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The Future Of Musical Theater

Anything Goes

Arielle Moss

Jan 17, 2017

Muhlenberg College

204

BsnSCB

As a celebration for my 19th Birthday, my sister bought my family standing room tickets to see the Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon. We have been trying to win tickets from the lottery and have been waiting in the standing room ticket lines many times over the years, hoping we would be able to see it without having to pay a premium price. As you can see, we were very excited and had high expectations as this musical won nine Tony's and had great reviews.

I was pulled in from moment that I heard the first "hello" from the opening number. However, as the show moved on from song after song, I realized this show is garbage. It is literally "South Park" in human form performed on stage. Don't get me wrong, I love "South Park" and it is one of my shows, but a lot of people who do not approve of the show's raunchy humor enjoy The Book of Mormon. Even my mom who hates "South Park" and did not ever approve of me watching it as a kid, loved the show; she thought it was great.

Personally, I loved the soundtrack of The Book of Mormon and my dad and I can not stop listening and singing to the numbers, but like the television program written by the same creators, the musical basically overused the word "fuck." This word was used numerous times throughout each scene. One song in particular, my favorite from the musical, "Hasa Diga Eebowai," which is a made up Ugandan word meaning "fuck you god," was the most disturbing song that I feel that if it was played on "South Park," the episode would be banned from playing in syndication. The incessant usage of the word "fuck" in musicals is not commonly ever seen on stage. I mean this language is never heard from famous composers such as Cole Porter or Steven Sondheim.

My theory is that this musical's great success is due to the unique language that it entails. It seems as though that classic musical theater as we used to look forward to enjoying is changing. Over the past few years, new musicals such as The Book of Mormon and Hamilton have been changing our perspectives of musical theater. The shows with the most recent success have been adding something different than your classic performance of 42nd Street, such as rapping or language in poor taste.

Although I have never been a fan of change, I have to accept and embrace the evolution of musical theater and of theater in general as a whole. Now that 2017 has arrived, I expect there will be something new that we have never seen before. I look forward to finding out what these playwrights have planned next for theater.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.

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