Atheist Review on the Book of Mormon Musical
"The Book of Mormon" musical.
Broadway Across America
I idea I knew what I was getting into the first time I saw "The Book of Mormon" musicalin 2017.
I'g not a fellow member of The Church building of Jesus Christ of Latter-24-hour interval Saints, but I take close friends who are. I knew the musical is critical of believers and the church itself, and I was expecting to see a lot of stereotypical jabs.
And I did. The musical— which tells the story of two Latter-twenty-four hour period Saint missionaries who travel to Africa — includes all the not-swear swears (fetch! flip!), the "Hello!" introductions at the door and even the love of Disney that are associated with Latter-day Saint culture. (Though the musical gets it wrong past maxim Disney Globe and Orlando are more important than Disneyland and California.) I could selection out all the moments my Latter-solar day Saint friends and colleagues would dislike. Some of the jokes fell flat for me, since the musical takes an unnecessary swipe at the church and its culture. I felt for my friends who would definitely feel the harshness of the insults.
But "The Book of Mormon" was near what I expected. I'm pretty familiar with Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the musical. I've been a big fan of their comedy "BASEketball" and "South Park, and then I was expecting profanity, irreverence, and loads of irony and sarcasm.
But what shocked me well-nigh was how the musical, which debuted in 2011, handled race — particularly its portrayal of Africans. While I knew information technology skewered religion and insulted Latter-day Saints, I hadn't heard anything about racial concerns surrounding the musical.
It felt inappropriate. It didn't feel right. And apparently, I wasn't alone.
Equally rumors swirl of "The Book of Mormon" getting a moving-picture show and as information technology continues to make runs throughout the country, there'due south a question to consider here, especially in lite of the Blackness Lives Affair movement and the fight against racial injustice: Will the Grim Reaper soon ring the doorbell of "The Book of Mormon" musical?
A group of missionaries in "The Book of Mormon Musical."
Joan Marcus
The musical's future has been the subject of recent give-and-take. Josh Gad — one of the original cast members — appeared on PeopleTV's Couch Surfing, where he talked near the possibility of the Broadway play getting a film version, similar to how "Hamilton" received a film version that debuted on Disney Plus.
Gad, though, said "The Book of Mormon" would be tough to innovate in the modern globe.
"I think yous accept to adjust with the times," he said. "I don't know that that testify could open today and have the same open-armed response that it did then. It'southward non to say that it's whatsoever less meaning or wonderful or incredible a musical; I only think it's the nature of fine art to conform. I would certainly hope that with a futurity accommodation there would exist that growth. Because I think it's a cool opportunity for growth."
Those comments are vague, and they don't say much almost what the musical is adapting for. Is information technology the portrayal of Latter-twenty-four hour period Saints? Or is it the racial stereotypes of Africans?
I was on a search to observe out what Gad might have meant by his comments, and then I called up Cheryl Hystad, a retired attorney who in one case wrote an opinion piece on the musical for The Baltimore Sun.
Hystad'southward slice highlighted the prove'due south racist portrayals of Africans and the lack of media attention surrounding it.
"The fact that most reviewers have not mentioned the blatant racism in the show, points to a subtler issue, a pervasive anti-Africa bias to which white Americans have been inculcated and so thoroughly that few seem to accept concerns most the testify's portrayal of Africans. The mere mention in the show that the missionaries are existence sent to Uganda is a joke, at which the white audience laughs, every bit in the lucky ones are being sent to Europe, merely the unfortunate are being sent to (god-forbid!) Africa," she wrote.
The play's conclusion "plays fully into the white savior complex — that whites are superior to Blacks and that only nosotros can save Blacks from themselves. This is a storyline that white America obviously has a hard time giving up," she wrote.
One year after writing her piece, Hystad feels the aforementioned. And she considered Gad'southward comments to be nigh the racist stereotypes, not the way the play portrays Latter-day Saints or their church building.
Gad was correct to say that"The Book of Mormon"wouldn't receive the same applause today equally it did when it outset opened," Hystad said.
"I presume that considering of everything that'southward happening correct now with the systemic racism in our country, that a lot of corporations are looking at their logos and people are really kind of rethinking some things. So I assumed ... his response was to that kind of rethinking of how nosotros await at some of these issues.
"It was good that he said he didn't call back the show would be able to open today, and accept the same kind of response. I would hope that'southward truthful. I would recollect that people would look at information technology differently today than they did when it starting time opened. Just because I really feel like the Black Lives Affair movement has done a lot to open a lot of people's eyes to some of the insidious racism that we see in our land."
A scene from "The Book of Mormon" musical.
Joan Marcus
Hystad said she received emails from people in London, New Zealand, New York and Commonwealth of australia near how they thought the play would be disquisitional of Latter-twenty-four hour period Saints, merely were surprised to find the harsh have on Africa.
Hystad said "The Volume of Mormon" producers have an opportunity to change the musical since everything remains locked downward because of the coronavirus pandemic. She said the producers could "really look critically at the racist aspects of it and try to figure out a way to really counter that narrative."
"We've had this narrative in our country for as long it has been around — that Black people are lazy they're non smart, they're somehow not as skilful as white people. I mean that's what Black Lives Matters is fighting confronting — this kind of undertone, under narrative of everything that nosotros have in our country," she said. Producers, she said, can look at that and try to rewrite that narrative.
Then how would she set the musical? Well, Hystad said she'southward an attorney — not a Broadway producer. And then she might not accept the all-time ideas. But the show could benefit from highlighting the beauty and creativity in Africa rather than focusing on racial stereotypes.
"The Book of Mormon" needs to change, she said, if it plans to continue its run. The play may lose favor with viewers if the narratives don't adapt.
"I think the show's going to die out at some point soon if they don't practise something to kind of address some of these issues," she said. "So that would exist maybe an impetus for them to rethink it and redo information technology while they take all this fourth dimension off right at present."
Source: https://www.deseret.com/entertainment/2020/7/24/21333140/book-of-mormon-musical-broadway-play-josh-gad
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