Who could have foreseen that a Toronto production of Godspell would go on to have a major impact on the comedy world as we know it? On June 1, 1972, a local production of the modern hit Broadway musical did just that, launching a cadre of talented comedians into the spotlight, kickstarting a comedy television revolution.
Director Nick Davis’ new documentary explores the groundbreaking Toronto production in the TIFF film, 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). It is a mouthful of a title for a musical production that made waves and brought now-household names local and international recognition. It exists as both a tribute and a time capsule, which ultimately makes for an entertaining viewing experience.
A 14-month run of the musical Godspell at the Royal Alexandra Theatre, (where the film’s TIFF world premiere was held), brought together a cast with bright futures ahead of them. There were McMaster University friends Martin Short, Eugene Levy, and Dave Thomas, as well as Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Andrea Martin, and Jayne Eastwood from Goin’ Down The Road, along with musical director Paul Shaffer. Relying heavily on improv and a tight cast of ten, Godspell served as the jumping-off point for the future of improv and sketch comedy, paving the way for its cast and their Godspell-adjacent friends to new heights with Saturday Night Live, Second City Toronto, and SCTV.
Davis’ documentary gathers the former castmates to reflect on their formative years as part of the production. Not only was it a culturally significant show, but a personally significant time for its young cast, whose bonds forged on stage remain nearly five decades later. What results in You Had to Be There is a warm and engaging recollection from the actors whose memories paint a robust portrait of Toronto, comedy, and friendship in the early 1970s.
The film relies almost entirely on memory because, much to the disappointment of modern comedy lovers, no recordings of the production were thought to exist. While it’s a shame contemporary viewers can’t delight in seeing Short and Radner and Levy capering on stage with Garber, it’s only further allowed the production to reach comedy legend status. Aside from an illicit audio recording and publicity stills, the film’s story relies on personal accounts, enhanced by 1970s era-appropriate animation to illustrate the castmates’ recollections.
So yes, though you had to be there in 1972 to experience Toronto’s Godspell, the stories and talent of the cast have left a lasting mark on contemporary comedians and stars. Davis has peppered the film with short interviews with Mike Myers, Conan O’Brien, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and Janeane Garofalo, among others. For those in the comedy business who followed the groundwork laid by the Godspell cast, their influence is paramount, reverberating far beyond Toronto city limits. So too is the audience reach of You Had to Be There. While it may seem geared towards Torontonians and the Boomer generation, younger audiences will find lots of fascinating tidbits about the stories behind the comedy as Davis paints a wildly fascinating portrait of Godspell that extends years beyond its original moment in time.
Paris in the 1920s was a time of cultural and artistic change, and so too was Toronto in 1972. You Had To Be There draws the connection from this Godspell cast to the creation of Saturday Night Live and SCTV. As audiences embraced the type of improv and its stars whose roots lay in Godspell, it opened new pathways of performance that reached a wider audience. These early years of the groundbreaking comedy series were populated by the Godspell cast, like Radner, Levy, Short, and Thomas. Short provides additional insights into his career progression, or lack thereof, in the immediate years following Godspell, which provides more context to the industry at the time. There may have been a tendency for a documentary like this to veer into a rambling story about the “good ol’ days”, but Davis controls the focus of the film. He ensures it never reaches overly self-congratulatory status, nor does the sentimentality come off as insincere or cloying.
But the film is not all rainbows and sunshine, as there are darker, sadder elements to the story. Of course, some cast members, including Gilda Radner, have long since passed. And there are tales of sexual abuse that hindered post-Godspell careers. It’s a sobering but grounded counterpoint to the lightheartedness of the cast’s nostalgia-tinted recollections.
You Had To Be There makes an excellent companion piece to TIFF’s opening night film, John Candy: I Like Me directed by Colin Hanks. The iconic Canadian comedian was in the orbit of the Godspell cast and is shown here in archival footage expressing his disdain for not having been part of the cast.
Warm and genuine, You Had To Be There is a highly entertaining look at comedy and Canadiana. Davis’ documentary makes it clear: you really did have to be there – but thanks to this film, now we all kind of are.
