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'The Book of Mormon' Music and Technical Aspects | The Box Seat Babes Podcast · The BSB Podcast

• 0:00
  Welcome back to another episode of the Box Seat Babes podcast.
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  Today we're continuing our discussion of the North American touring production of The Book of Mormon, which was recently stopped in Detroit.
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  But before we jump into the music and technical aspects of the show, please like, follow, and subscribe to us, Boxie Babes, on all social media platforms at Boxie Babes.
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  And spoiler warning, we are going to be diving into the technical and musical side of the show.
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  So if you'd like to go into it blind without knowing anything about it.
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  Please stop listening and come back to it after you've seen the show.
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  We'd love to continue this conversation.
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  But if you're still here, let's dive into what you can expect from the music.
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  Let's start with the music, because that's always the place to start, RJ.
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  My fellow Box Seat Babe BFF, person that has a mandolin behind him that's hopefully not going to spooky Mormon hellscape.
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  What did you think of the music of the Book of Mormon?
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  You just had to work that in there, didn't you?
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  I tried it in the last entry and they nobody's gonna see that unless I do it as an outtake.
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  So I had to throw something in there.
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  But obviously this.
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  Yeah, the music.
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  it is a high energy, high octane, like ballad minimal romp of a musical.
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  I mean, even just looking at some of the top songs that the show is known for, I think.
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  One two three four five five out of the six are upbeat
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  and really the bulk of
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  I mean, it's, guess it's kind of pretty even amongst the ensemble and the leads.
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  but because you only have really like two to three true, I would say true leads.
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  they're pretty vocal heavy.
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  They're pretty song heavy, but the music, there are plenty of earworm songs.
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  I think.
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  I believe is probably at the top along with Hello, which is the opening number.
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  But I believe, I think is probably also a song done for many, many auditions as well for good old tenors.
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  You know, I think that one of the things that struck me the most is for those who have watched part one, they'll know that I did not like this show the first time I saw it.
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  The fact that I knew so many of these songs, I was just like, these are very easily identifiable songs.
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  Like if we're going down the list, Hello, Hasa Diga Eebowai, like that's a huge one.
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  Maybe that's just because I thought it was funny that like what its meaning is in the end.
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  turn it off.
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  mean, like these are some really powerhouse songs.
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  But also, I think it's worth noting that most of the songs are like callback to other musicals, which are just either with the words or the lyrics, or just like the the the
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  music of the song, there's there's callbacks like you and me, but mostly me being the wizard and I.
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  I'd forgotten that that was a callback to that.
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  I turned to you in the middle of the show and was like, I forgot this is from Wicked.
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  And so I do think that's an interesting kind of take when it comes to building a show, taking songs that people recognize, either like melody or words, and then changing them
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  and bringing it back to the story, which I did forget to mention earlier, story Two Mormon missionaries go to Uganda to convert people and Hilarity ensues.
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  Sum it up real quick.
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  Do you like the parody of the songs?
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  Like do you like the like the callback to the old to some of the older Broadway song shows that have existed before it?
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  Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of them are distinctive enough by themselves that not every theater goer will know that it's a callback.
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  But then you have the true blue eternally forever theater goers that may be a little bit more familiar with with those connections.
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  But these songs
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  in in true musical or even old school musical fashion are incredibly repetitive, which is also why I think they're so strong when it comes to like memorization or people
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  remembering them.
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  I mean, how many times do they say the word hello in that opening number?
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  Songs two by two, how many how many choruses same with
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  literally almost every single song in this production, baptized me, turn it off.
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  Like every bridge, every chorus has that the same phrasing.
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  And so it makes it very easy to recall, which is really just like a great musical tactic because that means that those songs individually are going to have success.
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  It's a very simple musical when you think like not simple, simple and like the technicality of it, but simple on that.
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  It's easy for people to hear that song and recognize it and pick up on it.
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  And that's going to make people remember it a lot more.
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  And it's really is smart from Trey Parker and Matthew Stone and Robert Lopez, who created this book.
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  They all worked on the music, the lyrics and the book.
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  And it's it's something that's just a really smart tactic.
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  to in which to bring forth the musical aspect of this show.
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  I do have to ask you, did you get the sound of music one?
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  Because it's always one of my favorites and not everybody always catches that one.
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  I did in the moment, it's I'm blanking on it right now.
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  I remember which song it is, but he says a warlord who shoots people in the face, what's so scary about that?
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  Yes.
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  It's the dialogue right before I believe.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  In part two, yeah, in act two, they do a reprise of I Believe, right?
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  Only in act two.
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  think it's only an Act two.
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  Why did I think that was an Act One song?
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  It feels like that's an Act One song.
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  I draw a lot of lines between I believe and
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  Is it, think you and me, but mostly me.
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  just because they're both power ballads done by price, but, and I think there's some motifs in it that are similar.
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  So our ears kind of catching bits and pieces of each song in the other.
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  Yes, you are absolutely correct.
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  They are very similar in their musicality.
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  But that's the things that I loved about some of these things.
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  Like if you are a sound of music fan, you're going to catch how I believe is very similar to confidence in me.
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  And you and me, but mostly me is the Wizard and I from Wicked.
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  And while they're their own songs, they just being able to play those parodies really do
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  it makes for great connection or like Hasa Diga Eebowai being, they even reference Hakuna Matata in the song, like clearly poking fun at themselves.
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  But it adds to such a different, again, I didn't appreciate this the first time and I wish I would have appreciated it in New York because there is a brilliance to the music of this
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  that I think that it is, it's kind of dumb at the same time that it's kind of smart.
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  I don't know if that makes any sense.
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  Yeah, which is I think why exactly why it draws a vast audience.
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  You have people who are harping on parts like that, that are intelligently intentionally stuck in there for you to kind of catch.
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  And then you have people who are just coming because it's stupid and vulgar and hilarious, which also just makes for quite an interesting
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  audience overall.
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  I do want to talk about the comedy because we didn't get to dive into that in part one, but there is there is definitely some there is some clear levels of comedy here.
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  There is ones for those who are Broadway nerds like us.
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  There is a lot of crudeness.
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  Like I said, I don't know if I said in part one, but I thought in part one, and I maybe said this to my friend at work today and I said, I've never heard the word clit so much in
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  just such a short amount of time.
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  which is just, it's one of those things of just like, it's that really low bar humor where like, we're laughing at, we're laughing at sex.
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  We're laughing at, you know, parts of the body that are still funny.
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  And the comedy does bring in two distinct different groups of people, I think, depending on what you're going for.
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  This is not me saying anything about, negative about the crowd, but there was, this was a full house, our entire week of shows.
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  are at low capacity, height.
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  Well, the tickets have sold, there's low tickets left.
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  and there was a lot of people there that were dressed in like farmer gear, you know, jeans and flannels and, and caps and stuff like that.
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  And then there was those that were dressed up, dressed up for the show, kind like we were.
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  and so it's interesting to see the two kind of the two lives kind of coming together to enjoy something that is funny.
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  in both an intelligent way and in a we can laugh at body parts way.
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  You know what saying?
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  Yeah, this show grabs a more vast audience than most because you're not get, well, you do actually get a tap number in this show, but you don't get it in a traditional respectful
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  tap number way, right?
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  Or you do, but it's in a completely satirical over the top, just.
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  ridiculous scene.
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  so
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  I mean, it's drawing audiences that maybe will literally never enjoy any other show but this one.
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  I'd say it's the closest thing to a straight up comedy show as a musical.
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  I think audience wise, like I've experienced a lot of audiences.
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  for a vast number of shows and it definitely draws closer to just a straight up comedy show audience than a musical theater or play audience because you're right.
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  Yeah, like while we're not gonna sit here and like stereotype anyone, there are clear differentials between, know, when you see people,
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  Dressing up.
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  I mean all the way to like wearing dresses and suits Comparatively to someone who maybe has literally never walked into a theater before and they're just in their day clothes in
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  you know a t-shirt and jeans and boots Which like don't get me wrong.
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  I wish that I felt like I could wear that to a show Which you can you can wear whatever you want
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  to a show.
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  You can, absolutely, there's no dress code and it's not enforced.
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  Yes, I mean there probably is address code, but yeah, we just don't know exactly what it is.
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  Please wear clothes.
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  Do not show up to the theater.
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  Don't be like, boxy babes that I can show up to the show, nude.
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  That's not what we're saying.
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  Just support art.
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  That's all we're saying.
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  I think that I'm going to use my family as an example.
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  So my sister, who I said in the last podcast, she watched South Park.
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  She loves South Park.
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  Her husband, you know, he's a truck.
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  He was a truck driver for many, many years.
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  Blue jeans.
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  And he did wear like unbuttoned dress shirts, kind of like you, but like, you know, like the checkered board, you know, like that's kind of what he wore over a t-shirt.
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  That was his main thing.
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  My sister, you would never catch her out of jeans and flip flops.
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  like sometimes even in the winter and you're like, what are you doing?
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  They would still want to come to a show like this.
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  And I think that's what like it crosses so many barriers of like what theater can be.
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  And as much as I love theater, I love theater a lot.
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  Obviously, I would not be doing this if I didn't.
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  You didn't know I've not seen a turn out for a show like this in a long time.
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  There was magic happening.
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  Well, it's easily comparable to shows that we know that sell out, Like Wicked, Hamilton, those big name pieces.
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  It's been a minute, I think, since Detroit had one of those this season.
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  And so I think it's very comparable to the audiences that we will see in the coming season due to the titles that are coming in.
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  yeah, it was, it was a full house.
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  It was.
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  as much as I love Parade and that's still in the top tier of my shows this year, we didn't have an empty auditorium, but there was a lot of seats that were open.
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  There was not many seats that were open in here.
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  We were packed in like sardines and we were loving every second of it together.
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  Like you said, like a comedy show.
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  This was broaching on that comedy show feel.
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  And so there was kind of this...
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  It's interesting because you got to broach other types of theater with everybody, whether you love theater or not, like through the tap number, which for people who haven't seen
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  the show, the tap number is literally when there is one of the missionaries who is trying to tell them to keep their feelings down and to not involve themselves, like don't show
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  their emotions.
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  So keep it down.
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  and so he's like, I'm like, I'm not gay.
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  I like gay things, but I'm not gay.
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  and so he's telling them to keep their feelings down.
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  And so that's really an interesting dynamic.
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  and he's doing a tap number and you don't see this a lot when it comes to, a show like this.
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  And so there was a beauty to the tap number.
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  and having that in there because not everybody gets to experience that.