Forget Spidey-The Book Of Mormon Is Coming To Bway

The big Spiderman news this week, as reported in the NY TIMES, is that they added a new closing number with more flying around the theatre and ending with the movie's famous upside down kiss w/Mary Jane.  This is news?  Really?!

Look--if you want some actual news about what's happening on Broadway these days, the funniest new musical to hit the Great White Way since AVENUE Q is opening in March and you probably haven't heard much about it.  Trust me, you will hear more as word spreads about THE BOOK OF MORMON, a collaboration between the South Park guys (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and the creator of AVENUE Q.

I was lucky enough to catch the show in a workshop production at the Vineyard Theatre in 2009 and it was awesome.  It's about a couple young Mormon's who get sent on their first missionary trip to Africa....comic chaos ensues.  It is full of tasteless but hilarious laugh-til-you-cry jokes and some outrageous songs in the style of TEAM AMERICA'S crazier bits (remember the AIDS number?).  I don't want to give all the good stuff away so I'm gonna leave it at that.  Previews begin February 24th and the show will actually open a month later, on March 24th. Take that Spidey!

South Park Creators Receive Death Threats

In a follow-up to yesterday's post, the creators of South Park's, which aired it's 200th epsiode last week in which the Prophet Mohammed appears dressed in a bear costume, have received death threats.  A Muslim website stated that they "probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show" for this depiction of Mohammed in the episode.  Van Gogh was murdered for a doc that showed the treatment of Muslim women.


Last night, episode 201 aired in which Mohammed/Teddy Bear reappeared but was heavily censored by Comedy Central. There were a number of bleeps over speeches and blurred out images and boxes which read "censored" and the Teddy Bear was replaced by Santa Claus somewhat hastily. The question was if all this censoring was intentional by Trey and Matt .  The answer came in a statement they released to their website, saying it was all Comedy Central's doing and not a "meta-joke".  


Another website, Cinematical, pointed out though that South Park has actually depicted Mohammed in the past.  In an episode in 2004, he was portrayed in a somewhat positive light as a bit of a superhero, appearing alongside Jesus and Moses and shooting fire from his palms.  In other episodes, the show has toyed with the controversy of showing the prophet but using clever cutaways or having characters comment on it directly.  


Anyway, it all shows that, even after 200 episodes, the creators of South Park still do not have any sacred cows...or bears for that matter....that they will refuse to tip over.

South Park's 200th Episode

The boys of "South Park", Matt Stone and Trey Parker (pictured l-r), have been at it now for 13 years, if you can believe it. Their animated show hit the cable airwaves in 1998 and has been offending people ever since.  And last week they aired their 200th episode, one in which they brought back all the people they offended so that they could file a class action lawsuit against the town of South Park.  Genius.  


There's a great interview with both Trey and Matt in the Times ArtsBeat blog today, as they go over topics as far ranging as Muslims and Carlos Mencia (who they recently took on in a new episode). They also discuss their upcoming Broadway show, "Book of Mormon: The Musical" which I saw in a workshop production last summer and loved.  If the Mormon Church was annoyed at them before, they're really gonna be ticked off next year when this show hits Broadway. Which is exactly their plan, I'm sure.  :)