The New York Times: No one involved knew what to expect as the musical with the bizarre title prepared for its arrival on Broadway in 2011. There had been no tryout. Two of its authors, Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park” fame, were newcomers to the theater, except that, as teenagers, Parker played Sammy Fong in “Flower Drum Song” and Stone played Danny Zuko in “Grease.”
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As much as I don’t like to agree with him, I do agree with Dave Chappel when he says you can do anything if it’s funny enough. I think there is way too much discourse in comedy about what you can and can’t say, and while there are certainly jokes you shouldn't make, a lot of the time those jokes are the funniest. I think the south park guys get away with most of the things they do because they make fun of everyone from the church of latter day saints to Kanye West. No one is safe, and that's part of what makes all their stuff so funny. I really think people need to stop worrying so much about what the people will like and what is palatable to audiences, and start worrying about making art that has actual impact. And as they say in this article they keep running towards what people say they shouldn't, and it's worked out for them because they are incredibly good at what they do, and don't spend all their time worrying about whether people will like it or not.
I remember Josh Gad talking about how he and the rest of the cast were nervous to perform this. I imagine being part of one of the first audiences would also be uncomfortable, people would not know how to react. But the show has somehow managed to be very successful. I do think it's important that media is able to make jokes and not have to be politically correct all the time. People are too sensitive nowadays, and if everyone stops making jokes, no one will be allowed too anymore. It's important to not take ourselves too seriously. But they did say that the cast ended up having a couple problems down the road and the wrote a letter to the writers. The writers were responsive and made changes, and I think that's also important. If you're going to be doing something like this you have to be able to adapt based on how it is received/ the comfort of the people peforming.
People talk all the time about whether humor should be politically correct, and whether it’s even possible.I’m not sure I have the answer to that, but you have to think about the harm that’s being done. For the members of the Church of Latter-Day Saints, it seems like they were in on the joke. They were able to go see the show and laugh along with it, with The Book of Mormon tour selling out in Salt Lake City in seconds. Something this article brings up is how the humor in this musical harms another group – the people of Uganda. While the humor toward the mormons seem to include the group, many people involved in the show seemed to feel that the humor toward the Ugandan people was exclusive and reinforcing harmful stereotypes. I find it interesting that when this show first hardlaunched on broadway everyone was so concerned about the reactions of the Mormon community, but very few even thought of the concern for the Ugandan community. I am happy that even though the show has been out for such a long time, these discussions are being had rather than what remains a wildly popular musical’s issues being dismissed as a product of the time.
I am one of those people who not only supports, but also embraces theatre that makes you feel really uncomfortable. I feel like it can tell the story a lot better, especially when you use styles like Cabaret where it's more unsettling than offensive. To be honest, when I saw Book of Mormon I found it to be lots of fun and not too offensive, of course it had its pretty bad moments but it wasn’t fully offensive. On the contrary, my mom and my friend found it pretty bad and offensive, and that friend is currently training to be an actor at MMC. There is going to be offensive work in this industry, you can’t please everyone. Of course this is no excuse for Book of Mormon to be offensive as it’s literally the sole purpose of that musical, but it is art and has been running longer than most shows, so they’re doing something right.
I have never seen The Book of Mormon but I understand the basis of the plot. I can see why there are concerns about its first release. Anything I have really heard about the show from others was the ideas of Mormons and making fun of them but I was curious what the show was really about and heard they also make fun of the Ugandans in a way. Now at the same time, this is coming from the creators of South Park, a show made to make fun of anything and everything so it's not surprising at all when you know who’s behind the creation of the show. As I said I’ve never seen the production so I cannot really critique their ways of making fun of both sides of the story. I do believe if their show was offensive I think they would have felt some kind of response against it.
Knowing The Book of Mormon’s creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, this headline comes as a complete surprise… to anyone living under a rock when it comes to their history. That said, this article does bring to a greater light the discussion of comedy and how we define its limitations as a society. The Mormon religion, even before this musical but definetly after its success as well, has always been undermined and laughed at, though the community grows and expands through it using the attacks as an example of their righteousness. Religion is rightfully an incredibly touchy topic, but that doesn’t mean that it can’t be mocked so long as the intentions are clearly in a jest manner and not a hateful demeanour. The Book of Mormon never once messages that the religion is worthy of extermination, and that’s what separates it. The creators themselves have stated time and time again that they find Mormons facinating, hence the reason for this musical, not out of an agenda for the extermination of Mormonism.
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