Day Two: Book Of Mormon

Today's day is my latest musical obsession, which happened to be Book Of Mormon. I know the craze for the show ended a while ago, but I still find myself singing to it occasionally.

Book Of Mormon is a relatively popular show, created less than a decade ago by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez. It makes fun of Mormonism but also is accurate, in a way.

The show is about these young Mormon missionaries who are getting ready to embark on a journey to another location and to try and convert people to convert to Mormonism. The main guy, Elder Kevin Price, dreams of being sent to Orlando, Florida but instead is sent to Uganda with the least wanted Mormon member, Elder Arnold Cunningham, who isn't the greatest convincer.

In Uganda, the majority of the population has AIDS and have given up on believing in God (look up the phrase "Hasa Diga Eebowai"). Price tries to convince people by preaching what he was told to preach, but no one wanted to hear it. Cunningham preaches a different version of the religion by connecting it to Star Wars and the conflicts of the war-torn country. 

The leader's daughter ends up having a crush on Cunningham and Price ends up abandoning Cunningham in Uganda by flying to his preferred destination, Orlando. He then realizes that he shouldn't have done that and goes back. Meanwhile, the official Mormon commission comes to Uganda to see Cunningham's work, but realize that he preached what wasn't the true message and they weren't considered Mormons. But Price ends up standing against the war criminal ruling over the country and having people convert.

The musical is simply for laughs and in no way is purposely being cruel about the Mormon religion: it's just a show! In 2011 it won 9 Tony awards, one was Best Musical.

I love this show, I think it's hysterical! I think for whoever wants to see the musical that they should keep an open mind and not get offended because the show does touch base on AIDS, being gay, and the Mormon religion. I absolutely loved Andrew Rannells! But now he's in the new ABC TV show The Next Normal. 

Here's one of my personal favorite songs, which is how Price originally preaches the beginning of the Mormon religion, All-American Prophet.