The Book Of Mormon was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It premiered on Broadway on March 24, 2011 at the Eugene O'Neil Theatre. It went on to win 9 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score. The musical also won 4 Drama Desk Awards and its accompanying soundtrack won a Grammy Award.
Trey Parker graduated from the University of Colorado where he studied music. During his time there he met his soon to be partner in crime, Matt Stone. While in undergrad they produced an independent black comedy musical film originally titled Alfred Packer: The Musical (which was later released as Cannibal! The Musical) in 1993. The film has since been adapted for the stage several times, originally by . Later they created a short film titled The Spirit of Christmas (1995) that became the basis for the TV show that would be South Park (Parker and Stone also do many of the voices on the show). South Park began airing in 1997 and has earned 4 Emmy Awards and a Peabody award. South Park has been included on several "best TV show of all time" lists, including Time Magazine, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. The show's popularity resulted in a movie called South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999). The movie went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song for "Blame Canada." The duo also collaborated on the films Orgazmo (1997), BASEketball (1998), and Team America: World Police (2004).
During the production stages of Team America, Parker and Stone went and saw Avenue Q, where they met Robert Lopez. Lopez, along with Jeff Marx, wrote the music for Avenue Q, which went on to win several Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Lopez also wrote a musical version of Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo which opened at Disney's Animal Kingdom, as well as wrote the music for the musical episode of the TV show Scrubs. During their clandestine meeting the three discovered that they were all fascinated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its founder, Joseph Smith. Lopez was the one who pushed for the concept of a stage musical, and after roughly 7 years of development (mostly due to the profane nature of the show), The Book of Mormon opened to rave reviews.
The Book of Mormon chronicles the journey of two Mormon missionaries to Uganda and their struggles with spreading their religion when the locals are more concerned with the struggles of poverty, war, and famine. After Elder Price, the golden boy of the Mormons, has trouble with converting the Ugandans, Elder Cunningham, the slightly nebbishy companion, begins converting the Africans, if with a few imaginative alterations. The musical skewers religion and race while being an honest and heartfelt tale. Themes of belief and doubt are prevalent through the show. The central focus of the show is on the importance of religion on our lives and the necessity of belief. The original production featured Andrew Rannels and Josh Gad in the roles of Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, respectively.
Some Discussion questions about The Book of Mormon:
1) What do you think the authors are trying to about the foundations of religions with Elder Cunningham essentially starting his own religion?
2) Mormons have taken offense to the portrayal of their religion through this play, as have Ugandans about the state of their nation. Do you find their outrage warranted?
3) Did you find the character of General Butt-Fucking-Naked to be a bit far fetched? Does it then surprise you to know that he is actually based on a real person?
4) Why do you think Elder Price's desired destination is Orlando, Florida? What do you think the author's intended to say about Price's character through this need?
5) Do you think the authors wrote the show as a parody of stage musicals or have the authors written an authentic Broadway musical?
6) Throughout the show we never see any female Mormon missionaries. Do you think the authors meant anything by not including female missionaries in the show?
7) In many ways, The Book Of Mormon is a modern telling of the monomyth, or heros journey. Other modern examples include Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, stories Elder Cunningham is very familiar with. Do you think this musical fits with the idea of the hero's journey, and if so who is the hero: Price or Cunningham?
8) The creators have described the show as "an atheist's love letter to religion." Do you find this to be an accurate description of the tone of the show?
9) Mormons have been a big influence on Parker and Stone and they have touched upon Mormonism in a number of their projects from Cannibal! to episodes of South Park to Orgazmo. Why do you think they have such an interest in this specific religion and not other ones? What about the LDS faith is so interesting?
10) Trey Parker has expressed a love of musicals and a desire to put music into just about everything he works on. Do you think this play holds up in the tradition of musical theatre that we have studied in class so far?
11) Speaking of musical theatre tradition, does the moment where the Africans perform for the white people remind you of any other moment from a famous musical?
12) The show a good deal of profanity and dark subject matter. Did you find the show as offensive or "In-Yer-Face" as the plays of Mark Ravenhill or Sarah Kane? If not, why?
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