book of mormon

I had mixed feelings going to see Book of Mormon, the Broadway musical developed by Matt Stone and Trey Parker. I used to love their TV show,  South Park -- the early seasons were great, but -- while I am not a regular viewer anymore -- I get the impression that the show is a shadow of what it used to be. I enjoyed the movie based on the show -- South Park: Bgger, Longer and Uncut. And, of course, I loved their marionette action film, Team America: World Police. So, I was expecting that I'd love the humor of Book of Mormon. But I had a sense of trepidation; there's something distasteful about a play whose raison d'etre is to make fun of a religion.

To a degree, I was surprised. The show didn't make fun of Mormon theology as much as I was expecting, though it did spend some energy on making fun of the organization of the Mormon church and its missionary activity. In a sense, then, Mormonism was a stand-in for organized religion and its outreach practices. But Mormonism was singled out, so there is still something that doesn't quite sit well with me.

Putting aside those qualms, I was kind of disappointed. Some of the songs were very good, and there were some very funny gags.  But the story itself was a bit of a mess. It managed to right itself by the end, but there was a stretch where I was just wondering WTF.

Actually, the thing that I find the most interesting about the show -- and I don't know if this was intentional -- is the message that religion needs to relate to the needs of a society for it t catch on there. That's an issue that I, someone who was brought up with some semblance of religion but has become a nonbeliever, think about quite a bit. I think about Jewish customs and, while I don't believe in their theological underpinnings, I can often see how they can be of value. In BoM, Elder  Cunningham tries to explain Mormon theology to Ugandans who are suffering from poverty, AIDS and a bloodthirsty warlord. The message, and the stories don't resonate with his audience. But when, desperate to get them to pay attention, he starts making things up and saying they're in the Book -- notably, God punishing a practitioner of clitoridectomy by turning his face into a clitoris* -- then the people sit up and notice.

It had moments, but it wasn't great.

*Yeah, Broadway plays aren't quite what they used to be.