Books I Don't Read on Faith (Book of Mormon recap)

Back (last night) from the touring production of Book of Mormon now installed at the Kennedy Center (just 10 days remaining in the run). The show was critically acclaimed, so, despite the difficulty getting tickets (12 hours on the crashy online members' presale) I had to see it. Blind faith (or at least a trust in the opinions of the Tony voters) worked out in this case! *g*

Probably everything that needs to be said about the show has already been said, so I'll focus mainly on the audience experience. The problems my friends had in the side section of the first tier (which I didn't, being on the end of the center section a row farther back) were sight lines and audio direction. The staging was so flattened and centered that people even in slightly off-to-the-side seats couldn't make out the lyrics and couldn't see the title on the revised Book that the cast holds up at the end. If you never get the punchline, the joke is pointless. It spoiled the experience for my friends.

My complaint was just that the program did not include a list of the production numbers and the names of the characters in them. There were actually two cast lists--the official one and the insert for "at this performance" adjustments. For the record, last night C. K. Edwards replaced Bobby Daye as Guard so that Daye could step in as Mafala Hatimbi for Stanley Wayne Mathis. I have no mental image of those characters at this point, but if there were a list of the numbers they appeared in, I might have been able to figure it out.

Edited to add: Also last night, swing player Antyon le Monte stepped in as the Doctor for Josh Breckenridge, who surrendered that role to serve exceptionally well as the General for Derrick Williams.

I keep my programs. I follow careers, or try to. That's how I know the darling dancer Alex Puette is now performing as Levi, one of the brothers, in the Clay Aiken showcasing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, another religion-inspired show I had no desire to see except for its cast (Clay, obviously, is the draw. Alex was a bonus. But with only three weeks' notice, it was not possible for me to commit the time or money. Ogunquit's and I-95's legendary traffic was another deterrent).

But I digress, as Clay often compels me! *g*

Book of Mormon was raucous, rollicking, and crude, and very, very funny. I especially loved the "scary, burn in Hell dream" sequence. (Here is another instance of my friends' problems hearing the lyrics--they didn't know Johnny Cochran was among the residents of this nightmare Hell. The "He saved O.J." line was one of the show's funniest.)

The African version of the Joseph Smith/Brigham Young legend was also hilarious, and reminded me of "Small House of Uncle Thomas" in The King and I. Only smuttier.

But the story was also sinister and disturbing. It was a morality fable about blind faith (the Mormon missionaries) and believing in whatever serves your needs (sex with virgins cures AIDS; female sexual pleasure is evil, so the clitoris must be severed).

[SPOILER ALERTS]

While Elder Price (Mark Evans) did learn the lesson of hubris, the inherent evil of telling other people what to believe remained unchecked. The converted Africans picked up the mission of ringing other people's doorbells. And the hubris merely shifted to Elder Cunningham, as the cast adoringly held up their copies of the "Book of Arnold" (the punchline that my friends missed).

That all left me feeling a little depressed at the end of a very entertaining evening. Issues were brilliantly addressed, but ultimately unresolved.

love, hosaa
not insisting that you to agree with me, but would nevertheless find it pleasant if you did

Ebenezer VanderScrooge's Parade

One of my nerdier hobbies is daydreaming about missing scenes and filling in dramatical (dreamatical) gaps. Most recently, such a gap gaped during A Christmas Carol's many incarnations this past Christmas season. I saw a lot of them, from Mr. Magoo's to Albert Finney's.

But now that I have finally seen the stage version at Ford's, I'll focus on the Scrooge portrayed by Edward Gero, who is now playing the Scroogey Horace Vandergelder in Ford's Hello, Dolly.

So the missing scene from Dickens's Carol (and dang if I can find a copy of the book in this place) is the one that shows how Scrooge got so scroogey after he was engaged to Belle. There he was dancing in the shadows of Christmas Past, all cheery and bright, and then suddenly he's counting coins and Belle is chucking the old engagement jewelry back at him.

What happened? How did money become so important to him? Was he kicked out by the landlord? Lose big in an unfortunate gambling debacle? Get a taste of jealous rivalry with some other clerk?

And where did Belle go, never to be seen in that town again? Had she no relatives, leave no forwarding address? Are these questions answered in the book? (Don't make me re-read it. Not my favorite Dickens book in print.)

So poor young Ebenezer let his parade pass by and never looked up to see it go. Even after he found redemption, post-ghosts, there was no Belle yet available, waiting to give him another chance. Sob.

From my little chair in the Ford's balcony last Saturday afternoon, I smiled as Edward Gero got to hand his Ebenezer a second chance to catch the parade--this time as Horace Vandergelder, the Merchant of Yonkers. You know the story, so I don't need to retell it in details. While looking for a new wife (i.e., a housekeeper, not a householder), Vandergelder is beguiled into a different parade and into the matchmaker's own arms.

Edward Gero as Horace Vandergelder and Nancy Opel as Dolly Levi in the Ford’s Theatre and Signature Theatre co-production of “Hello, Dolly!” Photo by Carol Rosegg.

It's a great show. The voices are strong, the dancing is vibrant. Just all good fun. Aside from Gero, I didn't recognize the other Ford's regulars, though it seems to be a bit of a reunion for some of the players from 1776, Parade, and Liberty Smith.

I can hardly wonder why my own parade has passed me by without a trace of confetti when I spend my mind's time thusly preoccupied with fictional characters' happy endings. But I confess I greatly enjoyed ogling the eye candy that is the singing/dancing waiter chorus line of the present Ford's Dolly, and most particularly the hoo-hah-handsome Alex Puette.

Photo of Nancy Opel with Jp Qualters, Harris Milgrim, Kyle Vaughn and Alex Puette by Carol Rosegg.

Alex Puette, via ModelMayhem.com 

So why is it I am spending my daydreaming time thinking this would be a great match for my Clay Aiken? Hee! There I go again, following someone else's parade.

Love, hosaa

Matchmaking for complete and total strangers....

Edited to add (Aug. 17, 2013) that Alex is, coincidentally, performing in the same company as Clay Aiken for Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat this summer. AND he posted this video, obviously filmed sometime during the above production of Hello, Dolly: