When Nick Davis arrived for his first meeting with Martin Short, he had no idea if the actor would be down to star in a documentary about the 1972 Canadian production of the musical Godspell.
The production was Short’s first real professional acting gig. It paired him with future comedic legends such as Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Andrea Martin, Dave Thomas, Jayne Eastwood and Victor Garber.
Davis didn’t know if Short would be up for a project centered on the behind-the-scenes moments of the famous production. But he knew he had to try.
The idea for the documentary was sparked by Davis reading Short’s memoir.
“I had always heard about this production and I watched SCTV and as a kid and I remember then thinking, ‘How did so many of these people come from Godspell?'” Davis told ABC Audio. He didn’t know much about the show, only that he thought it was a “goofy, sappy, hippy dippy musical about Jesus.”
For Davis, it never made sense “that these comedians who were so scathing and hilarious had come from this thing that I felt was very mockable,” he said. But as he kept reading Short’s memoir, he discovered details he had never known about these comedians he so admired.
“I didn’t even know that Marty had dated Gilda and then met his eventual wife in the cast,” Davis said. It left him wondering, “Wait, what was this like for these people?”
Davis was able to score a lunch meeting with Short to discuss the possibility of him participating in a documentary about the production, and he wasn’t left wondering Short’s thoughts on the matter for very long.
“I get to the restaurant. He sticks out his hand, he says, ‘Hi, I’m Marty,’ and before we even sit down he said, ‘So, I talked to everybody, we all think it’s a great idea. Let’s do it,'” Davis said. “It was like a 7 million pound weight had been lifted off my shoulders because, like me, they thought it was a good idea.”
The documentary is known by the first five words of its title, but boasts the full name 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’s now playing in select theaters before it opens wider on Friday.
Davis said the film reminds him of a home movie. Almost every person who was part of the original Canadian production of Godspell sat down for interviews, where they spoke openly about how their time as part of the show changed their lives.
“They’re really open and intimate. And part of that is just age. They’ve all reached the age where they’re happy to talk freely about their personal lives,” Davis said.
In a particularly intimate part of the documentary, Short tells the camera of his cast mates: “We fell in love with each other.”
Davis honed in on this moment. “It’s not just that they were bed hopping a little bit, as was common in the early ’70s,” he said, but that they became each other’s family.
“Marty became Andrea’s brother-in-law. Martin and Eugene were best friends coming into it. And they’ve stayed best friends. Victor and Andrea are best friends,” Davis said. “It’s one of those groups of people that is just really, really tight. And we were so lucky to be invited to be in and tell their story.”
While there was a lot that surprised Davis while making his documentary, nothing surprised him more than how “amazingly great” he now thinks Godspell is.
“I went into this thinking it could have been Sweet Charity, it could have been Jesus Christ Superstar, it could have been How to Succeed in Business. It could not have been. It had to be Godspell,” Davis said.
The director called working on this film “one of the great gifts” of his life, as it “was animated with such a pure, wonderful spirit.”
But don’t mistake that for it being one-note.
“There’s heartbreak, obviously, in Godspell. The main character as we know meets an untimely end. But also the cast. Gilda Radner died young and tragically, and another of the members of the cast, you sort of think, ‘Well, why didn’t they all go on to such wonderful careers?’ Well, you hear about that in the film, too. But it’s grounded in humanity, as well as real joy, and it was just a wonderful thing to work on. And I miss it every day.”
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