by Cameron Abaroa
This week, the lights will go up on BYU–Hawaii’s production of Mary Poppins. This latest venture from the Department of Music and Theatre boasts elaborate costumes, singing, sets, and all the magic that viewers of the classic 1960’s movie have come to know and love. I have the distinct honor and privilege of portraying Mr. George Banks, the stern father whose interactions with the nanny Mary Poppins lead him to his own redemption and to his children’s love.
Here at BYU–Hawaii, it appears that the attitude towards the arts are that they are secondary to “job-making” majors such as business or marketing, and the school spotlight seems to be primarily focused on them.
That is not right.
This week, the lights will go up on BYU–Hawaii’s production of Mary Poppins. This latest venture from the Department of Music and Theatre boasts elaborate costumes, singing, sets, and all the magic that viewers of the classic 1960’s movie have come to know and love. I have the distinct honor and privilege of portraying Mr. George Banks, the stern father whose interactions with the nanny Mary Poppins lead him to his own redemption and to his children’s love.
Here at BYU–Hawaii, it appears that the attitude towards the arts are that they are secondary to “job-making” majors such as business or marketing, and the school spotlight seems to be primarily focused on them.
That is not right.
I invite you to come and take part and see Mary Poppins. Not only because of the entertainment itself, but of what the arts have meant to the history and doctrine of the Gospel and of the Lord’s Restored Church on the earth.
The arts have been an essential part of the Church since its restoration. From Emma Smith’s early hymnals and the art that adorned the Nauvoo Temple to the modern day success of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the cultural performances celebrating the opening and dedication of new temples, art and performance have been essential to LDS celebration and worship. However, the importance of the arts in the Church extends far beyond that simple meaning.
Carol Lynn Pearson, in the August 1984 New Era stated that, “In Joseph Smith’s time, the theater was not an acceptable institution. In fact, many cities had laws against theatrical performances, feeling that they were the work of the devil.” She goes on to teach that the Prophet Joseph rejected this notion and established the first theatre in the Church, with other Church leaders (Brigham Young, Erastus Snow, etc.) taking active parts in the productions. “Brigham Young himself played the part of the high priest in Pizarro, a popular drama of the day.”
Ronald W. Walker–a Church Historian–and D. Michael Quinn–a history professor at BYU-Provo– wrote in the July 1977 Ensign, “Why the Church’s emphasis on the arts, especially in the early days, when every loaf of bread was the result of a long, hard struggle with the soil, when every dollar was earned twice over by dawn-to-dusk attention to the building of the kingdom? How did they find the time? They found the time because the arts were not considered to be ‘extras.’ They were a vital part of Zion.”
The arts have been an essential part of the Church since its restoration. From Emma Smith’s early hymnals and the art that adorned the Nauvoo Temple to the modern day success of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the cultural performances celebrating the opening and dedication of new temples, art and performance have been essential to LDS celebration and worship. However, the importance of the arts in the Church extends far beyond that simple meaning.
Carol Lynn Pearson, in the August 1984 New Era stated that, “In Joseph Smith’s time, the theater was not an acceptable institution. In fact, many cities had laws against theatrical performances, feeling that they were the work of the devil.” She goes on to teach that the Prophet Joseph rejected this notion and established the first theatre in the Church, with other Church leaders (Brigham Young, Erastus Snow, etc.) taking active parts in the productions. “Brigham Young himself played the part of the high priest in Pizarro, a popular drama of the day.”
Ronald W. Walker–a Church Historian–and D. Michael Quinn–a history professor at BYU-Provo– wrote in the July 1977 Ensign, “Why the Church’s emphasis on the arts, especially in the early days, when every loaf of bread was the result of a long, hard struggle with the soil, when every dollar was earned twice over by dawn-to-dusk attention to the building of the kingdom? How did they find the time? They found the time because the arts were not considered to be ‘extras.’ They were a vital part of Zion.”
How were the arts a vital part of Zion? President Spencer W Kimball, in the same Ensign quoted previously, stated that we need to tell the Mormon Story to the world. “Our own talent, obsessed with dynamism from a CAUSE, could put into such a story life and heartbeats and emotions and love and pathos, drama, suffering, fear, courage. . . Take a Nicodemus and put Joseph Smith’s spirit in him, and what do you have? Take a da Vinci or a Michelangelo or a Shakespeare and give him a total knowledge of the plan of salvation of God and personal revelation and cleanse him, and then take a look at the statues he will carve and the murals he will paint and the masterpieces he will produce. Take a Handel with his purposeful effort, his superb talent, his earnest desire to properly depict the story, and give him inward vision of the whole true story and revelation, and what a master you have!” (emphasis added). |
It is time for us as BYU–Hawaii students to tell that story and to support the arts that do just that.
Come see Mary Poppins. Come see George Bank’s redemption. Come see Jane and Michael Banks learn “to love their neighbor as themselves”.
Come to the theatre, and take home a part of Zion.
* Author is writing independently, and is not a spokesperson for the Department of Music and Theatre
Come see Mary Poppins. Come see George Bank’s redemption. Come see Jane and Michael Banks learn “to love their neighbor as themselves”.
Come to the theatre, and take home a part of Zion.
* Author is writing independently, and is not a spokesperson for the Department of Music and Theatre