{"id":3813,"date":"2018-03-20T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-20T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cms.smooth.com.au\/uncategorised\/only-surprising-thing-about-book-mormon-how-much-it-secretly-loves-mormons\/"},"modified":"2020-01-09T02:04:59","modified_gmt":"2020-01-09T02:04:59","slug":"only-surprising-thing-about-book-mormon-how-much-it-secretly-loves-mormons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms.smooth.com.au\/entertainment\/only-surprising-thing-about-book-mormon-how-much-it-secretly-loves-mormons\/","title":{"rendered":"The only surprising thing about the AMAZING Book of Mormon is how much it secretly loves Mormons"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hello, my name is Brother Theatre Critic, and I would like to tell you all about this amazing show\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The Book of Mormon has finally arrived in Sydney on the next stage of its global journey to meet and convert the people of Earth.<\/p>\n<p>Convert them, not to Mormonism, but to musicals.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"giphy-embed\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/l4FGvX0n83wT65LCU\" width=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/bookofmormonldn-andrew-rannells-the-book-of-mormon-l4FGvX0n83wT65LCU\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It is now a well documented and long discussed brain breaking shock that delighted but also confused millions of South Park fans worldwide.<\/p>\n<p>The creators of their beloved star spangled society-skewering animation had a side project that wasn\u2019t another South Park movie, and wasn\u2019t another deeply cynical marionette movie.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"giphy-embed\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"269\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/3o7TKA1OJoqJSLAk1y\" width=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/theatre-the-book-of-mormon-musical-3o7TKA1OJoqJSLAk1y\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was a musical &#8211; as were both those movies by the way &#8211; a full blown Broadway musical that belied its creators genuine adoration for the long uncool theatre genre &#8211; as well as their quiet fondness for the believers in the religion they would seem to be so deeply mocking.<\/p>\n<p>Of course the only surprise was that no one anticipated this. Matt Stone and Trey Parker have long boasted that their first collaboration was a college musical entitled xxxx<\/p>\n<p>The version of The Book of Mormon that has landed in Sydney is a perfectly polished replica of that original Broadway incarnation. The two leads have played their roles all over North America and they are wonderful. The bulk of the Australian cast has an entire sell out Melbourne season under their belt.<\/p>\n<p>They are drilled. They are versed. They are the perfect Mormon (musical) army.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"giphy-embed\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/3o7TKrkDQ9Fgh1KdEs\" width=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/theatre-the-book-of-mormon-musical-3o7TKrkDQ9Fgh1KdEs\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The show is exactly the same. From its giant faux religious proscenium arch to its tiniest Elder Price name badge, this is the same show that has toured, wowed and won over the world.<\/p>\n\n<p>Some are upset at this, noting the lack of Australian influence at any key level. But this is to miss the point and benefit of The Book of Mormon. This is the perfect example of a Broadway musical that combines brilliantly executed examples of the traditional song and dance genre tropes with a subject matter and comedic style that will not only wow non-musical fans but get them through the door in the first place.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"giphy-embed\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"269\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/l0MYx920ymRWsZbsQ\" width=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/theatre-the-book-of-mormon-musical-l0MYx920ymRWsZbsQ\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>So if you already love musicals you will love The Book of Mormon<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve never wanted to see a musical in your life but you love watching a bizarre only-in-America oddity get ridiculed (with great fondness) you will love the Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n<p>And if you love religion and wish people would stop attacking it, you, perhaps most surprisingly of all, will love The Book of Mormon.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen=\"\" class=\"giphy-embed\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"270\" src=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/embed\/3oEduTLpOwefY8fjig\" width=\"480\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/giphy.com\/gifs\/southpark-south-park-comedy-central-book-of-mormon-3oEduTLpOwefY8fjig\">via GIPHY<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Book of Mormon is offensively wonderful, wonderfully offensive and&#8230; look don\u2019t tell anyone but is actually in love with Mormons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":77,"featured_media":3814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[209,214],"tags":[],"geo_market":[],"class_list":["post-3813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","category-stage"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v20.10 (Yoast SEO v21.5) - 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