Hill Cumorah Festival
| Stage show | |
|---|---|
| German title: | Hill Cumorah Festival |
| Original title: | Hill Cumorah Pageant |
| Original language: | English |
| Artist: | Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |
| Genre: | Festival |
| Year of origin: | 1937 |
| First performance / premiere: | July 23 |
| Last performance: | 2020 |
| Place of premiere: | Cumorah |
| Author: | BH Roberts , H. Wayne Driggs , Orson Scott Card |
| Website: | Hillcumorah.org/Pageant |
The Hill Cumorah Festival ( English Hill Cumorah Pageant ) is an annual production of Latter-day Saints Church of Jesus Christ , which at the foot of the hill Cumorah in Palmyra, New York State be held. They show how Joseph Smith got the gold plates that he translated into English as the Book of Mormon and the events described in that book. The festival consists of seven hundred performers, thirteen hundred costumes and a ten-step stage. They run for seven nights in late July and attract approximately 35,000 viewers annually. Donations are not accepted and tickets are not required, although seating is limited.
The LDS Church announced that the festival will be discontinued in 2020.
history
The festival dates back to the early 1920s and the "Cumorah Conference" of the Eastern State Mission, which took place in late July each year. Mission president BH Roberts took some of his missionaries from New York City to Palmyra. They were on the Smith family's recently acquired family farm celebrating Pioneer Day by reenacting scenes from the Book of Mormon and Church history. Over the next few decades the conference grew larger and longer. The English Professor H. Wayne Driggs from the New York University wrote the screenplay America's Witness for Christ , for the first official performance of the festival. The premiere was on July 23, 1937.
The festival became technically more professional over the next few decades. The inventor of stereophony , Harvey Fletcher , designed and installed a modern sound system, and Crawford Gates , along with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Utah Symphony Orchestra, composed original music for the 1957 Festival. In 1973 the Festival was hosted by the President of the Church , Harold B. Lee . This decision that missionaries should no longer be used as actors. Since then, the cast has consisted entirely of ordinary church members. In 1988 Orson Scott Card was hired to write a new script. His job was to make the script "accessible to modern audiences, especially non-scripture-reading, non-Mormon adolescents." He did this by making the new version forty minutes shorter.
In 1991, local catering companies were invited to provide food for the audience. Many agreed and it became their main mission. In 1997 Donny Osmond left his leading role in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (musical) to take part in the festival with his family. Osmond played the role of the prophet Samuel the Lamanite .
Brent Hanson, a Dixie State University employee, has served as the festival's artistic director since 2005. During its run in 2012, the festival celebrated its 75th anniversary with festivals and reunions.
The New York Times described the festival as a spectacle, in contrast to the cheerful irony of the musical Book of Mormon , which was written from an outside perspective.
Scenes
The festival lasts seventy minutes and represents the full story of the Book of Mormon . Mormons believe that Joseph Smith received the gold plates for this book from the angel Moroni on this very hill. The festival also features Smith's meeting with the angel.
The script for the scenes is taken from the King James Bible and the Book of Mormon . It contains ten short scenes:
- The Prophet Lehi
- The visions of Christ
- Building a ship
- The trip to ancient America
- The burning of Abinadi
- The Ministry of Alma
- The prophecy: a day, a night and a day
- The risen Christ appears to the ancient Americans
- The written word: A golden message
- The Restoration of Christ's Kingdom
Performers, stages and special effects
The performers at the festival are around seven hundred people. Budding performers, many of whom are based outside of New York City, must apply online between the previous August and November. Since the soundtrack of the festival was pre-recorded by professional actors and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir , the actors only need to remember movements and key words. The first performance is after only one intensive week of rehearsal and there are seven performances in one session.
Over 1300 costumes are used for the festival, which takes place on ten stages. The special effects include earthquakes, floods and fireballs. There are 8000 seats for visitors, at the foot of the stage, on the hill. Visitors can also bring their own chairs and umbrellas. There are 3000 car parking spaces. Around 35,000 visitors come every year.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Gerald S. Argetsinger: The Hill Cumorah Pageant: A Historical Perspective . In: Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship (Ed.): Journal of Book of Mormon Studies . 13, No. 1-2, 2004.
- ↑ Hill Cumorah Pageant will end in 2020
- ↑ a b c d e Peter Applebome: A Mormon Spectacle, Way Off Broadway . The New York Times . July 13, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ↑ Donny Osmond Shed's Dreamcoat To Star in Mormon Pageant July 11-19 . Playbill . July 12, 1997. Archived from the original on December 3, 2012. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ Mormon spirit moves Osmond . New York Daily News . July 9, 1997. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ^ Dixie State University Theater Department Faculty . Retrieved July 22, 2014.
- ^ Religion and Ethics Newsweekly: Brent Hanson Extended Interview . Retrieved July 22, 2014.
- ↑ Christine Rappleye: Hill Cumorah Pageant to celebrate 75th anniversary in 2012 . Deseret News . September 18, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
- ↑ Gerald S. Argetsinger: Cumorah Pageant . Macmillan Publishing . 1992.
- ^ Program Information . Hill Cumorah Pageant. Archived from the original on February 26, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved January 28, 2009.
- ↑ Robin Abcarian: A grand display of Mormon faith . Los Angeles Times . July 17, 2011. Retrieved January 23, 2012.
