Ponder Post: Book of Morman

Frank and I and our friend Vickie went last Thursday night to see The Book of Mormon musical playing in San Jose. The singing and dancing was particularly high energy and the production was hugely theatrical on an exceedingly grand scale. The actors did a fantastic job. The play was very funny and very enjoyable and yet it was extremely irreverent and the song lyrics were shockingly crude. I am not a fan of comedians who seem to think that saying a four letter work makes something funny that inherently is not, yet I did not find this musical at all offensive.

The story line focuses on a pair of Mormon missionaries' trip to Uganda to convert the villagers there to Mormonism and baptize them into the church of Latter Day Saints. One of the pair, Elder Kevin Price the dominant self-assured missionary, feels he should have been sent to Orlando instead and as he perceives himself to be much more needed there. Elder Arnold Cunningham, the less confident, social inept member of the pair, accepts Uganda as his assignment without question and looks with awe that he was partnered with such an outstanding Morman as Elder Price. His creative adaptation of the stories in the Book of Mormon so they relate to the lifestyles of the Ugandans are very effective in making people stop doing bad things. And isn't that the point of any religion?

The musical does poke fun at the Mormon religion and, to some extent, other religions as well. More pointedly, though, it does not shy away from addressing many of the more sensitive issues encountered by missionaries in third world countries – AIDS, sanitation, female circumcision, rape, military domination. It does so with an imaginative humor one would not think possible. The musical does a lot to raise awareness of the challenges and atrocities faced by third work country inhabitants. The topics are serious topics that must be discussed if they are to be remedied. If an entertaining musical is a successful vehicle to that end, then I am all for it.

Interesting enough, the Mormons took out several full page ads in the playbill. They must agree with the publicity quotes floating around:
"There isn’t any such thing as bad publicity," has been cited in print since 1916.
“Any publicity is good publicity,” has been cited in print since 1925.
“There isn’t any such thing as bad publicity," was written in 1939.
"All publicity is good publicity," was written in 1939.

Personally I think the adage that fits best is, "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em."