THE GOSPEL GOES TO BROADWAY

THE GOSPEL GOES TO BROADWAY The Gospel gets heard in many different places but if you love music like I do you may have heard it in a theater and listening to the music of Broadway. Some of the most beautiful and prayerful words get sung by Maria in THE SOUND OF MUSIC, Tevye in FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, and Tony and Maria in WESTSIDE STORY. Hatred and prejudice are confronted in the sermon in song of “You’ve Got to Be Perfectly Taught” from SOUTH PACIFIC. And even the musically inclined flim flam man Harold Hill in THE MUSIC MAN can’t keep from preaching with “Right Here In River City.” I have fond memories of directing a production of the Stephen Schwartz’s Broadway hit GODSPELL starring a group of youth from my home church in Swainsboro during my college years and each performance was like a revival meeting! Sitting in a theater on Broadway in 1985 and hearing “I Dream a Dream” sung in the original production of Les Miserables was one of the most spiritually exalting experiences of my life. The ancients knew the power of theater and their amphitheaters were like temples with the masks of tragedy and comedy donned by the actors reflecting the realities of their life journeys. The earliest dramas were not only depictions of ancient myths but with the dawn of Judaism and Christianity, theater and faith were forever intertwined. The Book of Job is a marvelous example of drama in holy scriptures and it as well as the Nativity and Passion plays were annually enacted beginning in the eleventh century in the churches and city squares of medieval Europe. Music often played key roles in these depictions. The Gospel and stories of faith were proclaimed through theater as indelibly as in the glimmering stained glass of the Gothic Cathedrals. Musical theater’s ties to issues of faith and belief are never far from the surface in many of the great works of Rodgers and Hammerstein and most notably in The Sound of Music. Based on the life journey of Maria Augusta Von Trapp who was born in Vienna , Austria on January 26, 1905, Maria’s life began with loss and tragedy. Her mother’s sudden death when Maria was three precipitated her being placed in a foster home by her father who seemed incapable of understanding let alone caring for the little girl. “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” was thus grounded in a painful reality in Maria’s biography. Sent to live with a distant relative known as Uncle Franz, Maria found solace in hiking and mountain climbing and her true passion- the music she could hear spilling out of Vienna’s churches and echoing amongst the spires and surrounding mountains. One day after her high school graduation, Maria was hiking in the Alps with a guide when God spoke to her as she stood on a peak. In her 1972 memoir MARIA she writes of that moment: Suddenly, I had to spread my arms wide and shout, “Thank you God, for this great and wonderful creation of Yours. What can I give you back for it?” Boarding a train for Salzburg the tomboyish young lady with a backpack and carrying a guitar climbed the 144 steps of the beautiful and baroque Nonnberg Abbey and demanded to see the Reverend Mother Abess. And the rest is not only history as they say, but inspired the glorious THE SOUND OF MUSIC. Rodgers and Hammerstein might not have ever given us THE SOUND OF MUSIC if they had not been compelled to do so by the great Mary Martin who had starred in their SOUTH PACIFIC. Martin was urged by her agent to view Maria’s story as depicted in a German film based on Maria’s memoirs. And as she was later to say, “I was born in Texas and she was born in Austria, but underneath, we were the same Maria.” The musical premiered November 16, 1959 at Broadway’s Lunt-Fontanne Theater and was performed 1,433 times in its first production. In 1965 the beloved Robert Wise directed film starring Julie Andrews became the Best Picture of the Year and Maria’s story of faith now forever lives on in the sound of its music. The Gospel does go to Broadway it seems and because it does I will begin leading a series of services this Sunday inspired by it and other musicals. Let the hills be ALIVE..... Maria’s story of faith now forever lives on in the sound of its music.