Another dinner and a show…

Sunday night, I went out with the Martins: my Marty and friend Martin, the chef across the street. We had three tickets to see the Broadway hit “The Book of Mormon” at Proctors Theater. The third ticket was for Sam, but we had an extra since he is in Burlington. 

I never thought Sam would agree to dinner and a show with us since Broadway musicals aren’t his thing. He wanted to go because he loved the show South Park.

Sam and I have been watching South Park together for years. The two guys who are the co-creators of South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, also wrote the funniest musical ever written or performed, The Book of Mormon. 

Now if you haven’t seen South Park, I must tell you it isn’t for lightweights. This comedy sitcom isn’t for everyone since they make inappropriate episodes, always making fun of someone famous or current events and offending groups of people.

The show is a cartoon, and no one is safe from becoming “an episode.” Cartoon children are the main characters with filthy little mouths talking about things no child should know about. 

Why do we like it? I don’t know because we do and find the show hysterical. Some people don’t like it, and some love it. It’s a do or doesn’t kind of thing. 

We asked Martin if he wanted to come with us, and fortunately for us, he did. We went to Maxon’s American Grill and ate dinner before the show. 

Instead of me trying to explain the show if you are interested in what the hell I’m talking about, here’s the link. The Book of Mormons.

Here’s a Youtube video of The Book of Mormon’s opening number, if you would like to see it.

Now that you have an idea of what the show is about, I must tell you Marty laughed hysterically throughout the entire show. So did Martin and me. 

The musical has clever and quick set changes, and the actors are brilliant and can sing and dance with the best of them. The lighting sets the mood of each scene wonderfully. The scenery makes you feel like the characters are there, especially in the Hell dream number.

I don’t think we have ever laughed that much for over two hours. I loved when the elders broke into a full-on tap number complete with 5,6.7,8.

If you look at reviews, many people loved it, while conservatives and religious groups hated it; no surprise. 

The Book of Mormon won 9 Tony awards for Best Musical, Best Score, Best Book, Best Direction, Best Featured Actress, Best Scenic Design, Best Lighting, Best Sound Design, and Best Orchestra. 

This morning when I did some research on the show, I was impressed to see I was right about the observations I made about the show last night. 

The audience was a completely different crowd than the other shows we have seen over the last couple of years. The audience ranged in ages from 20-60+. It was a hip crowd with very few older senior citizens like usual. 

The audience members had more relaxed outfits, and most wore black, like us. We were totally in our element, including Martin. 

The audience laughed through the show and applauded like crazy. This was the first show people stayed until the end. No one rushed out before the show was over to get to their car first, like usual.

The people who leave early are the same type who used to leave after communion and not return to their pews because they also wanted to get to their cars first.

Why? Why are people always so eager to run out of churches, movies, shows, concerts, and sporting events? Wasn’t the point of going in the first place was to see something you wanted to see or do? 

In the case of leaving before the end of mass, in my opinion, it’s a bit hypocritical to show everyone you are a good Catholic by going to church out of obligation but can’t wait to get the hell out of there. 

These are the same people who shook my hands and my children’s hands and wished us peace, then refused to let us cross the parking lot to get to our car. Or honk at people to drive, for fucks sake! 🤦🏻‍♀️

My dad was no hypocrite, he didn’t like going to church. Period. When I was in Catholic school, I was supposed to attend church every week. To ensure families went, they put all the essential school information in the bulletin.

Instead of taking me to church, my dad would pull up in the front of the church and hand me the envelope that contained the required amount of money we needed to donate each week. Donate?

This was on top of my tuition, and it was mandatory for school parents to work the church fair, held in July, for 3 nights. This was right after working all day, where my father sweated his ass off in a machine shop..🤔

Anyway, my dad would tell me to smile at the usher, hand him the donation basket envelope, and ask him for a bulletin. I went to the same guy weekly, and he winked at me. Easy as pie.

Then my dad would take me to the donut shop or out to breakfast. I loved our breakfasts together. He told me never to tell my mother our little Sunday morning trick. I would never want to ruin spending time with my dad, he was fun, and he loved to eat. I never told her, even when I was an adult. It was our little secret.

Where was my mother when we were supposed to be at church? She said she didn’t have the patience to take a baby, the other child they adopted, to mass. She would be sitting in her robe when we got home, smoking cigarettes, and talking on the phone while their other child was in front of the tv.

The funny thing was, I took both my “babies” to mass by myself since Marty isn’t Catholic. It wasn’t easy some weeks, some weeks they got yelled at on the way home for their behavior, but they did learn things and later became alter servers.

After the boys made their sacraments, I stopped attending church for several reasons. Since then, I have a very close and intimate relationship with God and love Him with all of my heart. I don’t pray; I talk to Him. I trust Him with everything and give my worries over to Him.

Ok, enough church talk. Honestly, good for the people who go because they actually want to go and find comfort in praying with their families and community.

People may not believe how spiritual I am because of the way I am. Guess what? Spiritual people say fuck and curse like sailors. They also love shows like The Book of Mormon and can see the show’s true meaning when others see only raunchiness and swearing.

To me, the show was about love, friendship, questioning faith, trusting each other, and standing up for yourself and others. To work together as a village and not against each other.

The show proved good always wins over evil. It showed you can still do a world of good but go about it differently than the traditional way. It was about trying to spread faith, ringing one doorbell at a time. 

To think, the musical and the message were co-created by two guys who are funnier than shit and aren’t afraid to offend people. The bottom line, they got their point across.

I read somewhere the Mormons took out an ad in the playbill when the show first opened on Broadway in 2011, saying something like: while the show may be entertaining to tonight’s audience, if they read the book, it would change their life, just like in the opening song.

Ding dong.

Hello!