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From Religion Dispatches: Why The Book of Mormon (the Musical) is Awesomely Lame

Although there is currently a thread about a bad review of the musical in the Celestial forum, I'm posting a link to this review here in the higher-traffic zone because I think it highly deserving of a look and some discussion. It is not the "typical" poor review often referenced by conservative Mormons (the play is offensive and bigoted), instead much of the negative critique falls on how the play presents its African characters and the racial politics of the show. But much more importantly Farmer places his entire review within a discussion of Mormon culture and both its historical and contemporary representation in American popular culture.

Jared Farmer is the author of a book I've mentioned here countless times, On Zion's Mount: Mormons, Indians and the American Landscape, a winner of several prestigious awards including the Francis Parkman Prize by The Society of American Historians. He grew up in Utah and whatever his current affiliation with regards to Mormonism is, has an excellent grasp of its history and culture.

I found his remarks on Mormon culture's own "pop" self-representation one of the best parts of the essay:

Mormons are ideal subjects for musical parody because they have their own homegrown traditions of musical theater. Not counting its uniformed missionaries, the most recognizable Mormon “product” in the religious marketplace is the Mormon Tabernacle Choir (“MoTab”), which specializes in milquetoast Americana, including Broadway favorites. From the 1950s through the 1990s, Utah wards (congregations) staged summer “roadshows”—touring musical skits in church-wide competition. Today, Mormons are among the last Americans to preserve the once-popular tradition of community pageants.

The cheesiness parodied in The Book of Mormon is nothing compared the annual Miracle of Mormon Pageant in Manti, Utah, or the Hill Cumorah Pageant in Palmyra, New York. On a more professional level, the LDS Church’s film division (originally operated out of BYU) has produced hundreds of schmaltzy movies over the years. There is a distinctive heavy-handed theatricality about contemporary Mormon productions, a sensibility not too far from Rogers & Hammerstein. In many ways, including cuisine, Utah is a time capsule of mid-twentieth century American tastes.

He also discusses the musical in relation to the history of how Mormons have been portrayed in American culture: from the 19thC vilification "as foreign, deviant, dangerous, violent, secretive, conspiratorial, theocratic, repressive, despotic, anti-democratic, un-American, un-Christian fanatics who followed a false prophet, read phony scriptures, worshipped in strange buildings, lived in desert communes, grew long beards, and kept women in political and sexual oppression" to the late 20thC "[h]ighbrow appreciation of Mormon esoterica...with Harold Bloom’s The American Religion and Tony Kushner’s Angels in America."

He also catalogs and discusses the current "Mormon moment" in American pop culture and offers some ideas about how it may connect with a post 9/11 religious zeitgeist. His essay ranges in topics from the Reed Smoot senate hearings to Team America: World Police and offers a description of the musical that coincides with my own opinion of all Parker and Stone's work: "It wants to be transgressive and conventional, blasphemous and saccharine."

Farmer's final take on the musical chastises it for failing as satire:

Satire, like blasphemy, is not supposed to be crowd-pleasing entertainment. It is supposed to be discomfiting. Instead of inspiring religious debate, The Book of Mormon has mainly inspired a lot of self-admiration from pop culture mavens, people who evidently believe that singing Mormons and starving Africans are now retro-cool.

But, there is much, much more in the review and its interesting historical scope and attention to Mormon detail make it well worth reading.

Blixa wrote:From Religion Dispatches: Why The Book of Mormon (the Musical) is Awesomely Lame

Thank you for this, Blixa. I thought this bit was particularly salient:

In popular culture, Latter-day Saints have progressed from menacing to risible. This is a huge step, one that Church authorities should actually welcome. Their understated reaction to the musical suggests that they do.

Edited to add: I admit that I really wanted the musical to be more satirical, more cutting, more edgy than it is. I felt a little guilty for wishing this--but this review helped me get over that guilt. I'm happy to find that I'm not the only one who wanted that bite.

From listening to the few songs in the musical, I have come away with something that I do agree with. I feel that many missionaries are totally out of touch with the real issues some people are faced with, naïvely thinking their idealistic view of Mormonism will fix the world's problems. This very thing happened to me as I worked with people who had their lives turned upside down by years of war, starvation, and exodus.

That point hits home for me.

I am not a musical critic so I can't really weigh in on Mr. Farmer's commentary.

The musical stands on its own - the use of Mormon missionaries can be viewed as simply the means of telling the broader story, with the parody amusing most to those in the know. When people realize that most "gentiles" view Mormons as quirky to begin with, with most being uninformed and/or disinterested, the harmless effects of the musical on the church are evident. If anything, the audience becomes endeared with the missionaries, and it's probably a net positive. It's not mean-spirited in the least.

I haven't paid much attention to broadway but was the Book of Mormon musical against some stiff competition at the Tonys? Has anyone seen this competition and did they enjoy them more than the Book of Mormon musical?

Rambo wrote:I haven't paid much attention to broadway but was the Book of Mormon musical against some stiff competition at the Tonys? Has anyone seen this competition and did they enjoy them more than the Book of Mormon musical?

I don't follow Broadway and am not admittedly a fan of musicals. But I read the local theater criticism because I do see smaller productions and like the work of some NYC companies. In his review Farmer remarks:

It may be true that The Book of Mormon is the second-best musical début (behind American Idiot) on the Great White Way in recent memory, but that’s really not saying much. In a season devoted mainly to re-runs, revivals, and adaptations, The Book of Mormon stands out for being a first-run play with an original score and book.

I think that is the general perception, that overall this was a year dominated by revivals and other "non original" work. Sister Act, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Anything Goes, Arcadia, The Merchant of Venice, The Normal Heart, The Importance of Being Ernest, were all nominated and all are revivals (though not all of those are musicals). Catch Me If You Can and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown are adaptations of movies. The Scotsboro Boys and Bloody, Bloody Andrew Jackson were original books/scores, but obviously working or reworking historical material.

The only category which featured all nominations of completely original work was Best Play, a non-musical category. (The nominations were Good People, Jerusalem, The Motherf**ker with the Hat and War Horse, which was the winner).

This link will take you to a list of all categories and their nominees and winners, so you can see which particular plays The Book of Mormon was competing against.

As far as my own tastes go, both Jerusalem and War Horse have interested me and are the Tony nominees/winner I would be most likely to see.

I should also add, that I don't mean any of the above to say anything definitive about whether The Book of Mormon is "good." Whether it won awards against "strong" or "weak" plays says more about the awards themselves than it does about the plays.

Rambo wrote:I haven't paid much attention to broadway but was the Book of Mormon musical against some stiff competition at the Tonys? Has anyone seen this competition and did they enjoy them more than the Book of Mormon musical?

Nope, probably why it won 9 awards - which is pretty amazing. Still pretty good show, though.

Jared Farmer should review 42nd Street and strongly note that not all New Yorkers in today's modern world break into spontaneous song and dance numbers. Talk about Stereotyping.

To end his review, he could quote the words of Bart Simpson, "Get real Man".

moksha wrote:Jared Farmer should review 42nd Street and strongly note that not all New Yorkers in today's modern world break into spontaneous song and dance numbers. Talk about Stereotyping.

To end his review, he could quote the words of Bart Simpson, "Get real Man".

I do this every day. I wish more people would join me instead of staring blankly ...

Baker wrote:

moksha wrote:Jared Farmer should review 42nd Street and strongly note that not all New Yorkers in today's modern world break into spontaneous song and dance numbers. Talk about Stereotyping.

To end his review, he could quote the words of Bart Simpson, "Get real Man".

I do this every day. I wish more people would join me instead of staring blankly ...

You need to ride the L train more often...