The ridiculousness of the Book of Mormon — Page 3

For a show that is designed as a raucous, rollicking musical comedy, The Book of Mormon raises some challenging issues and questions: the Mormon church sends these young missionaries out all over the world at the age of 19, armed only with the book and their own zeal and belief system. They think they are ready to solve anything that comes their way, but what happens when they are confronted with a part of the world that God seems to have forgotten, on a continent that they only know from what they’ve seen in The Lion King? What is the true nature of faith – does it mean believing in everything blindly and literally, or is scripture meant to just be a guideline to live one’s life as a good, honest and caring person? What makes the beliefs of one religion any crazier than what another religion believes? The show also satirizes western self-congratulation and condescension in “I Am Africa” – the missionaries have baptized the Ugandans and think they now know everything there is to know about Africa (all done in the style of a “We Are the World” power ballad). And at the end of the show, we witness the birth of a new religion, with its own creation story and dogma.

It’s not a facile or easy piece of writing – to my mind, they’ve pulled off an amazing balancing act – a mainstream show that is provocative and subversive, and yet, warm-hearted and sweet-natured, even while gleefully foul-mouthed. In my opinion, it is not a show to dismiss with the back of one’s hand. I’m hard pressed to think of a recent musical comedy that accomplishes as much as Book of Mormon does, and does it without breaking a sweat.

---

I am not saying you are wrong or are not entitled to your opinion. Elsewhere on this thread, you described the show as "mindless," "style over substance," "two hours of fart jokes". I wanted to offer a counter argument as to why I don't believe that to be true, in the spirit of message board discourse.

---

I dunno, we keep saying "people's opinions are subjective". No. I think when people point at a blue sky and say its brown it is no longer opinion. In my opinion.

Bro, u mad?

I also did not create this thread to start any fights between anyone.Poor Sean Martin is being chased by an angry mob with pitch forks. We are theater-goers and as far as I am concerned we are classy people.

---

Maybe if you stopped complaining about not getting tix, you could possible try for standing room or lotto...just an idea

The Eugene O'Neil does not have bedbugs....its got maggots in it its Scrotum.

DF

---

I can't believe I'm the only one out there who totally agrees with Sean on the Mormon question. We paid $132 each or so to see the show in April from the left orchestra (row M I think). We had been mildly entertained by the Southpark movie, but often laugh hysterically at the antics on the Southpark TV show.

So....

We absolutely hated the show. Stared at the cheering throngs around us in complete bafflement. We were lightly amused by "Hello" and actually really enjoyed "Turn It Off", but it was all downhill from there. Where was the wit and wordplay of Southpark? Why were the Mormons played for sympathy and the Africans all played for scatological laughs in scene after scene? You folks on this thread seem to have found higher levels of deep profundity in those lyrics and that libretto, but all my audience wanted to do was laugh at another reprise of F*** God in the C***. There was simply no emotional connection I could make to any character on that stage black or white, that wasn't undercut by a gratuitously smutty punchline a scene or two later. Where was the polish and snap that their best TV episodes offered? Watching those episodes made us feel smarter for having caught all the pop-culture jokes they batter you with. Watching the Broadway show made us feel dumber than a 13-year-old and as prudish as an 80-year-old. Not a combination I ever want to repeat. Give me the wit and laughs and heart (along with plenty of f**ks and s**ts) of Billy Elliott any day.

@Rage-the key is not to panic. Keep checking Telecharge every day or whenever you think about it. You can even call Telecharge and ask them to keep checking. They are happy to do it. Call them everyday. You will get something in the Rear Mezz_ I guarantee it. Good luck. :)

Its takes some effort and diligence to get seats and I think that irritates some people. They (not referring to you Rage) call up and just expect to get tickets for the day and show they want. Thats not how it is working at this point. Some people just give up. Those who dont, usually get tickets without paying premium.

---

Ok Bettyboy. Thanks for the tip. Wish I had $ for premiums. Still baffled that a show would be so hard to see. Normally, you want to see a show, you just see it.

---