This was an article in a weekly Los Angeles magazine I love to read, The Jewish Journal, that has a fair and many-sided editorial stance on today's controversial topics.
After they printed a laudatory article on this show, I sent them the following letter and they printed it in their next issue.
Okay, I know everyone who's seen Book of Mormon loved it but, being an opinionated Brit, here's what I thought. It's my story and I'm sticking to it!
THE JEWISH JOURNAL
Tribe Media Corp.
3580 Wilshire
Blvd. Suite 1510
Los Angeles,
CA 90010
LETTERS: To The Editor
(published September 20, 2012)
An Insult to Mormons
I disagree with
actor Jared Gertner’s comment that “The Book of Mormon” doesn't disrespect any religion. (“Actor Feeds Off ‘Mormon’s’ Racy Humor” Sept. 7). When a badly costumed Prophet Moroni gives the sacred text to a gormless Joseph Smith, it mocks the Mormon religion. I forgave the show when the two young Mormon's set off on their mission - they are a charming Duo - until they landed in a poor African village.
Here was the worst stereotype of the vacuous black savages of that continent, and we were supposed to find them funny! (e.g., Villager: "I have maggots in my scrotum." Elder Price: "Maybe you should see a doctor about
that.” Villager: "I am
the doctor!)."
In the article, Naomi Pfefferman writes,
"One of the musicals most hilarious (and scandalous) moments comes when a tribesman... declares that he's off to copulate with an infant to cure his AIDS.” I also didn’t find the big musical number, "Hasa Diga Eebowai” (“Fuck You, God") amusing, even though the audience roared.
If this is, to
quote The New York
Times, "the best musical of this century," and is part of a plan to bring young audiences to Broadway, good luck to them. Gertner says, "People shriek and gasp and laugh because it’s affecting them in such a visceral way. But
there's so much joy behind it." Guess I missed the joy
part as I fled at intermission.
Morna Murphy Martell
Hollywood
Hollywood
No comments:
Post a Comment