Good Review Of Musical "The Book Of Mormon"

[Daniel Peterson]

http://www.newcriterion.com/articles.cfm/Ethel-Mormons-7033

Unfortunately, the full review -- which is quite negative -- is not fully available on-line to New Criterion non-subscribers without a charge.

[Daniel2]

Thanks for the review, Dan.

Kevin Williamson's review is, indeed, very well written--and though I disagree with the author's perception and opinion of the play, itself, he actually does a fairly good job of summarizing the plot.

It's fascinatingly ironic that as Mr. Williamson prefaces his review by disdainfully implying the play lacks "finely crafted plot" or any "living characters," he then goes on to describe what I would submit is a complex plot with multi-dimensional characters and a lot more heart than he's apparently able to discern, given the glasses of his paradigm--a paradigm that most Broadway-goers (not to mention the Tonys) obviously don't share, given the enormous popularity and critical acclaim the play is receiving.

Ah, well... that's the great thing about theatre, I suppose. Different things speak to different people. The play clearly will offend those with conservative leanings, LDS or otherwise. After all, as others have pointed out: the critical points the play makes about the imaginative-narratives that flow from well-intentioned, affirmingly life-changing, but less-than-accurate, religious "truths" are just as applicable to most religions, in general, rather than merely Mormonism.

Daniel2

[Kenngo1969]

... It's fascinatingly ironic that as Mr. Williamson prefaces his review by distainfully impling the play lacks "finely crafted plot" or any "living characters" ...

Oh, no!

How shocking, dismaying, and chagrining that Mr. Williamson would "distainfully imple" something! (On the bright side, though, at least "distainfully impling" something probably isn't nearly as bad as disdainfully implying it! )

[Daniel2]

Oh, no!

How shocking, dismaying, and chagrining that Mr. Williamson would "distainfully imple" something! (On the bright side, though, at least "distainfully impling" something probably isn't nearly as bad as disdainfully implying it! )

That's quite the long comment to merely point out a simple spelling mistake (which I went ahead and fixed).

Thanks, I guess...?

Daniel2

[Stargazer]

That's quite the long comment to merely point out a simple spelling mistake (which I went ahead and fixed).

Thanks, I guess...?

Darin

He's attempting comedy, Darin. I give him 7 out of 10 points for effort, a charity 2 points for execution.

Made me smile, at least.

[sjdawg]

There is nothing I like more than a good impling

[Analytics]

Thanks for the review, Dan.

Kevin Williamson's review is, indeed, very well written--and though I disagree with the author's perception and opinion of the play, itself, he actually does a fairly good job of summarizing the plot.

It's fascinatingly ironic that as Mr. Williamson prefaces his review by disdainfully impling the play lacks "finely crafted plot" or any "living characters," he then goes on to describe what I would submit is a complex plot with multi-dimensional characters and a lot more heart than he's apparently able to discern, given the glasses of his paradigm--a paradigm that most Broadway-goers (not to mention the Tonys) obviously don't share, given the enormous popularity and critical acclaim the play is receiving.

Ah, well... that's the great thing about theatre, I suppose. Different things speak to different people. The play clearly will offend those with conservative leanings, LDS or otherwise. After all, as others have pointed out: the critical points the play makes about the imaginative-narratives that flows from well-intentioned, affirmingly life-changing, but less-than-accurate, religious "truths" are just as applicable to most religions, in general, rather than merely Mormonism.

Daniel

Good review of the review!

[Kenngo1969]

That's quite the long comment to merely point out a simple spelling mistake (which I went ahead and fixed).

Thanks, I guess...?

Daniel2

You fixed part of it, anyway. I'm still not quite sure how one "disdainfully imples" something, although I guess that's better than "distainfully impling" it. So ... congratulations! You're making progress!

We've never met, so I guess I'm just not used to your prose and have no basis for comparison, but if I had to guess, I'd say you're borrowing a word or two which you think sound better than how you would phrase something if you actually said it in words of your own choosing.

In this case, IMHO, you simply sound as though you swallowed a dictionary and are eager to regurgitate it.

To each his own.

Sincerely,

The Spelling Nazi

[Kenngo1969]

There is nothing I like more than a good impling

How does one imple? Must one be distainful in order to do it, or is distaining optional?

[Kenngo1969]

He's attempting comedy, Darin. I give him 7 out of 10 points for effort, a charity 2 points for execution.

Made me smile, at least.

Sing it with me now!

If you chance to meet a frown, do not let it stay!

Quickly turn it upside down and smile that frown away!

No one likes a frowning face; change it for a smile.

Make the world a better place by smiling all the while!

[Stargazer]

I'm busy and I waste too much time here as it is. But I was cruising Wikipedia and the front page had a mention of this musical, so I decided to read the article. Something in the article that caught my interest was what one of the creators of the musical said, that WP reported:

"The official church response was something along the lines of 'The Book of Mormon the musical might entertain you for a night, but the Book of Mormon,'—the book as scripture—'will change your life through Jesus.' Which we actually completely agree with. The Mormon church's response to this musical is almost like our Q.E.D. at the end of it. That's a cool, American response to a ribbing—a big musical that's done in their name. Before the church responded, a lot of people would ask us, 'Are you afraid of what the church would say?' And Trey and I were like, 'They're going to be cool.' And they were like, 'No, they're not. There are going to be protests.' And we were like, 'Nope, they're going to be cool.' We weren't that surprised by the church's response. We had faith in them." Empahsis added.

They completely agree that the Book of Mormon ".will change your life through Jesus." Wonder if they meant that the way it sounds. Anyway, I feel obscurely cheered by this.