God Goes to Broadway

[awitch]

For no good reason, I thought it would be fun to post one or two songs a day from various Broadway Musicals about/referencing God or religion. Some serious, some silly. Feel free to comment on the song, the show, or whatever. It's just for fun, so keep it light-hearted. I'm sure there will be spoilers.

This first one is from The Book of Mormon which opened in 2011. It's a satire of Mormon beliefs by Matt Stone & Trey Parker, the creators of the South Park cartoon. The story is about two Mormon missionaries preaching religion in a remote African village. The show won 9 Tony Awards including Best Musical and a Grammy Award, and grossed over half a billion dollars.

Stephen Colbert starts out giving us some background to the song "I Believe" which is super catchy.

 

[MehGuy]

Wow.. that play was created all the way back in 2011? Still yet to watch this play.

Pretty much everything Matt and Trey has done has been gold (if you discount the last decade of South Park.. lol they promised they'd exist gracefully for the most part.. )

 

[Quid est Veritas?]

For no good reason, I thought it would be fun to post one or two songs a day from various Broadway Musicals about/referencing God or religion. Some serious, some silly. Feel free to comment on the song, the show, or whatever. It's just for fun, so keep it light-hearted. I'm sure there will be spoilers.

This first one is from The Book of Mormon which opened in 2011. It's a satire of Mormon beliefs by Matt Stone & Trey Parker, the creators of the South Park cartoon. The story is about two Mormon missionaries preaching religion in a remote African village. The show won 9 Tony Awards including Best Musical and a Grammy Award, and grossed over half a billion dollars.

Stephen Colbert starts out giving us some background to the song "I Believe" which is super catchy.

In defence of Mormonism, it would be technically possible for Iron Age Israelites to have made their way to the New World. Pytheas of Massilia circumnavigated Britain and visited Thule (perhaps Iceland or Scandinavia) in the 4th century; the Carthaginians seem to have occasionally sailed to the bight of Biafra in West Africa; and some Phoenicians are said to have circumnavigated Africa in the pay of the Egyptians. While the Jews weren't a maritime race like Greeks or Punic peoples, the technology would allow it - just that pesky little point of lack of evidence thereof...

All that Kolob stuff and the Garden of Eden in America looks silly, but I am sure it looks better in context, else why would anyone believe it at all? A T-Rex being close kin of a chicken seems silly too, without knowing the context around the statement. Anything can appear ridiculous if you want to, and background is non-existent. I am sure this needs a whole lot of uncritically taken background though...

They did a Mormon episode of South Park with great songs too: Joseph Smith, he was a prophet, dum(b) dum(b) dum(b) dum(b).

 

[cloudyday2]

All that Kolob stuff and the Garden of Eden in America looks silly, but I am sure it looks better in context, else why would anyone believe it at all?

Mormons are a great opportunity to study why people believe religions, because its origins are modern enough that there are historical records and its appeal is surprisingly broad.

 

[awitch]

Miss Saigon is a musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil and is based on the opera, Madam Butterfly. A US marine falls in love with a peasant Vietnamese "woman" during the Vietnam war. They marry and the Marine promises to take her to America, but he then abandons her before finding out she's pregnant. The girl's cousin, a Commissar in the Vietnamese army finds out and wants her and her child executed for treason. A Vietnamese opportunistic businessman helps them escape to America to find Chris, hoping he can emigrate with them and strike it rich in American.

Miss Saigon opened on Broadway in 1991 and won 3 Tony Awards, 4 Drama Desk Awards, and the Theater World Award. I saw the show on Broadway and very much enjoyed it.

In this scene, Chris, the US Marine, is ready to leave Vietnam, but realizes he has fallen in love with Kim, the Vietnamese girl.

Why God? Why? (This is just the audio because it's my favorite rendition)

 

[awitch]

Yes, Titanic was a Broadway show, no it was nothing like the James Cameron movie. It tells the story of the Titanic and some real and fictional passengers. I saw this one and it was actually really good. The stage had the ability to increase an incline over time, adding to the effect of the ship's listing. It won 6 Tony Awards including Best Musical.

After the sinking, the cast returns to the stage for the finale.

 

[awitch]

Spamalot was the 2005 Broadway adaptation of the silly movie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail; the story of King Arthur and the quest to find the cup of Christ. The show grossed over $175 million, despite the dark and very expensive forest.

The show won 3 Tony Awards, 3 Drama Desk Awards, the Theatre World Award, and a Grammy. Tim Curry, Hank Azaria, Warwick Davis, and David-Hyde Pierce all appeared in the cast.

And now, you can find your own grail...

 

[awitch]

Les Miserables, based on the novel by Victor Hugo, is my favorite Broadway show and I've seen it twice.

The show opened on Broadway in 1987, and won 8 Tony Awards and 4 Drama Desk Awards.

The book was banned by the Catholic Church because it was deemed to be critical of the papacy

Here, Jean Val Jean, a French peasant serves 19 years on a chain gang for breaking a window in an attempt to steal a loaf of bread for his starving sister. Once paroled, he finds he only gets paid pennies to the dollar when he works and is unable to find a place to stay. No one wants to deal with an ex-con, leaving him bitter and angry.

A town's very humble monsignor takes him in and cares for him until he is strong enough to go on his way. Instead of gratitude, Jean Val Jean wakes up in the middle of the night, steals the monsignor's silverware and flees into the darkness. The townspeople catch him the next morning and don't believe his tale that the monsignor gifted him the silver, so they drag him back to the monsignor. He lies to the townspeople, explaining that he did indeed give the silverware, and then proceeds to hand over the last of his valuable possessions, two silver candlesticks, insisting that Val Jean forgot to take them, too, before he left. The townspeople are reluctantly convinced and leave. The monsignor then tells Jean Val Jean, that he can keep the silver, but now he owns his soul and Val Jean must use the silver live a honest life for god.

 

[awitch]

Due to a lack of Internet access last here, here's a double feature.

The Scarlet Pimpernel came to Broadway in 1997, based on a play from 1903 and a novel from 1905.

Taking place in England and France during the French Revolution, the story is said to be the origin of the superhero with a secret identity. While nominated for many awards, it only won the Theatre World Award.

In the show's opening number, the crowd celebrates the personified guillotine used to behead aristocrats while our English hero begs God to stop the insanity.

And towards the end of the first Act, the character Percy explains how God says that it's the man's duty to dress elegantly.

 

[awitch]

Man of La Mancha is a musical that came to Broadway back in 1965. It was about a mad knight awaiting a hearing with the Spanish Inquisition. It walked away with 5 Tony Awards.

Here's the famous song, The Impossible Dream, sung by the legendary Colm Wilkinson (which you may recognize from the Les Miserables entry above).

And as a bonus, the song was used in the best commercial of all time.

 

[awitch]

In 2015 Broadway introduced us to Hamilton: An American Musical, a show about Alexander Hamilton and his role as a founding father of the US. The show would win 11 Tony Awards, A Drama League Award, a Pulitzer Prize, a Grammy, a Fred & Adele Astaire Award, Dramatists Guild of America Award, Edward M Kennedy Prize, Kennedy Centers Honor, and a Billboard Music Award. Not too shabby.

Hamilton is played by Linn Manuel Miranda, who would go on to provide the voice of Fenton Crackshell-Cabrera (aka Gizmoduck) on the Ducktales reboot. Just like how the historical personalities in the musical are played by non-white actors, Fenton was redesigned as a brown feathered duck (and had Cabrera added to his name).

Here's the hit song, "My Shot".

And here's Fenton

 

[Zoness]

I saw Hamilton in Chicago last summer and it was an amazing experience. This thread is nice!

 

[awitch]

I saw Hamilton in Chicago last summer and it was an amazing experience. This thread is nice!

I wanted to see it in NYC but it's either always sold out, or the tickets are hundreds of dollars each. I did listen to the soundtrack and while I don't usually listen to that style of music, I thought it was excellent. And King George is probably the best Broadway villain.

 

[awitch]

Back in 1997, Jekyll and Hyde came to Broadway. It was a horror-musical based on the book, The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde in which a mad doctor has a fascination with man's ability to be good and evil. He embarks on a quest to find a way to separate the two and ignores the hospital board's cries of blasphemy and sacrilege to do so. At first he thinks he can save the world, but it all goes wrong.

Here, again, is Colm Wilkinson as Dr Jekyll dramatically confronting the evil Mr Hyde.

 

[awitch]

Fiddler on the Roof came to Broadway back in 1964 but was revived several times over the years. I saw it in 2004. The story takes place in the late 1800s and early 1900s and focuses on a Russian Jewish father who wants to maintain his religious traditions as his daughters marry men who stray further away. Meanwhile the Tsar is evicting Jews from their homes.

The original cast won 9 Tony Awards and while revivals were nominated for many, they didn't win.

Here is the opening number: Tradition

 

[awitch]

An Autumn celebration about life and death with the ghosts of the family ancestors? Sounds close enough to a holiday I know so I'll include this one.

In 2010 The Addams Family came to Broadway. I saw this one, too and it was really good. Wednesday, the daughter, has fallen in love with a normal boy and they arrange for the families to meet so they can announce their marriage plans. No Tony Awards for this one, but it got a Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle Award.

Here is the opening number: When You're an Addams as performed on Late Night With David Letterman.

 

[awitch]

1987 was the year Into the Woods came to Broadway. It was a crossover for several famous fairy tale characters who must go into the woods to get the things they want. Their missions successful, they find life isn't really happy ever after, so they must go back to the woods again to deal with the consequences of their first trip. It won 3 Tony Awards and 5 Drama Desk Awards.

The legendary Bernadette Peters plays the part of every fairy tale witch. Here she is singing "Children Will Listen".

Bernadette Peters also voiced the cat, Rita, from the 90's cartoon Animaniacs.
Here she is starring in a spoof of Les Miserables, titled, Les Miseranimals and singing a spoof of the song, Castle On A Cloud. I'm hoping she will reprise her role in the 2020 reboot.

 

[awitch]

The Hunchback of Notre Dame musical has an interesting story. It was produced by Walt Disney Theatrical and premiered in Berlin, Germany in 1999 and was based on the 1831 novel by Victor Hugo (who also wrote Les Miserables) and the 1996 animated Disney movie. When it came to the US, it only made it as far as the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ (which I've been to, and live about half an hour away from). It ran for a month but the transfer to Broadway never happened.

Here is the stage version of "God Help the Outcasts"

 

[cloudyday2]

What is a "Broadway musical"? I had assumed it was a musical initially performed in a single specific theater, but apparently it a neighborhood with about 40 theaters? Lots of miscellaneous questions come to mind:
- how many different Broadway musicals are created each year?
- do these theaters present non-musical performances too?
- are there "Broadway musicals" that never were performed in New York?
- how many tickets are sold each year in that neighborhood?
- is "Broadway" kind of like "Hollywood"? When we say "Hollywood" it is a segment of the economy.

 

[awitch]

What is a "Broadway musical"? I had assumed it was a musical initially performed in a single specific theater, but apparently it a neighborhood with about 40 theaters? Lots of miscellaneous questions come to mind:

Right, Broadway is street in NYC in the theater district. There are 41 big theaters (500+ seats) that show various musicals and plays. Each show runs in it's own theater. I remember seeing Cats in the Winter Garden Theater, Phantom of the Opera in the Majestic Theater, and most of the others I saw were in the Lunt-Fontanne.

- how many different Broadway musicals are created each year?

I'm not really sure. Not many I would imagine. Some shows may run for a few years at a time.

- do these theaters present non-musical performances too?

Yes, not all of the shows are musicals. Some are plays and I'm pretty sure I saw the magician David Copperfield on Broadway (but not positive it was there).

- are there "Broadway musicals" that never were performed in New York?

I think referring to it as "Broadway musical" means it had a run in NYC, but a lot of the shows also run in Chicago. Many also go on tour around the country.

- how many tickets are sold each year in that neighborhood?

Last year, it was almost 15 million.

- is "Broadway" kind of like "Hollywood"? When we say "Hollywood" it is a segment of the economy.

Sort of. I think it's more like the theater district. It's just one of many districts in NYC that make a major contribution to the economy.