Can anyone tell me if the Cgurch took an official stance at the general level in terms of asking its members not to see "The Book of Mormon" ? I know they've tried to put a positive spin on the whole thing. I read the official statement the church issued to the media, and i know they've taken out ad space in the program, and that they have mishies on the premises hading out copies of the real book to any who will take them. but what were the mebers told?

My mom thinks she remembers an official letter being read over the pulpit from SLC telling members not to see "The Exorcist," though her memory isn't what it once was. Does anyone know if an official statement has been made regarding "The Book od Mormon" ?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 07/21/2015 07:39AM by scmd.

I don't think it's an official statement, but the general idea I have heard that they see it as something of a missionary tool. IE people will see it, then become curious.

I believe I read something that they even bought advertising space in the playbill directing people to LDS.org

Everything you've said is what i've heard as wel. I'm just wondering how they feel about members themselves seeing it, and if they've asked bishops to adress it or anything like that.

My niece blogged about the idea of spies being there trying to catch local Mormons in the act of patronizing the event. I have no idea if she's onto anything or not.

I'm a member, and I went to see it.

Oh wait, you mean an active, money paying member, who wears magic underwear and believes in all that sh!t. Ah, that wouldn't be me.

And yes, they did have at least 3 full page adverts in the Playbill. Stupid stuff like, "Now you've seen the Musical, read the book!" with a stupid grinning person behind the text.

I am going to see it on Broadway next week, and I can't wait.

"The Book of Mormon" opens in Salt Lake a week from today. We have tickets for the following Friday, and I can't wait. I'm so looking forward to hearing the "Salt Lake City" song being performed in Salt Lake City! I hope people are outside protesting the show when we go.

publicly they're promoting it as a missionary tool et al, but does anyone know what was said from the pulpit. Did some individuals bishops take it upon themselves to ask members not to patronize the production, or did the big boys in SLC send out a message to bishops to ask members to stay away, or was strictly nothing said?

I know they're trying publicly to put on a happy face and be good sports, say it's a missionary tool, etc, and i've seen the ads myself as i've been to see the production, but was anything said to the members that was beamed directly from the mother ship?

I don't know for sure but I don't think anything was said from the pulpit. Your Elder's quorum president or Relief Society president may have made remarks about it, but who knows.

I saw it in Las Vegas last year and loved it, even though I had a nosebleed seat. I've since moved to Utah, but will be going back to Vegas when it plays in September again at the Smith Center. This time my seat is 5 rows front the stage :)

If you can, listen to the Broadway soundtrack so you know some of the music you will hear. It's funny, smutty, and very catchy.

My favorite song is:Spooky Mormon Hell Dream. The lyrics give you an idea of the nature of the music

ELDER PRICE
Long ago when I was five
I snuck in the kitchen late at night
And ate a doughnut with a maple glaze
My father asked who ate the snack
I said that it was my brother Jack
And Jack got grounded for fourteen days
I've lived with that guilt all of my life
And the terrible vision that I had that night
No, please! I don't wanna go back!!!

DEMONS
Down, down thy soul is cast!
From the Earth whenceforth ye fell!
The path of fire leads thee
To spooky Mormon Hell dream!
Welcome back to spooky Mormon Hell dream!
You are having a spooky Mormon Hell dream now!

ELDER PRICE
And now I've gone and done it again (Rectus!)
I committed another awful sin (Dominus!)
I left my mission companion all alone (Spookytus!)

Oh God, how could I have done this to you? (Deus!)
How could I break rule seventy-two? (Creepyus!)
And now my soul has just been thrown –
Back into spooky Mormon Hell dream!

DEMONS
Down, down to Satan's realm
See where you belong!
There is nothing you can do
No escape from spooky Mormon Hell dream!

JESUS
You blamed your brother for eating the doughnut, and now you walk out on your mission companion?! Tch! You're a DICK!

ELDER PRICE
Jesus, I'm sorry!

DEMONS
Jesus hates you, this we know!
For Jesus just told you so!
You remember Lucifer?!
He is even spookier!

LUCIFER
Minions of Hades, have you heard the news?
Kevin was caught playing hooky!
Now he's back with all you Cath'lics and Jews!
It's super spooky-wooky!

ELDER PRICE
I'm sorry, Lord, it was selfish of me
To break the rules, please I don't wanna be
In this spooky Mormon Hell dream!

DEMONS
Spooky Mormon Hell dream!
Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer, Hitler, Johnnie Cochran
The spirits all surround you!
Spooky, spooky, spoooo-ky!

HITLER
I started a war und killed millions of Jews!

GENGHIS KHAN
I slaughtered the Chinese!

JEFFREY DAHMER
I stabbed a guy and fucked his corpse!

JOHNNIE COCHRAN
I got O. J. freed!

ELDER PRICE
You think that's bad? I broke rule seventy-two! (*Gasps*)
I left my companion! I'm way worse than you!
I hate this spooky Mormon Hell dream!
(Spooky Mormon Hell dream!)

Oh, Heavenly Father! (Ah...)
Please give me one more chance! (Ah...)
I won't break the rules again! (Ah...)

I can't believe Jesus called me a dick!!!!

DEMONS
Welcome, welcome to spooky Mormon Hell dream!
You are never waking up from spooky Mormon Hell dream!

ELDER PRICE (DEMONS)
Oh please, Heavenly Father! (Down, down thy soul is cast)
Please let me wake up! (From the Earth whence forth ye fell)
Give me one more chance! (This must be it, you must be there)
I won't let you down again! (You must be in spooky Mormon Hell dream now!)

I was in London a couple months ago, first visit. There were ads for BoM all over on busses and billboards. One ad said "Where can I get tickets?"

I thought it would be nice to catch a play. BoM wasn't even listed on the usual tourist website for discount theater tickets. Ok. I tried the website for the musical itself, and amazingly, they had tickets available for the next night, and they were cheaper than some of the "discount tickets" for other plays. U.S.$90 ea. there was a lovely Art Deco lounge under the auditorium, and my friend FB posted a photo of two gin and tonics sitting on the tickets.

Getting to the point, after the play, I was waiting for a train at the subway stop, and there were two other couples there, one holding a program for BoM. They looked to be fiftyish, were dressed very conservatively in what looked like Mormon "Sunday best". The expression on their faces was essentially "American Gothic". Pretty grim. They certainly looked and acted like Mormons.

BTW, the audience seemed to get most of the jokes, though I wonder how deeply they understood some of them. It certainly seemed to be the hot ticket in town.

LDS spokesperson, Michael I'm no fun Otterson explained in a column, which appeared in the Washington Post that he would not be seeing the production. Noting all the wonderful and marvelous things the LDS Church has done in Africa over the course of decades with a pittance of their budget.

http://www.mormonnewsroom.org/article/book-of-mormon-musical-column

Corrections are capitalized:


“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men

(UNLESS, OF COURSE, THE MEN/WOMEN ARE MORMON APOSTATES)

…If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

(BUT WE MOSTLY SEEK AFTER THEM IN WORD RATHER THAN DEED)

I think it played in Calgary..or will. I can't be bothered to waste money on it. And I hate musicals in general.

RB

Ron , it's very good. I'm no musical fan either, but I loved it!

The lyrics to Hasa-diga-eebowai. Oh it definitely should be seen by all the family and investigators.

In this part of Africa, we all have a saying
Whenever something bad happens
We just throw our hands to the sky and say
"Hasa Diga Eebowai"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlxrIq2dtI0

Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/the-book-of-mormon/hasa-diga-eebowai-lyrics/#2qZZ1MZocP3Kf4iJ.99



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2015 12:02AM by dydimus.

I just wrote an active member of TSCC to find out whether or not the musical has been officially put on the sh!t list. She is a composer who writes church music as well as secular music. She's up on all these things. She's always been a straight shooter with me about what's going on.

She says that *nothing* official has been said from the Q15 or anyone else. She confirmed other things that members here have said, like the ads in the playbills, that the church is trying to take what advantage it can of the musical - hand out BoMs at the door, etc.

So I'm banking on her word that nothing has been said from leaders about the musical.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2015 12:41AM by wondercat.

We bought them more than a year before the showing, to guarantee getting really good seats. It's been a long, long wait, and I'm so excited!

It will be interesting to see how RM/formerly TBM DH handles t. He has been inactive since I resigned, and since we attended numerous churches together before landing in the one we attend now, he has heard all sorts of various viewpoints. He has also come to see how and why people see things the way they do.

I don't know if he will ever resign and join another faith (he likes the Presbyterian church we attend. If he ever resigned as a Mormon, I think he would join this one. Scholarship runs deep and this appeals to him. He is also awed by the amount of training that the minister has, and he likes the guy.)

About 40% of BOOK OF MORMON MUSICAL is a parody of the Janice Kapp Perry IT'S A MIRACLE play. I've got the album, but IT'S A MIRACLE was also put out on a video I haven't yet been able to locate. That "Mormon Hell Dream" in BOMM is a staple of Mo missionary theater.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone seem to have some 'thing' about Mormons. I think it's 'Mormon Envy', or some 'Freudian' hangup, but I digress. They can produce what they want. But until they produce The Quran and mock everything 'moslem', I wouldn't give them the time of day. It's always easier to mock something that won't fight back. Are they still under a fatwa for airing a South Park episode that didn't even show mudhammad? Just sayin'.

Didn't Parker and Stone *grow up* in the intermountain west church? Somewhere I heard or read that....

======================

Oops. Guess not. I just did some Googling and the answer appears to be "No."



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/22/2015 09:06PM by wondercat.

Saw it with a great cast in NYC a couple of years ago. I told my nevermo husband that you could tell who the Mormons in the audience were: they laughed the hardest.

I slid out of my seat laughing at one point.

Saw it last year in Madison, Wi. Packed theater, standing ovation - the audience loved it. Several ads as described in the playbill. Hapless missionaries outside handing out the "book." Saw a couple of people take it which the missionaries probably labeled as a"miracle," but in this university town I would just consider it as research by curious academic liberals.

I did not think it was the greatest musical I had ever seen, mostly, I thought it told a sad story with sometimes funny moments. I am glad I saw it, though.