Book Of Mormon Tony Awards 2011
The Book of Mormon is a musical comedy with music, lyrics, and book by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. First staged in 2011, the play is a satirical examination of the beliefs and practices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The musical ultimately endorses the positive power of love and service, according to David Brooks of The New York Times.[1] Parker and Stone were best known for creating the animated comedy South Park; Lopez had co-written the music for the musical Avenue Q.
book of mormon tony awards 2011
Ben Brantley of The New York Times compared the show favorably to Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and The Sound of Music but "rather than dealing with tyrannical, charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes... must confront a one-eyed, genocidal warlord with an unprintable name... That's enough to test the faith of even the most optimistic gospel spreaders (not to mention songwriters). Yet in setting these dark elements to sunny melodies The Book of Mormon achieves something like a miracle. It both makes fun of and ardently embraces the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical. No Broadway show has so successfully had it both ways since Mel Brooks adapted his film The Producers for the stage a decade ago."[77] Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, spent much of his interview with Parker and Stone on the March 10, 2011 episode praising the musical.[78]
Nominations in 26 competitive categories for the American Theatre Wing's 65th Annual Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards were announced May 3, 2011 by Tony Award winning actor Matthew Broderick and Tony Award winning actress Anika Noni Rose.The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards are bestowed annually on theatre professionals for distinguished achievement. The Tony is one of the most coveted awards in the entertainment industry and the annual telecast is considered one of the most prestigious programs on television.To view the complete list of 2011 Tony Award winners, click here.
The 65th Tony Awards winners were presented this evening (12 Jun 2011) at a ceremony hosted by Neil Patrick Harris at Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The biggest winner of this year's Tony Awards is the Broadway musical comedy The Book of Mormon, which received nine awards, including Best Musical, followed by War Horse, which received five awards, including Best Play.
The show, which netted honors for best musical, best book, best direction of a musical, best score, best featured actress and four technical awards, came in with a leading 14 nominations and was the heavy favorite for the top musical prize.
The controversial Tony award-winning musical The Book of Mormon opened in London to mixed reviews Friday in its debut outside the US.The musical, by the creators of the animated TV comedy South Park, is an expletive-filled satire of two Mormon missionaries sent to Africa to win converts.Writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone have the Mormons confront a thuggish one-eyed warlord terrorizing terminally ill villagers in Uganda in a world where AIDS is dominant and female circumcision rife. The show, by Parker and Stone in collaboration with Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez, opened on Broadway in March 2011 to wide acclaim and won nine Tony awards, Broadway's highest honors.The Book of Mormon, starring American actors Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner as the two mis-matched missionaries, received a mixed reception from London critics. Henry Hitchings from London's Evening Standard newspaper said some theatergoers were bound to find the show puerile or offensive."Yet this is an affectionate portrait of culture clash and friendship, which parodies several classic musicals," he wrote, giving the show a four out of five-star rating.
The show, which netted honors for best musical, best book, bestdirection of a musical, best score, best featured actress and fourtechnical awards, came in with a leading 14 nominations and was theheavy favorite for the top musical prize.