The sun was setting in streaks of fiery gold and pink as
crowds trickled through the gates of Hill Cumorah on a breezy Saturday night.
At 8:40 p.m., most of the pageant’s spectators were already seated in one of
the 8,000 provided plastic chairs, munching popcorn and other treats from
nearby food vendors. Large striped tents, which house cast, crew, and
production assets, dotted the wide acreage of the valley. On first glance, it
could simply be a summer festival. But the 82-year-old, free, annual event is
more than meets the eye.
And in 2020,
after 83 years of free public shows, one of the nation’s longest-running
outdoor theatrical productions will have its final curtain call.
As families
made their way to the hill with picnic baskets and blankets, a man with a large
sign yelled, “If you want to believe a lie, you have the freedom to do that,
but God’s gonna judge you!” From the other side of a fence, he raised his
megaphone and targeted a man his own age. “Keep smirking, sir, you won’t be
happy in hell!” Across the road, a teenage boy wearing a baby blue t-shirt
emblazoned with “Y’all Need Jesus” handed out anti-LDS pamphlets. A woman
laughed as she accepted one and said, “We have him. We’re here to see the story
about it.”
The Hill
Cumorah Pageant isn’t just an annual theatrical experience. It’s a religious
destination in Palmyra, NY, sacred to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints as the site where Mormonism founder Joseph Smith discovered the buried
golden plates he would translate into the Book of Mormon. The LDS church moved
its headquarters to Salt Lake City, Utah, a couple of decades after Smith’s
1823 discovery. But today, nearly 200 years later, the church has followers all
over the world.
Palmyra’s event
is the flagship pageant of the LDS. It’s a 75-minute production with a
pre-recorded score by Crawford Gates featuring the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and
Utah Symphony, and in 1988 the pageant received an updated script penned by
Orson Scott Card. The narrative includes 10 scenes from both The Book of Mormon
and the Bible, chronicling the story of a group called the Nephites (the
ancient prophets in the Mormon faith) from thousands of years ago in Jerusalem
to the discovery of the plates on Hill Cumorah.
The Pageant
began in 1937 as a production lit by car headlights; now it has a seven-tier
steel stage built into the side of the hill, state-of-the-art special effects that
simulate lightning and fire, 12 theatrical lighting and sound towers rising 50
feet into the air, and a completely volunteer cast of 770 people playing more
than 1,200 roles. The stage is stored throughout the year and trucked in, and
takes a month to rebuild before the pageant starts. Each night, the cast dons
elaborate costumes, from layered robes and headpieces to angelic gowns and
pioneer-era garb. Audience members can see these creations up close, as the
cast mingles with the audience prior to each show.
The
production quality is impressive; similar to an outdoor show at Walt Disney
World or Universal Studios. And for fans of Charlton Heston movies, the
spectacle feels like “The Ten Commandments” meets Broadway. Aside from the
cast, there is a volunteer staff of more than 150 that includes professional
theatrical designers and directors, fight choreographers, and a full media team.
This year, the pageant also features its first female artistic director,
Shawnda Moss. Hill Cumorah volunteers have to apply to participate, and while
the event normally uses a pool of equally returning and new volunteers, this
year mostly new volunteers were chosen from the 4,200 applicants, since the
pageant will end soon.
In October
2018, the LDS Church announced in an official media statement that it would end
four of its seven unique, worldwide pageants (two ended this year, two will end
in 2020), stating that “the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is
growing across the earth … Local celebrations of culture and history may be
appropriate. Larger productions, such as pageants, are discouraged.” The towns
where pageants are ending will feel an economic impact, as the productions
bring visitors from all over the world and, in the case of Palmyra, it is the
largest annual community fundraiser for local groups like the Kiwanis and
Rotary. And when they’re not rehearsing or performing, the cast spends part of
their 17-day volunteer commitment in the community, completing more than 1,800
hours of service projects.
Pageant
attendance has already been record-breaking this year, even with torrential
rain on opening night, but the 2020 pageant is anticipated to be the biggest
yet. After that, Hill Cumorah will continue to operate its Visitors Center and function
as a pilgrimage site for LDS church members, but it will return to a more
natural state, and the echoes of pageantry will only be stories for future
generations.
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This article appears in Jul 17-23, 2019.
