Re: Book Of Mormon Musical Dvd 21
Arnau Cyr
The Book of Mormon is a musical comedy with music, lyrics, and book by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. The story follows two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they attempt to preach the faith to the inhabitants of a remote Ugandan village. The earnest young men are challenged by the lack of interest from the locals, who are distracted by more pressing issues such as HIV/AIDS, famine, female genital mutilation, child molestation, and oppression by the local warlord.[1]
The Book of Mormon was conceived by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez. Parker and Stone grew up in Colorado, and were familiar with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its members.[3] They became friends at the University of Colorado Boulder and collaborated on a musical film, Cannibal! The Musical (1993), their first experience with movie musicals.[4] In 1997, they created the TV series South Park for Comedy Central and in 1999, the musical film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut.[5] The two had first thought of a fictionalized Joseph Smith, religious leader and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, while working on an aborted Fox series about historical characters.[3] Their 1997 film, Orgazmo, and a 2003 episode of South Park, "All About Mormons", both gave comic treatment to Mormonism.[4] Smith was also included as one of South Park's "Super Best Friends", a Justice League parody team of religious figures like Jesus, Buddha, and Mohammed.
In 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, black actors from the original and current casts stated in a letter to the creative team that changes would be needed to reflect modern day perceptions, and avoid tropes that were commonplace in the past. (The Book of Mormon was not alone in this; similar discussions affected several other musicals which touched on African and Black representation at the time, such as The Lion King). Script revisions were instigated to center the villagers rather than the missionaries, and to show them as having more agency than the original script had suggested.[12]
The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24, 2011, following previews since February 24.[13][14] The production was choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and co-directed by Nicholaw and Parker. Set design was by Scott Pask, with costumes by Ann Roth, lighting by Brian MacDevitt, and sound by Brian Ronan. Orchestrations were co-created by Larry Hochman and the show's musical director and vocal arranger Stephen Oremus.[15] The production was originally headlined by Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells in the two leading roles.[15]
A West End production officially opened on March 21, 2013, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, with previews beginning February 25.[32] Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner reprised their North American tour performances.[33] The London cast members hosted a gala performance of the new musical on March 13, 2013, raising 200,000 for the British charity Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.[34] A typical London performance runs two hours and 30 minutes,[35] including an interval of 15 minutes.[36] In March 2014, The Book of Mormon was voted Funniest West End Show as part of the 2014 West End Frame Awards.[37] On July 28, 2014, both Creel and Gertner left the production. Creel left the West End production to return to the first national tour and was replaced by his stand-by, Billy Harrigan Tighe. Gertner was replaced by one of his stand-bys, A. J. Holmes, who had previously played Cunningham on both the national tour and Broadway.
The first non-English version of the musical opened at the Chinateatern in Stockholm, Sweden, in January 2017.[52] A Norwegian production opened at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, Norway September 2017[53] to favorable reviews with demand crashing the ticketing website.[54] The musical opened in Denmark at Copenhagen's Det Ny Teater in January 2018,[55] as well as in Amsterdam, Netherlands on September 26, 2019. The Show opened in Cologne, Germany on November 7, 2019, and played in Zurich, Switzerland in December 2019.[56] In Aarhus, Denmark the original Broadway production in English began on November 20, 2019, and ran until December 6.[57] A Spanish non-replica production premiered at the Teatro Calderón in Madrid on October 10, 2023.[58]
The Book of Mormon contains many religious themes, most notably those of faith and doubt.[72] Although the musical satirizes organized religion and the literal credibility of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons in The Book of Mormon are portrayed as well-meaning and optimistic, if a little naïve and unworldly. In addition, the central theme that many religious stories are rigid, out of touch, and silly comes to the conclusion that, essentially, religion itself can do enormous good as long as it is taken metaphorically and not literally.[73] Matt Stone, one of the show's creators, described The Book of Mormon as "an atheist's love letter to religion."[74]
Ben Brantley of The New York Times compared the show favorably to Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and The Sound of Music but "rather than dealing with tyrannical, charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes... must confront a one-eyed, genocidal warlord with an unprintable name... That's enough to test the faith of even the most optimistic gospel spreaders (not to mention songwriters). Yet in setting these dark elements to sunny melodies The Book of Mormon achieves something like a miracle. It both makes fun of and ardently embraces the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical. No Broadway show has so successfully had it both ways since Mel Brooks adapted his film The Producers for the stage a decade ago."[79] Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, spent much of his interview with Parker and Stone on the March 10, 2011 episode praising the musical.[80]
The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout called the show "slick and smutty: The Book of Mormon is the first musical to open on Broadway since La Cage aux Folles that has the smell of a send-in-the-tourists hit. ... The amateurish part relates mostly to the score, which is jointly credited to the three co-creators and is no better than what you might hear at a junior-varsity college show. The tunes are jingly-jangly, the lyrics embarrassingly ill-crafted."[83] Other critics have called the show "crassly commercial"[84] as well as "dull" and "derivative".[85]
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has advertised in the playbills at many of the musical's venues to encourage attendees to learn more about the Book of Mormon, with phrases like "you've seen the play, now read the book" and "the book is always better."[97]
Mormons themselves have had varying responses to the musical. Richard Bushman, professor of Mormon studies, said of the musical, "Mormons experience the show like looking at themselves in a fun-house mirror. The reflection is hilarious but not really you. The nose is yours but swollen out of proportion."[99] Bushman said that the musical was not meant to explain Mormon belief, and that many of the ideas in Elder Price's "I Believe" (like God living on a planet called Kolob), though having some roots in Mormon belief, are not doctrinally accurate.[99][100]
The Book of Mormon is a satirical award-winning musical by the creators of South Park. London Theatre raves about the show, saying, It is cleverly written and extremely well-produced, and the excellent, energetic performances give the impression that the cast is loving every minute of it.
Many Mormon reviews of the show tend to whitewash the truly disgusting aspects and try to find a positive spin, perhaps to demonstrate how open-minded and hip we Mormons are. Mormons who have given positive reviews argue that the show preaches a positive message of practical religion. However, putting aside the discussions of raping babies, raping frogs, and raping God himself (or herself?), the central theme of the musical is not about service to the poor and downtrodden. It is about how making up a wacky religion can be great so long as it accomplishes humanitarian ends, like reducing incidences of AIDS and female circumcision.
Not having seen the musical, I would agree that I do not have a sufficient basis to comment on the choreography, the costumes, the set design, or the acting. I have therefore refrained from doing so. However, having heard the music, I feel justified in sharing my opinion on the quality of the music, the content of the lyrics, and the message that the lyrics communicate.
It seems odd that anyone would assert that you cannot judge a musical by the music that serves as the centerpiece of the musical. If The Book of Mormon were a drama, I might be inclined to agree with the assertion of context. However, the argument can be made that the music IS the context of a Broadway musical.
After seeing Book of Mormon for the first time recently, listening to the soundtrack and watching some interviews, I hear a lot about references to different musicals within BOM. I caught a few, but I was wondering if there were any I missed.
"Patrons of the musical aren't likely to leave the theater with a better understanding of the Book of Mormon," LDS Church spokesman Michael Purdy said Thursday afternoon. "Our message in the playbill invites the audience to seek a more complete perspective on the book, its Christ-centered message and its place in Mormon belief."
The church has not placed similar ads in the playbill for the Broadway run of the musical. And Purdy said that plans for future use of the ads for the production's national tour "have not been determined."
The ads are consistent with the tone of the church's original statement on the musical, released in early 2011: "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ."
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