fifty-five years since the musical, Godspell opened Off Broadway on May 17, 1971. I can't believe it's been that long! I wrote about it five years ago (link below) this is an update to it.

Godspell began as a project by drama students at Carnegie Mellon University and then moved to the off-off-Broadway theater La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan. The show was rescored for an off-Broadway production, which opened on May 17, 1971, and became a long-running success. Many productions have followed worldwide, including a 2011 Broadway revival. An abbreviated one-act version of the musical designed for performers aged 18 and under also exists, titled Godspell Junior (link below).

The music was composed by Stephen Schwartz, directed and book by John-Michael Tebelak and based on the Gospel of Matthew. Day by Day, from the original cast album, reached #13 on the pop singles chart Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1972 and #7 in Canada's RPM 100 Singles chart.

However, my favorite song from the musical occurs at the beginning of the second act (link below). After the reprise of Learn Your Lessons Well, a member of the cast sings Turn Back, O Man, imploring humankind to give up its temporal pursuits and turn to God.

Of course, there's nothing like the joyous and uplifting feeling of the song, Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord, from the fortieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah in the Hebrew Bible or the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, and the first chapter of the section known as "Deutero-Isaiah" (Isaiah 40-55), dating from the time of the Israelite exile in Babylon. This book contains the prophecies attributed to the prophet Isaiah, and is one of the Books of the Prophets. Parts of this chapter are cited in all four canonical Gospels of the New Testament. Fragments containing parts of this chapter were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (3rd century BC or later). This verse is cited in all four gospels in New Testament as fulfilled in the person of John the Baptist, who prepared for the coming of Jesus Christ the Lord.