JOHN-MICHAEL TEBELAK
John-Michael Tebelak (September 17, 1949 – April 2, 1985) was an American playwright and director. He was most famous for creating the musical Godspell based on the Gospel of Saint Matthew. The music was by Stephen Schwartz. Some of the lyrics are original, with others taken from either the Bible or traditional hymns in the 1940 Episcopal Hymnal. (More from Wikipedia)
Though it was written at a later time, Godspell actually beat Jesus Christ Superstar to the stage, opening in May 1971 at a tiny off-off-Broadway theatre and gradually building up a following until ultimately reaching Broadway in 1976. John-Michael Tebelak, a student at Carnegie-Mellon University wrote the conceptual outline of the play as a college assignment. He later brought in a fellow graduate from the college, Stephen Schwartz to write the music and polish the lyrics, which were taken almost verbatim from the Gospel of Matthew and other Biblical passages.
(October 2014)
