On the surface, it's an enjoyable romp with colourful sets and lively singing and dancing. But of course that's a much too simplistic view. It's always interesting to dissect something that on the surface is just fun but which underneath has a much more important message to impart.
So purely on an entertainment level, I would give it five stars out of five. At times it had me laughing outloud and that's not something I do a lot of. I have more of an imploding or a sniggering laugh. But I needed to analyse it much more closely.
I have to start by saying that I have read numerous books on Mormonism. I have studied the religion in a small way, although I wouldn't ever claim to be an authority. This all came about through my family history research and the uncovering by my cousin Belinda that we have many cousins and relatives living in the USA who are Mormons.
A number of years ago we visited Utah, Salt Lake City, Provo and many of the other Mormon places. Salt Lake City is very different, very clean almost surgically so. It was an interesting experience. We also met many of the relatives and they were lovely family-based people whose kindness at times almost reduced us to tears.
We attended a Sunday Mormon service which I believe they refer to as meetings and found that interesting as there were testimonies from returning missionaries. For those confused by this word, young Mormons are assigned to travel to promote the book of Mormon and the religion and to try to get converts. This is the starting point of the musical when two Elders (the group name for Mormons) - Cunningham and Price - are sent to Uganda in Africa rather than Europe or America. I think from that description you can cue some of the obvious jokes.
Mormonism is at times rigid but at times much freer than you think. It is very much family-based. Our particular family regularly meet together to share food and drink. Mormons are assigned a specific church or meeting places. This can mean that friends/relatives have to worship at different places. (I hope I have got all these details correct and apologise if I haven't).
A few years after our visit to USA, we were waiting for a bus in Eastbourne to take us to Hastings. There were a couple of young girls who approached people at the bus stop and who were quite obviously Mormon missionaries. Not many people were engaging with them, so we approached them and had a lengthy chat and explained that we had been to Salt Lake City and many of the other places in Utah and that I had read about Joseph Smith, Brigham Young etc. I think they were pleasantly surprised that we had approached them. "It doesn't usually happen." they said.
But back to the musical. It is irreverent and at times very rude and it left me wondering just what the aims of the writers had been? Were they really taking the p out of religion (probably), were they kind to Mormonism (open to interpretation) and what made them write it in the first place?
I have decided views on the history of Mormonism which I won't go into here. I suppose ultimately we have to keep an open mind and say there must be something in a religion that attracts so many million converts throughout the world. It must have something that cannot easily be defined but at times I find that it stretches belief a little too thinly.
So how is Mormonism depicted in the musical?. Well probably pretty much in the way that Christianity is depicted as a whole. There are a few problems with the musical (I keep wanting to write The Book of Mormon but this might be wrongly construed as meaning the actual book rather than the musical). The depiction of African people is rather typecast and at times embarrassing, the depiction of God and Jesus might upset some people and references to female mutilation and even paedophilia are a touch unwholesome when used as part of the entertainment. Having said that some parts of the plot surrounding these themes had me laughing out loud. That's either a problem or a success of the plot depending on how you look at it. These subjects are not subjects for fun but they are delivered in such a way that we laugh rather than become angry.
I can imagine mixed reaction to the musical. Some people will go home with a rosy glow, having had a fine evening of entertainment and others will go home feeling upset and insulted. That makes it very difficult to dissect the show. And that's probably why the Mormon church itself is divided on its worth. Certainly there are some parts of the story that openly promote the value of the religion (the togetherness, the passion etc). There are others where it comes over more as a cult.
But as always I suppose you pays your money and you takes your choice. I'm glad we went. On one level it was thought provoking and on another level it was just a damn good evening's entertainment.
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The latest in the long line of ridiculous advertising/marketing slogans and a follow on from those of a couple of days ago. Numan, which has an advert for erectile dysfunction (whatever that is), has now taken to doing health checks. You send them a sample of blood from a finger prick and they tell you what's wrong (if anything). The advert includes the words "Bring us your blood."
Over at Actimel the cultured yoghurt people they have developed an advert of a joyful family picnic with a dad using the immortal words: "I drink it so I can enjoy moments with my family." Now I've never drunk Actimel but I still enjoy moments with my family!
The inference here of course is that if you don't take Actimel you will either be so sick or such a miserable git that you won't be able to be jolly. To me this is misleading in the extreme. I'm sure I will come up with more of these as the time goes by.
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I think I am as frustrated as everyone else that the Partygate report on the lockdown parties in Downing Street has been delayed and delayed and delayed. The latest delay is because the Met Police are investigating the parties and would like the report to miss out much of its findings so as not to prejudice the investigations. I would hate to suggest that some kind of cover up is going on, but some kind of cover up could be going on.