John Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz’s musical ‘Godspell’ will be in the news once again in Spain in October. Emilio Aragón and Antonio Banderas will premiere hand-in-hand at the Teatro del Soho in Malaga and then tour Spain.
‘Godspell’ arrived in Madrid in 1975 with a group of young actors who had a great time with Juan Ribó playing Jesus and during the intermission singing, interpreting and inviting dignitaries over a glass of wine.
The production reached Alicante thanks to the Independent Theater Association (AITA), which has the power to attract this kind of performance to its more than a thousand members. I was able to see him with his original team at the Cervantes Theater in Elda, a huge arena where José María Rodero also impressed me with ‘Calígula’.
But at about the same time, the ‘God Spell’ had another function that I will always keep in my emotional memory: a function suggested by a group of friends at Salesian College in Villena. There, the role of Jesús was reserved for him by Carlos Esquembre Menor, and the live band played keyboards with his brother José Miguel Esquembre (architect and Julián Lagullón of the City Museum, who knew which legislature would open). terms).
It so happens that the fictional Jesus forty-odd years ago is the father of Carles Esquembre, the famous author of ‘Lorca, a poet in New York’ (Panini Cómic) and ‘Miguel Hernández’s three wounds (Planeta Cómic). Still, he will remain Carlos’ son to us.
I know that if I had acted in ‘Godspell’ when I was only twenty, it would have lifted a lot of complexes from me. But you only live once.