My Trip to Broadway

The last three major Richard Rodgers musicals have one plot: A fish spills out of the water and tries to make it on land. Racist Nellie attempts to understand Emile's cosmopolitan lifestyle. Anna argues (and dances) with the King. Maria struggles with the codes and rituals of Captain von Trapp.

Rodgers and Hammerstein gave themselves godlike power; no one seemed to wring hands about cultural appropriation. An islander could chirp: "Happy talk! Keep talking! Happy talk! Talk about things you like to do! Talk about the birds...." Sure thing! The spouse of the King of Siam could offer a wide-eyed apologia for being a battered wife: "Now and then he'll do....something wonderful!"

It's in this context that we can see (and admire) "The Book of Mormon." White missionaries travel to Uganda to spread the word of Joseph Smith. The Ugandan villagers have very little time for religion; they cheerfully sing, "Fuck you, God!" One man believes that the way to free himself from AIDS is to sleep with a virgin--so he sets out to rape a baby.

Is this crazily insensitive? Of course. But, to me, it seems like the real target of the satire is Rodgers and Hammerstein--not anyone who is living today. The show made me think of a line from another musical: "Die, vampires, die." Allow yourself to write the story you want to write, without censorship. The "Mormon" writers have childlike access to a special dream world--a world in which dysentery might be a topic for discussion in a bouncy pageant. "Shit goes in the stomach! Shit comes out the butt! Shit goes in the water.....Shit goes down the throat...."

I had a wonderful time at "The Book of Mormon"; I'm surprised I waited so long. After approximately a decade, the show is in fine shape.

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