Book of Mormon play

Cafe Society
#1

Saw this for 2nd time last night. I like it. My GF was not a fan of it. One of her issues was she did not know which parts are based on real Mormon beliefs. I know the whole Mormon history myself based on reading a few books so I knew a lot of it was based on reality of Mormons such as Joseph Smith finding the gold plates.

If you saw it , how much did you know about the Mormon history before seeing it? Most non Mormons know very little about Mormons other than maybe the polygamy and a few other things such as the special underwear. Did you look up Mormon history before seeing it?

#2

Nothing in the show relating to true mormon beliefs was new to me and I don’t remember looking anything up in particular. I suspect I knew slightly more than the average american as I took a class in college that spent some time on Joseph Smith and the LDS church and I had several conversations over the years on mellophant with a couple of dopers who were exmormons.

#3

I didn’t, because I know LDS history.

#4

Utah ex-Mormon here, seen it twice on Broadway. There were a few moments when me and my guests from Utah were the only ones laughing – stuff only a Utah Mormon would pick up on.

#5

I just watched the South Park episode covering it. Seemed to be all I needed.

#6

Lady at work didn’t realize that General Butt F------ Naked is based on an actual person, General Butt Naked https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Butt_Naked An individual who, in real life, is not much different than the character in the play.

Once you know that, then you can basically assume all of the play is accurate … I mean, that’s not likely true, but when the truth is actually not much stranger than fiction, why quibble over fine points?

#7

When I saw it in San Francisco the church bought up all the ads in the Playbill.
I believe the in-jokes for Mormons was intentional. I heard interviews with them where they mention the only Mormons laughing at certain lines bit.

#8

I enjoyed it as a religious skeptic (and S.Park fan). I didn’t think I needed to know much about the Church of Latter-Day Saints. Did i (potentially) miss something?

Love that episode. Admittedly, it’s really all i know about the Mormons. My favorite part is the last scene and the statement from Gary.

#9

Pretty much the whole play, too. And a lot cheaper.

#10

Me too. I loved the Broadway show as well, and listen to the soundtrack frequently.

#11

Well, the leader of the LDS church (president, I think he’s called?) said that he liked it, but that the book was better. So if they did stray from official church doctrine or history, I’m guessing they didn’t stray very far.

#12

I read somewhere that people did look into the church after seeing the play and some even joined.

#13

I would love to know some of these jokes. What were they?

#14

“God changed his mind about black people in 1978” probably was not known by non Mormons , that is a true statement.

both times I saw it here the church had a 1 page ad in the playbill. This time it said “our version is slightly different”

#15

As above, there’s the “prophecy” that Black men could hold the priesthood (which very conveniently occurred when the ACLU went after the Church for discrimination).

Some of it is deep Utah culture, such as smiling all of the time (there’s a very damaging onus to pretend as if everything is okay all of the time) and that many young folk get the gays when they go on a mission.

I’ve a bad memory, I’ll text mom and bro today for a few specifics.

#16

While I didn’t know it was exactly 1978, this to me is one of the most prominent things in my mind about the organization. As in, if anyone asked me about Mormons, the first thing out of my mouth would be “homophobic white supremacists”, not “people in funny underwear”. I know that lots of Mormons are not white now, but I don’t buy the very late policy change - I doubt it was sincere, and I doubt that most white Mormons are on board with it even now.

#17

This was the absolutely perfect response. Would that leaders of other groups (religious, business, political, etc.) would always handle media controversies so well.

#18

not in the play, but God changed his mind about polygamy when Congress said they needed to ban it for Utah to become a state. Another amazing coincidence.

#19

It’s a top-quality sound bite, for sure. It might even be one of the most cleverly-designed sound bites in the history of the world. However, zinging off a top-quality sound bite is not the LDS church’s actual response - their actions are.

#20

another fact in the play that is true Mormon belief is that the garden of Eden was in Missouri. (and so they also believe that Adam lived in Missouri)

I wonder if many people hearing this stuff in the play just think it’s there to get laughs rather than being the Mormons true beliefs