The Book of Mormon, by Matt Stone and Trey Parker

[MarkGrace]

Saw it tonight. Had a lot of laughs, though I thought the first half was superior to the second. The portion after the intermission just didn't quite hit the same note.

There were several church ads in the playbill, so I guess that campaign made it beyond LA.

[LA Ute]

I think this is like s lot of the PR the church does. It is less about conveying a message to non-Mormons than it is about "rallying the base" so to speak. The main impact of the add will be among the faithful, not people who attend the play. Not that there is anything wrong with that, the "I'm a Mormon" campaign is more or less the same thing, IMO.

That may be the ads' impact but it is not their intent. You can bet the farm on that.

[NorthwestUteFan]

I saw it last Saturday. I enjoyed it fully, although I will admit that some of the topics of the jokes were challenging (female circumcision, AIDS, dysentery). The actual jabs it takes at the church are light-hearted and not particularly offensive (unless one believes the Book of Mormon to be fully a history and not an inspirational allegory).

My wife on the other hand was very offended. The church stuff was tolerable, but the language is very rough.

Spoiler for The:

"Fuck you God in the ass, mouth, and cunt..." (repeated)

breakdown in Hasa Diga Ebowai was more than she could take. It made her upset for a few days. I am no friend of the 'C' word, and she finds it to be a particularly disgusting and offensive.

Ultimately I saw it as uplifting, and perhaps even somewhat inspirational. In the end they transition toward most religious beliefs being allegory. The most important thing to do in this life is to help other people and try to make this world a better place and to worry more about tomorrow than whatever happens after we die. I appreciate this life philosophy.

[MarkGrace]

The people sitting next to us were not amused by the language. No idea if they're were Mo's or not, but I wouldn't be surprised if just some of the regular theater going crowd showed up and wasn't sure what they were getting themselves into.

[NorthwestUteFan]

There were a number of jokes that are 'inside baseball' and a person would need to be very familiar with the church to understand. A surprising number of people laughed at those jokes, so I think it is fair to say that a large number of people in the audience were members or former members.

I did hear people complain about the language, though. The frail lady in the row behind me did not return after the intermission.

I loved the tender way they staged the 'Baptize Me' song, and the allusion to 'doing it' for the first time. It reminded me of the mindset among some missionaries who seemed to baptize people for the glory of the missionary. Those guys seemed to get so excited about 'success' that one would think they were going to 'score'.

I also loved the subplot of 'Underachieving Sidekick becomes the hero' while the 'heroic' missionary goes on his own Hero's Journey and has his entire belief structure challenged.

I also loved all the Disney symbolism. If there is one thing Mo's love, it is Disney (p.s. I will be at the DL at the end of February.. ).

[MarkGrace]

There were a number of jokes that are 'inside baseball' and a person would need to be very familiar with the church to understand. A surprising number of people laughed at those jokes, so I think it is fair to say that a large number of people in the audience were members or former members.

That seems like a pretty big assumption -- I can't imagine that on any given night there was anything resembling a large number of members/former members. We went on a Sunday night, and other than our group of four, I can't imagine there were many other Mo's there. And yet the crowd all laughed at those moments where I thought they couldn't possibly really get the joke without being very familiar with Mormonism. I think it was a combination of sort of half getting it and then just laughing because it's being setup and delivered as a punchline so it's kind of natural to laugh there.

[NorthwestUteFan]

Perhaps. I remember a few seemed to be very obscure.

The Paramount holds almost 3000 people, so it is fair to say that there were at least a couple of dozen Mo's in the audience. I know the Seattle Ex-Mo group has about 60 going tomorrow night so it would be interesting to compare audiences.

[MarkGrace]

A couple dozen out of 3,000? I guess I misunderstood what you meant by large number.

[NorthwestUteFan]

A couple dozen out of 3,000? I guess I misunderstood what you meant by large number.

Larger than I expected.

I can't believe Jeebus just called you a dick.

[SoonerCoug]

I went to the Book of Mormon Musical last night.

Here were my observations:

1) The Missouri audience didn't like "Hasa Diga Eebowai" (the F You God song) that much. They did like the "I Believe" song making fun of Mormon beliefs and especially the part about the Garden of Eden being in Jackson County.

2) The same Mormon advertisements that were in the LA show were in the Saint Louis show playbill.

3) I was more annoyed than I expected to be. I was annoyed by all the random comments about Mormons that I was hearing in the audience from self-proclaimed experts. I was annoyed that Missourians seemed to get the most joy from mockery of Mormons. I loved the musical but hate that it can be so easily misinterpreted by dumb bigots.

4) The Fox Theater is pretty much one of the most awesome theaters in the world. I have never seen anything like it, and I have been in theaters all over the world.

The photos do not do it justice, especially in terms of scale and detail. Each of those columns is huge. The dangling ball is scary big.

[SoonerCoug]

We went to the Book of Mormon again last night.

This time Mormon missionaries were standing outside the doors at 11PM as people were leaving the theater. Some were singing hymns, and others were handing out fliers. We walked up to a sister missionary to say hi and told her that we were LDS. She acted absolutely disgusted that we had attended the show and basically made a rude face at us and turned away.

Religion can make people so crazy.

One thing I will say--I found myself very uncomfortable sitting among Missourians and seeing the things they found funny and hearing all of their ignorant editorializing about Mormons. I found myself giving people a few dirty looks myself.

[Shaka]

This time Mormon missionaries were standing outside the doors at 11PM as people were leaving the theater. Some were singing hymns, and others were handing out fliers. We walked up to a sister missionary to say hi and told her that we were LDS. She acted absolutely disgusted that we had attended the show and basically made a rude face at us and turned away.

Religion can make people so crazy.

Taking out a ad in the playbill is smart marketing. Sending the missionaries over is the exact opposite and a really dumb idea.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Sooner, you should have mentioned you had success on your mission because you assiduously adhered to mission rules, including being home by [2130] and retiring by [2230]. I'm appalled they were likely up until midnight.

[Pelado]

Taking out a ad in the playbill is smart marketing. Sending the missionaries over is the exact opposite and a really dumb idea.

This Episcopal Church leader disagrees:

It occurred to me then that maybe the Mormon Church was doing something really smart in cultivating relationships with people who saw the musical. Yes, the musical might make fun of Mormons. Yes, the musical has a message that Mormons probably shouldn't embrace if they want to remain true to their tradition. But that doesn't preclude it from being a vehicle that God uses to speak into people's lives.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel...b_3267252.html

[LA Ute]

This Episcopal Church leader disagrees:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniel...b_3267252.html

That blog post, by an Episcopal priest who herself seems pretty fascinating, is great. She interviews Liza Morong, who joined the church as a result of the musical and has a very cool story, told separately and in more detail, here:

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/8...?s_cid=Email-4