‘Amazing Grace’: A Musical’s 18-Year Journey From Goodspeed To Broadway

Sometimes you’ve just got to have a little faith, not to mention determination, luck and even a certain amount of grace to create a musical that makes it to Broadway.

It’s been an 18-year journey for Christopher Smith, a former police officer with no theatrical experience, in bringing the musical “Amazing Grace” from Connecticut to Chicago and now to New York.

The $16 million, large-scale, historical musical to which Smith composed music, lyrics and co-wrote the book, just opened on Broadway and its subject is as unusual for a musical as the show’s long and unorthodox development.

“It’s a title that moves people in a deep way,” says lead producer Carolyn Rossi Copeland. “But it’s not just a show. It’s a movement.”

Finding Funding

But one that was slow in starting.

In 1997 Smith, who at the time was a police officer in the Philadelphia area, came across a book about John Newton, an 18th-century British slave ship captain who had a spiritual awakening, converted to Christianity, became a fervent abolitionist and wrote the words to the famous anthem of faith “Amazing Grace.”

Smith, now 45, was inspired to tell that cruel, adventuresome and redemptive tale as a musical. Though he performed in a folk-rock band when he was younger, Smith had no theatrical experience and had never written a musical. After committing to the task of learning how to do that, he crafted an early version of the show and set out to find backers for his project.

On his own, Smith went to business leaders in the Philadelphia area with a demo tape of songs he had written for the show and a passion for the story. “The idea was that every person no matter their background wants to be loved in spite of their faults,” he says of the theme, which attracted early supporters.

Over time he gathered $500,000 in “seed money” that allowed him, starting in 2007, to quit law enforcement and devote himself to the musical project. He produced staged readings, first outside Philadelphia in 2007, and then in New York in 2008.

Enter Copeland, whose credits include the off-Broadway hit “Freud’s Last Session,” who was at an early New York reading and was impressed with Smith’s music. “As a faith-based person I was really moved but as a commercial theater producer I wanted to make sure of what I was experiencing so I sent the show’s songs to friends, none of whom were in the faith-based community. The response was ‘goose bumps, goose bumps, goose bumps’ so I knew I wasn’t crazy.”

Copeland came on board as lead producer that year and raised additional developmental money that allowed Smith to move to New York, where he further immersed himself in musicals. Copeland also brought in experienced hands to work with Smith, first Gabriel Barre — who had staged off-Broadway’s “The Wild Party,” “Summer of ’42” and the musical “John & Jen,” the latter of which was produced at Copeland’s Lambs Theater — and then playwright Arthur Giron to collaborate with Smith on the script.

Landing At Goodspeed

More private and industry readings followed and one in 2011 attracted the attention of Goodspeed Musicals producer Donna Lynn Cooper Hilton, who was a friend of the musical’s director who had staged many shows at Goodspeed’s two theaters, including “Sweeney Todd,” “Pippin,” “Summer of ’42” and “King of Hearts.”

“The show moved me deeply and it pissed me off that it did as much,” she laughs now. She invited the show to Chester for a “developmental production” in the spring of 2012. “It was a big hit for us and the creative team took full advantage of their time here, continually working on the show.”

Barre says because the show had a cast of 27 actors “we couldn’t have done it there without Goodspeed’s new housing” that was just completed.

“Goodspeed was so essential because it allowed us to physicalize the show,” says Barre. “Readings are readings but you’re not seeing the piece on a stage. Plus, it was the first time we had a general-public reaction to the show over its four-week period — and it was overwhelming.”

Barre talked about two responses from a pair of Goodspeed audience members who came in with completely different perspectives. “At an after-show talk-back, a man stood up and said ‘I was dreading coming because I thought it was going to be preachy but I had one of the most amazing experiences.’ Then another woman, with tears running down her face, said, ‘I’m a very religious person and I was afraid God wouldn’t be in this show at all and I was so moved that he was there on every page.’ It’s interesting. Like the song, everyone can have their own experience from the show and it can move people in surprising ways, ways they might not have predicted themselves.”

On To Chicago

It took another two years, another New York reading and additional fundraising before the musical had its next public production last fall in one of Chicago’s major presenting houses.

The Chicago production received mixed reviews but enthusiastic audience responses.”If we had not received the response we did in Chicago,” says Copeland, “I would have said, ‘Guys, let’s return the money or do a national tour but let’s not go to New York.”

Theater writer Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune criticized the show’s focus, saying “the institution of slavery just cannot play dramaturgical second fiddle” to a story of a white slave trader’s redemption.

Since Chicago, changes have been made in the production. Among them, the role of the slave and Newton’s manservant Thomas, played by Tony Award-winner Chuck Cooper, was strengthened considerably. “We developed the show more from the African characters’ perspective,” says Barre, “giving the characters more dimension, and establishing Thomas as a narrator for the show.”

Now On Broadway

The 31-actor Broadway cast stars Josh Young (Tony Award-nominee for Broadway’s “Jesus Christ Superstar”), Erin Mackey (Broadway’s “Chaplin”), Tom Hewitt and Cooper. Tony Award-winner Christopher Gatelli (“Newsies”) choreographs, and sets are by Eugene Lee and Edward Pierce.

Since Broadway previews began, the show has struggled at the box office, grossing under $300,000, less than one-third of its gross potential. “This is a very hard sell in New York,” says Copeland.

It’s a challenge to open on Broadway during the summer when theatergoers are primarily tourists who tend to prefer familiar fare over new work. (An exception may be the musical “Hamilton,” also set in the late 18th and early 19th century, and which is now in previews. But that show is propelled by rapturous reviews from its hottest ticket in town run off-Broadway this spring.)

Another factor is the subject matter — the slave trade and the graphic depiction. Though the film “12 Years a Slave” won the 2014 Academy Award for best picture, seeing instances of violence on stage is another matter. “We did not want to pull punches or to try to dilute or Disney-fy the show,” says Barre. “At the same time it’s not the movie either and we have to stylize [the violence] to make it watchable by an audience. It’s an interesting balance but we feel we have an obligation to be true to a cast who take this very seriously and whose ancestors they are honoring.”

There is also the feeling that this is may be a show only for church groups, a characterization that Copeland refutes.

“This show is not a religious experience,” she says. “It’s a great theatrical experience that moves you in your heart. People don’t want a history lesson and they don’t want to be preached to. They want to be entertained and our show delivers on that level.”

“God knows we could have not opened at a more perfect moment in this country,” says Copeland. The title song was given a national spotlight last month when President Barack Obama ended his eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, a black pastor who was killed with eight others during Bible study in a Charleston, S.C., church, by singing the hymn solo, with the congregation eventually joining in.

“Amazing Grace’ is not just about one man and his journey,” says Smith. “It’s about a nation finding its conscience.”

“I hope the president and his wife and kids come see it,” says Copeland. “I think we have a real opportunity to present an image of healing within an individual, and within a country.”

“AMAZING GRACE” is playing at the Nederlander Theatre, 208 W 41st St. New York. Information: amazinggracemusical.com and nederlandertheatre.com and tickets at $45 to $139 at Ticketmaster.com and 877-250-2929.