Tomorrow is a Latter Day!

There is no magic formula for appreciating art. The best I can do as a Humanities professor and all around supporter of art is to lead friends, family and readers towards certain interests in disciplines that strike a chord within them. Of these I find musicals are often difficult to get people interested in because of social prejudices on how they are only for certain types of people. However, I have found when teaching of the history of Rock n’ Roll, the musical Memphis works. When paying homage to an American literary legend with the Wizard of Oz, Wicked finds a strong audience. 

Rent changed Broadway and musicals forever, removing the caveat for audiences that only Andrew Lloyd Weber or Rogers & Hammerstein are the only acceptable musicals. One such show that is evident of these changes in bringing art to the masses, especially young audiences, was Avenue Q, written by Robert Lopez. In the crowd for an early showing of Avenue Q were South Park creators and show runners Matt Stone and Trey Parker. In the program Lopez thanked them for being inspirations. Confused and mildly flattered, Stone and Parker asked Lopez after the show the reason for the appreciation. “I never could have made Avenue Q if it wasn’t for you guys making South Park: The movie musical,” Lopez said. “What are you working on next?” Parker asked. “I’m thinking of doing something with Mormons.” Parker and Stone looked at each other, later recalling “Really? So are we!” Over the next seven years, in-between work on South Park and other shows, Lopez and the South Park gods created what I would consider my favorite musical of all time – The Book of Mormon.

Way back on March 19th, my friend Jeff stood in line at the Bank of America Theater in the Loop at midnight for tickets early in the Chicago run of The Book of Mormon. Thanking him to the point of gratitude becoming sour, Ally and I counted the weeks, then days down to when on Sunday, December 23^rd we would be immersed in a musical we had listened to the soundtrack of for over a year. For Broadway geeks like my fiancé Ally, The Book of Mormon was the caviar of productions, having sold out months in advance on Broadway, getting tickets going as high as $400 dollars a show. The first week of the Chicago run brought in ticket sales of 1.4 million dollars! Add to that 9 Tony awards and you have a phenomenon of what Trey Parker said “It’s not South Park – our first thought was, let’s do a really good musical and then weave in our styles.”

Our row A seats in the Mezzanine of the Bank of America Theater (BOAT), provided Ally, myself, Jeff and girlfriend Jamie with a perfect view of the stage and most importantly, visible details of actors. Once the curtains rose, Ally and I strapped ourselves in for a ride through each number we came to memorize and the pleasures of a storyline that moves quite well through both acts. In the first number Hello! a series of doorbell rings lead to white shirt Mormon missionaries pitching their profit Joseph Smith’s word of God, or if you are a doubter, pages of oddly written malarkey. Using a mix of musical counterpoint and comedy, the audience is charmed by the warm, inviting nature of this musical - a good sign of any art form! 

From there we are treated to the tale of 19/20 year old missionaries the perfectionist, overzealous Elder Kevin Price and bumbling fool Elder Arnold Cunningham being teamed up to spend their two years of missionary work in the pit of civilization in war torn Uganda, instead of Price’s preferred destination of Orlando, Florida. In You and Me (Mostly Me) Elder Price belts out his misguided pride in a number that is a direct parody of Wicked’s famous first act closer Defying Gravity. Stone, Parker and Lopez pull no punches with the number Hasa diga Eebowai, a parody of the Lion King’s Hakuna Matata. The village leader comes to describe that Eebowai means “God” and “Hasa diga means – fuck you!” Hang on – the awkwardness gets worse as the numbers and storyline grow in quality. Did you really expect anything different from the creators of South Park and Avenue Q? 

Throughout the show and an unusually strong second act (a rare find in my opinion with musicals) the theater was roaring with laughter, my eyes catching glances of audience members with tears coming down their red cheeks and wide smiles. Vogue Magazine summed it up best by calling the show "the filthiest, most offensive, and—surprise—sweetest thing you’ll see on Broadway this year, and quite possibly the funniest musical ever." There are tender moments with Sal Tlay ka Siti (Salt Lake City) delivered by the village leaders daughter about how her dead mother’s dream of escaping violence and poverty could come true with these missionaries. My favorite number, that has had me in stitches every time, the Africans religious interpretation of Mormonism in Joseph Smith, American Moses is actually a parody of The King and I. Elder Price’s bad dream, Spooky Mormon Hell Dream, highlights the overly dramatized Dante-style guilt of organized religion by placing Kevin Price in hell with dancing demons and fellow dwellers of Hades.

 

Ally and I in all of our giddiness could notice a few disappointed audience members leaving by the start of the second act. This occurrence bothers me for why would you spend good money on great theater and not research the show. A friend of mine who works in Chicago theater calls this “the ignorant, selfish, ‘I got mine, you get yours’ culture of northern Illinois, southern Wisconsin that spits on anything slightly outside of their point-of-view or appropriateness.” Deep down The Book of Mormon, aside from providing long-lasting entertainment, holds indelible messages of believing in one’s self (Elder Cunningham), addressing poverty issues, and the uncommon but fresh conclusion that it doesn’t necessary matter what people believe in as long as it improves their lives and makes a happier, healthier society for all. 

I will return to The Bank of America Theater in 2013 for another showing of The Book of Mormon, all the while swimming in the replay value of the soundtrack.