The Survival of St. Joan poster

Poster Child includes the final poster for The Survival of St. Joan among 1971 theatre plates.

Before Godspell came The Survival of St. Joan, a musical built on the legend that Joan of Arc escaped the stake — often cited as one of the first rock operas. Producer Haila Stoddard, a twenty-year soap-opera star, was nervous about the skull in Byrd’s design; he talked her out of removing it.

Joan was played by Gretchen Corbett, a Carnegie Tech schoolmate of Byrd’s who later became Jim Rockford’s attorney on The Rockford Files. What Byrd remembered most was the finale: Joan’s ascent to heaven in guitar feedback, strobes, and stage smoke.

Sources: Poster Child · Theater (p. 117).