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Book Of Mormon FTW!
Saw Book of Mormon last night at the Pantages. Winner!
Those unfamiliar with the Mormon Church will see a very entertaining musical- songs you can hum (but probably shouldn't), great singing and acting, lots of humor. Those familiar with the Mormon Church will probably just die. Like the Weasels and Hyenas from Roger Rabbit.
For those familiar with the mockery and even-handed ridicule on South Park, BoM is just as skillfully devised. I even think many Mormons would find it amusing because it's so perky and enthusiastic. It's a kind of blasphemous Hope and Crosby buddy piece. I might go to see it again-- I think if I squinch my eyes a bit, I can totally see it as a long episode of South Park.
"I Believe" is a show-stopper (and I can't wait to hear it on Muzak) and "Hasa Diga Eebowai" is just...perfect. Especially these days.
Possibly the most surreal part of the show was in the Playbill:
The Mormon Church put 3 full page ads in the Playbill. Three. My favorite is "You've seen the play...now read the Book". Weird. The only negative to this is with so many extra ads, Playbill bumped the song list from the program. But hey-- I'm happy Playbill got extra ad-revenue. Good organization (check out PlaybillVault.com for an amazing archive!)
Those unfamiliar with the Mormon Church will see a very entertaining musical- songs you can hum (but probably shouldn't), great singing and acting, lots of humor. Those familiar with the Mormon Church will probably just die. Like the Weasels and Hyenas from Roger Rabbit.
For those familiar with the mockery and even-handed ridicule on South Park, BoM is just as skillfully devised. I even think many Mormons would find it amusing because it's so perky and enthusiastic. It's a kind of blasphemous Hope and Crosby buddy piece. I might go to see it again-- I think if I squinch my eyes a bit, I can totally see it as a long episode of South Park.
"I Believe" is a show-stopper (and I can't wait to hear it on Muzak) and "Hasa Diga Eebowai" is just...perfect. Especially these days.
Possibly the most surreal part of the show was in the Playbill:
The Mormon Church put 3 full page ads in the Playbill. Three. My favorite is "You've seen the play...now read the Book". Weird. The only negative to this is with so many extra ads, Playbill bumped the song list from the program. But hey-- I'm happy Playbill got extra ad-revenue. Good organization (check out PlaybillVault.com for an amazing archive!)
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Honestly, Parker and Stone have mocked/parodied/satirized many institutions and beliefs I hold dear-- but they do it with such an even hand and with no (IMO) "meanness" that I laugh just as hard at their deconstructions of my world as I do with any of their targets.
The IoM film is an Evil Thing. I just smile at the Fatwa and the sudden, frightened backpeddling of the people behind the "movie". I feel awful for the actors and anyone who innocently was involved. All of those people work hard at their dream of working on movies (you think applying for jobs is depressing...try auditioning a hundred or more times a year and not getting cast). They took on this work in good faith-- they believed they were acting in a low-budget film. None had any idea that their dialogue would be re-recorded by the filmmakers and turned into a piece intentionally designed to insult Muslims and inflame tensions in the Middle East.
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