Salvation (musical)

Salvation
The cover of the original-cast album for Salvation.
Music	Peter Link & C.C. Courtney
Lyrics	Peter Link & C.C. Courtney
Book	Peter Link & C.C. Courtney
Productions	1969 Off-Broadway

Salvation is a 1969 Off-Broadway rock musical with music, lyrics, and book by Peter Link & C.C. Courtney. It opened on September 24, 1969 at the Jan Hus Playhouse and ending on April 19, 1970 after 239 performances.

The idea came from Courtney and his frustration with organized religion. Both Link and he wrote the show, and appeared in it as well. Courtney said of the show, "I was walking through Central Park, and the whole show just sort of came to me on that 20-minute walk. I usually did the concept and the book and the lyrics, and Peter did the music. So I hit him with the idea and he was hot to do that. In fact, he probably was more anxious to do it than I was...He's very productive. So I said let's do it, and I started working on the lyrics and giving them to him as fast as I could. So it became, in effect, well, the plot is pretty much my life story." Both were actors looking for the next thing. Courtney was appearing on the NBC daytime drama The Doctors. At the same time, Link was on the CBS daytime drama As the World Turns as the pot-smoking, troubled Tom Hughes. Afterwards, Link would join Hair and replace Gerome Ragni as Berger.

The show was written in two weeks, and it first premiered in a showcase production at The Village Gate, financed by Courtney and Link. It opened on March 11, 1969, and was given a positive review by New York Times columnist Lawrence Van Gelder. It was picked up by producer David Black, who had produced George M!, and got them booked at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater by the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, but unfortunately, the booking was canceled, supposedly by the director, Robert Montgomery. Courtney said of the incident, "I heard lots or rumors about what happened, mainly that Robert Montgomery didn't like this kind of filthy, disgusting stuff--that's why we didn't get to open at Lincoln Center."