Free Streaming of Book of Mormon Cast Album — Page 6

also, just found this out that starting tomorrow, Broadway.com will have a series of videos called "A Month of Mormon". a new episode will appear daily with 28 total episodes.


Broadway.com's A Month of Mormon

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"What's great to me is what a MUSICAL THEATRE score this is."

I completely agree bwayfan7000, and I did appreciate the references. I just thought that there were a few too many for my taste, which took some of the originality out of it. Does that make sense? Obviously it's original in its take on these old styles, and it is delightful and funny to hear familiar melodies and structures. But for me, it was just a little over the top in its pastiche-ness (can't think of the word I'm trying to use). Don't get me wrong, I think it's a delightful score and a very easy listen, but I just wish it were a little more original-sounding.

I never thought that I would enjoy this score so much. These guys are brilliant satirists. I just question why they have to use so much obscenity. They are probably limiting their potential audience. I'm not at all sure that this will play in Peoria.

Funny, BOM is not listed as a critic's choice of Ben Brantley or any other Times' critic in the online edition. And Brantley's review has disappeared. Not even included among his other 21 recent reviews that are available. I wonder if the Times is catching some heat from somewhere.

Yep, there was the "Something Coming" reference in Avenue Q, as well as "The More You Ruv Someone" being a spin on "Something Wonderful" from The King and I. There may have been others in that score, but I feel like there were a lot more musical theater references in "The Book of Mormon" score than in "Avenue Q."

There's a reference to "Being Alive" in Avenue Q as well, in "The Money Song."

And yeah, The Book of Mormon has more, I just like to point that one out. :)

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Updated On: 5/11/11 at 01:01 AM

"Man Up" wasn't a stand-out hit when I saw the show, but I did love the medley of hits at the end of the song.
Even as I listen to the OBCR I only like Man Up for the last 2 minutes.

The TONY performance should be a medley of Hello and Two By Two and the last 1 minute and 30 seconds from Man Up. That way all of the characters will be on there. OR they could go all South Park and make the TONY performance the SPOOKY MORMON HELL DREAM. Ha.

Could you imagine HELL DREAM on the Tonys?!

As in direct references in lyrics or musical allusions?

Off the top of my head:

"You And Me (But Mostly Me)"- sounds like "Defying Gravity" in Wicked...a few of the chords. It also has bits of "The Wizard and I" in there.

"Hasa Diga Eebowai"- the non-Disney version of "Hakuna Matata"

"Sal Tlay Ka Siti"- Same structure and a similar tune to "Somewhere That's Green" from Little Shop...which in turn sounds a lot like "Part of Your Word" from Little Mermaid. All of these songs are classic "I Want" songs with a girl dreaming of a place far from what she knows.

"Making Things Up Again"- As pointed out by another poster, has a similar sound to Lopez's "Life After College" from Avenue Q, but I think this is less of a reference than it is just a composer having the same sound (see above- Alan Menken wrote both "Somewhere That's Green" and "Part of Your World").

"I Believe"- it starts out with an almost too-strong reference to "I Have Confidence" from The Sound of Music. I don't have the lyrics in front of me, but "a captain with seven children, what's so fearsome about that?" becomes "a warlord _______, what's so scary (?) about that?"

"Joseph Smith American Moses"- this show's take on "Small House of Uncle Thomas Ballet" from The King and I.



I'm sure there are more that other posters could find or that I can later when I listen to the cast recording again. I really do appreciate these references and find many of them delightful, but it is just one too many for my taste.

I'll let the pro-faith conversation slide as everyone will have a different interpretation mostly due to one's own personal feelings about a particular religion/religion in general.

As far as the references, there is quite a handful, but is that REALLY such an awful thing considering how few original scores come along these days among all the revivals and jukebox shows? What really bothers me more is the pop slant-rhyming in a good 1/3 of the score. "Days/AIDS", "late/way", "butt/c---"...and that's all in ONE song! Perhaps I'm nitpicking a bit with this (after all, Elton John, Eric Idle, Dolly Parton, and Bono & The Edge all did it due to their musical backgrounds), but I do miss the perfect-rhyme purity in musical theatre that Sondheim made a point of defining in all his works.

Incidentally, am I the only one who hears the melody of "Orlando, Orlando, I love ya, Orlando" as "Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow"?

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""Making Things Up Again"- As pointed out by another poster, has a similar sound to Lopez's "Life After College" from Avenue Q, but I think this is less of a reference than it is just a composer having the same sound (see above- Alan Menken wrote both "Somewhere That's Green" and "Part of Your World")."

It actually sounds similar to "Life Outside Your Apartment", not "I Wish I Could Go to College" but I can see what you're saying. It's just that there are two brand new composers working with him here (and leading as well), so it's kind of surprising that his style would come out so strongly.

Updated On: 5/11/11 at 03:18 AM

Yep, that was my bad. I was mixing up "Life Outside Your Apartment" with "I Wish I Could Go Back to College." I meant "Life Outside Your Apartment." Thanks for catching that!

"Hasa Diga Eebowai"- the non-Disney version of "Hakuna Matata"

I think it actually sounds more like I Just Can't Wait To Be King.

I just listening to You and Me (But Mostly Me) again, and I now DEFINITELY see the similarities between that and Defying Gravity. Wow. But I still really think all of these similarities are clever.

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