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Why is The Book of Mormon Broadway’s hottest musical?
Mark Breslin
The Book of Mormon won nine Tony Awards despite its offensive content
I was excited. This was my first trip to New York City in nearly two years, and I was sitting in great seats — scalped, of course — at the hottest new comedy musical in town: The Book of Mormon. The wild-and-crazy Broadway fling from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I’ve always been a huge fan, and I couldn’t wait to see the play. It was their first big musical, the critics were raving, you couldn’t get a seat and it was nominated for 14 Tony Awards — the highest honour in theatre south of the border.
I made sure that The Book of Mormon was saved for the last night of my three-day trip.
It’s been a strong theatre season in New York, so choosing plays was a challenge. On my first night was the well-reviewed musical from the ’60s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. I found it a breathtaking revival of a mediocre play. The next night, we tacked left, literally, and headed downtown to see Tony Kushner’s new four-hour opus The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures.
The play was only slightly more exhausting than its title. Not a lot of laughs, but it was so brilliant it made me want to buy a copy of the play. But I still had one eye cocked on the next night. Settling into our $300 seats just before curtain, we felt that frisson of excitement that often precedes a hit show.
The lights dimmed. Applause already. The first number, a clever take on the Mormons who go door to door, was fresh and witty. So far, so good.
Then the plot is set up. It seems that young Mormon missionaries upon graduation are paired up in a buddy system and sent somewhere in the world to preach the gospel. Our protagonists are not sent to Paris or Orlando, but to a remote village in central Africa. Do I smell a fish-out-of-water comedy?
When they get there, the Africans have little interest in the missionaries. They have bigger problems — starvation, AIDS and violent warlords. And so begins the best and edgiest number of the evening with a title so scandalous you couldn’t print it here. I was shocked that a mainstream audience was howling at the song, but they were and so was I.
And then … nothing. The show went downhill from there, having peaked at the 20-minute mark. It was repetitive, corny and offensive to both Mormons and Africans. The leads did nothing for me; the songs were unmemorable; and except for a fantasy of Hell early in the second act, the visuals were cheap and pinched.
The entire show felt like a Hope/Crosby movie performed by a fringe troupe with a rich uncle. I know, I’m in the minority here. There was so much hype going in to the show that no one seemed to notice the emperor had no clothes.
I’ve seen this phenomenon before, a version of physicist Werner Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle: if you think something’s going to be funny, chances are you will find it funny. It’s often why major stars can get away with lousy material.
A few weeks later, The Book of Mormon did win all those Tonys. The awards show broadcast featured Neil Patrick Harris’ opening number, “Broadway’s Not Just for Gays Anymore.” Ironically, the song about musicals was funnier than the songs in the musicals they were celebrating. Somebody should hire the writers of that song and get them to write a real musical. I’ll bet that would be worth the hype.
Post City Magazines’ humour columnist, Mark Breslin, is the founder of Yuk Yuk’s comedy clubs and the author of several books, including Control Freaked.
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Reader Comments:
Kudos to Mark Breslin. It's a brave critic indeed who dares point out that the emperor has no clothes!
Mormons, like Jews, have 13 Articles of Faith. Our 13th admonishes to seek after anything "virtuous, lovely, or of good report, or praiseworthy." That's why I won't be seeing it. http://bit.ly/gWEPUm
But any faithful Mormon who somehow gets fooled into watching this cesspool of a production will recognize a "time honored" and sinister agenda. It's message is, "we will tolerate you Mormons as long as you make nice and admit that the foundations of your religion are fraudulent."
The Big Lie that anti-Mormons, both secular and "religious," have repeated for 181 years, and which is knowingly repeated by the play, is that Joseph Smith never showed the plates to anyone. Parker even puts the lie in Smith's own words. This isn't satire: it is propaganda.
Why is it so important to the tony elites of popular culture to propagate such an obvious lie? And why is it so important for Trey Parker to boast of the "extensive" research" behind his play? Why is this silly, tiny cult such a threat to their immoral agenda that they must undermine its origins, even at the cost of their own integrity?
There were, in fact, twelve credible witnesses to the plates, including Joseph Smith. Three of them saw the angel and the plates and heard the voice of God declare that the translation was by his "gift and power." Eight others hefted the plates, turned their leaves, and carefully examined their engravings. All twelve witnesses remained faithful to their testimony to the end of their lives. Their testimony has been published in every edition since the Book of Mormon was first published, in 1830. Shh! Big secret!
http://bit.ly/iixumu http://bit.ly/mJsthy http://bit.ly/lFWKll
For giving his heart to God, Joseph Smith received, from the dregs of society, a hail of bullets. For heaping unspeakable filth on God, Trey Parker received, from the elites of society, a Tony. In his moment of glory, sly Trey Parker glanced heavenward and "credited" Joseph Smith as his co-writer.
If Parker had bothered to read the even first book of the actual Book of Mormon, he would have learned who actually made his play so "popular in the eyes of the world." If I were Trey Parker, I would "fear, and quake, and tremble." (1 Nephi 22:23) http://bit.ly/kL44Ya
Tracy Hall Jr
hthalljr'gmail'com
LOL at Tracy. "If Parker had bothered to read the even first book of the actual Book of Mormon, he would have learned who actually made his play so "popular in the eyes of the world." If I were Trey Parker, I would "fear, and quake, and tremble." (1 Nephi 22:23)"
If Tracy had bothered to watch the production, her response would be something other than pre-fabricated tripe flavored persecution complex! This is a wonderful production that treats the faith with awe and respect. True, it wasn't written by a believer, but that actually doesn't mean it's anti-Mormon.
Critics in Las Vegas and Salt Lake City have written articles explaining that the musical would do great in those and other western cities with substantial Mormon populations and would attract Mormons and Non-mormons. Las Vegas newspapers state that because Vegas was originally founded by Mormons and both their senators and last governor are Mormon and Mormons still play a large role in the Vegas community that the musical would be a hit there. Parker and Stone stated that they are interested in Mormonism and wrote the musical because they grew up around many Mormons in Colorado and were friends with them and Parker's first girlfriend was Mormon. They say very nice things about Mormons in media interviews. I do not think the musical is a bash on Mormons or that it has anything to do with the two Mormons running for president, but it may be better appreciated by those south of the border as Americans can relate to it better than most Canadians.
If someone read news articles in the western states where most Mormons live and settled many parts of, one would see that many Mormons have seen the show and have given the musical good reviews. There are multiple Mormon billboards in times square advertising the Mormon church. This is only a block away from the musical. I live in Vancouver now, but I spent many years in Arizona, Idaho, California, and Utah. I have Mormon friends from all of those places and would gladly go see the musical with them. Many of them have already shown interest in seeing the musical as a form of entertainment. That is what the musical is meant to be. As entertainment, no one should take it too seriously. The song about Salt Lake City (sal tlay ka siti) is beautiful and I also enjoy you and me and baptize me. The musical is probably better if you know Mormons personally which is why I would wonder how well it would do in Canada.
As everyone else seems to have pointed out here, I doubt Tracy would still call the production a cesspool after having seen the show. Book of Mormon (the musical) is far from propaganda and most Mormons who have seen it say that, while it definitely pokes fun, the show treats Mormonism with respect and admiration.
The show is far more about religion in general than Mormonism in particular, Mormonism just serves to convey the message in an effective manner and has always been a religion of interest to both Matt Stone and Trey Parker. The message of the show is not some sort of cry for Mormons to forsake their faith. I would argue - and, having seen it, I can - that the message of the show is that religion can be a powerful force for good and can create a sense of community and promote positive social change and that belief and faith, even in things that may seem ridiculous, is good for that reason.
Tracy, perhaps you should reserve judgement until you've seen the show.