Faust?!?

Yessiree bob, it’s Faust, with Newman as the Devil, James Taylor as God, Don Henley as Faust (in this version he’s a student at the University of Notre Dame), Linda Ronstadt as Margaret and Bonnie Raitt as Martha.

Here’s Rolling Stone’s review by Al Weisel.

The musical poses a question Newman first raised in “God’s Song (That’s Why I Love Mankind),” from 1972’s Sail Away, one that Christianity can’t adequately answer. If God is good and omnipotent, why would he allow the Holocaust, the Cambodian killing fields, O.J. Simpson’s acquittal or Jim Carrey’s success? On Faust, the Lord, played with relish by Taylor (appropriately backed by a gospel choir), is just as complex and interesting as the devil. That’s Newman, of course, and his whiny, bluesy growl rises to the occasion. In Newman’s view, God is alternately aloof, compassionate and mercurial. “There’s some Buddhists waiting at the pearly gate,” God says in “How Great Our Lord,” “I had to have ’em put out with the trash.” In 1995, the Lord comes closer to answering the questions Newman asked as an angry young man 23 years ago.

Excuse me, I have to go plug this CD into the big stereo. These cheesy ones I have at the computer won’t do.