LDS musical ‘Savior of the World’ returns to Salt Lake City
When The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was building its state-of-the-art Conference Center in Salt Lake City, church leaders decided to include a special theater, something that could host plays or concerts and provide a more intimate setting than the center’s cavernous main auditorium. Then leaders decided that the new theater should have a signature, recurring production.
That’s the seed that grew into “Savior of the World: His Birth and Resurrection,” a stage musical centered around Jesus Christ that’s performed each year in the Conference Center Theater at Christmas. (For several years, though not recently, it was also performed at Easter.) The 2009 run of “Savior of the World” begins Friday at 7:30 p.m.
Cynthia Collier, who’s directing this year’s production and assisted in creating the original script, said that the first act of “Savior of the World” mostly follows the events in the first two chapters of the New Testament book of Luke in the Bible. Those scenes show events leading up to the birth of Christ that culminate in the familiar gathering in a stable in Bethlehem.
For Act Two, Collier said, the writers initially considered showing scenes from Jesus’s mortal ministry, but decided against it. “It’s kind of difficult to represent a figure of such profound importance onstage in a musical,” she said. Instead, the second act of “Savior of the World” begins immediately after the burial of Jesus and deals with his resurrection and subsequent appearances to his followers.
Jesus himself is played by an actor only briefly in Act Two. At most points where he is directly involved, lighting and voiceover are used to suggest his presence rather than show it.
Collier said that “Savior of the World” is similar in structure to Broadway musicals, but that it has a different spirit. “The songs do carry the story forward,” she said, but they are more devotional than demonstrative. Don’t go expecting a series of showstoppers, in other words.
Tickets tend to go quickly and many dates are already sold out. There is, however, a second option for some interested parties. “El Salvador del mundo,” a Spanish-language version of “Savior of the World” will be performed in Bountiful and Provo this year, in lieu of the LDS Church’s traditional Spanish-language Christmas program.
Church publicist Cody Craynor said that the Spanish-language production is a first, and will use a separately auditioned cast to present three shows in Bountiful, Dec. 4 and 5, and two in Provo on Dec. 19. The Provo shows will be performed at Timpview High School at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Tickets to the Spanish-language production are free — there’s a modest charge for the Salt Lake City shows — and can be obtained by contacting leaders of local Spanish-speaking LDS congregations.
No tickets are required for the 2 p.m. performance at Timpview High School on Dec. 19.