God on Broadway

<p>What has Broadway to do with Jerusalem? <i>God on Broadway</i> explores the theological questions cracked open by commercial theatre. It shows how the Great White Way--that apex of tourist consumerism and a synonym for the business of spectacle--can be a place for theophany and critical reflection on religion. God is ready to be part of the show. God takes the stage as the clowning Jesus Christ of <i>Godspell </i>and in the comedian of <i>An Act of God</i>; God seems to overhear Tevye's soliloquy-prayers from the balcony; God gets invoked in Backstage traditions and superstitions, in the booming voice of a director calling cues with a "god mic" and in the mystifying rules about a Scottish King's name. Broadway has a God "waiting in the wings."</p><p>Broadway shows operate in wider culture as a secular catechist. They instruct us about God outside the walls of an institutional church. <i>God on Broadway </i>sits out in the house--where an audience of paying customers and strangers transform into co-players--and shows how God is revealed in the small choices of a playwright and in the flashy song-and-dance numbers of musicals.</p><p>Looking for God "on Broadway" is a way of <i>doing </i>theology, a method for interpreting and talking about God <i>for </i>and <i>with </i>a mixed, public, and inclusive audience. A commercial theology performs<i> </i>on Broadway. This book invites theatre-lovers and theologians to play along.</p>