The+Book+of+Mormon

= Introduction = toc //The Book of Mormon// is an American musical by Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez. It covers the story of two Mormon missionaries, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, and the hardships that they endure when they are sent to a war-torn part of Uganda to convert the local villagers to Mormonism. Along the way, the duo encounter a violent warlord as well as destitute villagers who are anything but open to the idea of God. The Book of Mormon was first performed on March 24th, 2011 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre and its near universal critical acclaim helped to spawn multiple nationwide and international tours.

= Synopsis =

Act I
In Provo, Utah, Elder Kevin Price and several other students attempt to convert members of the public to Mormonism through door-to-door campaigns which are mostly unsuccessful. Price, who is young, handsome, and hubristic, prays that he will be sent to Orlando, Florida for his upcoming two year mission but is disappointed when he finds out that he will instead be sent to Uganda with the overweight, insecure, and homely Elder Arnold Cunningham. Despite his pairing with the latter, Price is confident in the mission at hand and wants to make the most of his trip to Uganda. Upon arriving in Uganda, Price and Cunningham are confronted and robbed by the local warlord General Butt-Fucking-Naked. Price and Cunningham’s hopes of making a difference are further diminished upon meeting local villagers who speak of the widespread poverty and disease in the land and their subsequent displeasure and ultimate rejection of God. The Church angrily demands an explanation from Price and Cunningham as to why they are not making progress after Price is unsuccessful in his teachings of Joseph Smith. Price finally decides to go off on his own separate way thus leaving Cunningham in charge of the Uganda mission.

Act II
Cunningham begins to teach the villagers about his own impromptu version of Mormonism and it is much better received than Price’s version. Price later returns to help Cunningham after having an unusually obscure and vivid dream. Price and Cunningham, despite tense differences, agree to work together for the sake of impressing the Mission President who is visiting Uganda to evaluate the group’s progress. The Mission President is horrified when he hears of Cunningham’s blasphemous teachings and orders all mission efforts to be ceased at once. Greater concerns arise when several villagers are taken by the General prompting Price and Cunningham to formulate a plan to save them. Price and Cunningham find the location of the General and the kidnapped villagers and are able to successfully drive the General away. With the General gone and their formal mission work having been terminated, Price and Cunningham make the decision to form their own Church and to go on a conversion campaign to preach the newly coined Book of Arnold. (The Book of Mormon)

= Musical Numbers =

Act Imedia type="youtube" key="OKkLV1zE8M0" width="560" height="314" align="right"

 * [|Hello!]
 * [|Two By Two]
 * [|You and Me (But Mostly Me)]
 * [|Hasa Diga Eebowai]
 * [|Turn It Off]
 * [|I Am Here For You]
 * [|All American Prophet]
 * [|Sal Tlay Ka Siti]
 * [|Man Up]

Act II

 * [|Making Things Up Again]
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Spooky Mormon Hell Dream]
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|I Believe]
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Baptize Me]
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|I Am Africa]
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Joseph Smith American Moses]
 * <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">[|Tomorrow Is a Latter Day]

= Production History =

Cast of original 2011 Broadway production
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder Kevin Price- Andrew Rannells <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder Arnold Cunningham- Josh Gad <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder McKinley- Rory O’Malley <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Nabulungi- Nikki M. James <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Mafala Hatimbi- Michael Potts <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">General Butt-Fucking-Naked- Brian Tyree Henry <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Playbill)

Cast of the West End production as performed at the Prince of Wales Theatre on February 25, 2013
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder Kevin Price- Gavin Creel <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder Arnold Cunningham- Jared Gertner <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder McKinley- Stephen Ashfield <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Nabulungi- Alexia Khadime <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Mafala Hatimbi- Giles Teresa <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">General Butt-Fucking-Naked- Chris Jarman <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Playbill)

Cast of Broadway production from February 23rd, 2016 to current
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder Kevin Price- Nic Rouleau <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder Arnold Cunningham- Brian Sears <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Elder McKinley- Stephen Ashfield <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Nabulungi- Kim Exum <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Mafala Hatimbi- Billy Eugene Jones <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">General Butt-Fucking-Naked- Derrick Williams <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Playbill)

= Origination = <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Parker and Stone were both raised in Colorado and had both had experiences with various members of the Church of Latter Day Saints which would later influence them to want to do a satirical based work on the teachings of the Church. Parker and Stone brought the idea of a satirical Book of Mormon work to light with the help of Robert Lopez in 2004. The three would eventually compile their research after having visited Salt Lake City, Utah, to develop the plot, characters, setting, and musical score but it would not be until 2011 that the musical would actually have a formal production. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Opening night occurred on March 24th, 2011 at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York after nearly seven years of development. The first show had an audience of approximately one thousand one hundred and it received near unanimous ovation. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Galloway)

= Themes =

Religious Trivialization
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Throughout The Book of Mormon it is made clear that Parker, Stone, and Lopez have a clear bias against the nature of organized religion due to their presentation of the teachings of Mormonism as ludicrous and comical. By the end of the second act, Elders Price and Cunningham come to the realization that it does not matter what a religion teaches, so long as the underlying message leads to good. David Brooks of The New York Times acknowledges this and even declares that "religion itself can do enormous good as long as people take religious teaching metaphorically and not literally." Brooks further expands upon this point by pointing out how non-doctrinal religions are often times short lived as opposed to doctrinal religions, the very same religions that Parker, Stone, and Lopez ridicule. The trivialization of doctrinal religions serves to ultimately promote "a no-sharp edges view of religion that is all creative metaphors and no harsh judgments" <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">(Brooks)

= Critical Reception = <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Book of Mormon received widespread critical appraise from theatre critics. Ben Brantley of The New York Times praised the show for achieving “something like a miracle” in its ability to effectively poke fun at and simultaneously embrace “the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical” (Brantley). Peter Marks of The Washington Post was highly receptive of the cast and musical numbers and went as far as to say that “anyone else should excitedly approach the altar of Parker, Stone and Lopez and expect to drink from a cup of some of the sweetest poison ever poured” (Marks). <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Members of the Mormon Church were actually quite receptive to The Book of Mormon and even went as far as to advertise the Church in the playbill with the hope of inspiring audience members to seek out the original source material (Lee). Michael Otterson, the head of public affairs for the Church from 2008 to 2016, remarked that “the world of popular entertainment is more likely to be met with a collective shrug than by placard-waving Mormon protesters” in regards to the musical. Otterson stressed the importance of the actual accomplishments that Mormon mission work has achieved for Africans and downplayed the musical’s sensitive content (Otterson). <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Not all critics were so receptive however. Janice Simpson of NPR stated that Parker and Stone “are indulging in cultural colonialism of the most insidious kind” and even branded the musical as racist in nature for its crude portrayal of Ugandans and its overreliance on a white savior trope (Simpson).

= References =

<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Brantley, B. (2011, March 24). Missionary men with confidence in sunshine: the book of Mormon. New York Times. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">The Broadway League (n.d.) The Book of Mormon. Retrieved March 30, 2017 from [|https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-book-of-mormon-488721/#currentcast] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Brooks, D. (2011, April 21). Creed or chaos. The New York Times. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Galloway, S. (2011, March 24). Why South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone now say it's 'wrong' to offend. Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Lee, J. (2012, September 18). LDS Church advertises with ‘The Book of Mormon’ musical. The Daily Universe. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Marks, P. (2011, March 24). Review of Broadway’s “the book of Mormon.” The Washington Post. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Parker, T., Stone, M., Lopez, R. (2011). The book of Mormon. Eugene O’Neill Theatre, New York, NY. <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Playbill (2017) The Book of Mormon. Retrieved March 30, 2017 from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Simpson, J. (2011, April 15). The root: is Broadway’s ‘book of Mormon’ offensive?. NPR. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Taylor, S. (2011, April 15). Mormon PR leader: ‘why I won’t be seeing the Book of Mormon musical.’ Deseret News. Retrieved from [] <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman",Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">