The
people's choice in Livingston County... and beyond!
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The
people's choice in Livingston County... and beyond!
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Please note: More complete information about this and related subjects can be found in our new Western New York Travel Guide. You may wish to change your bookmarks to:
The New York Times calls the annual extravaganza atop Hill Cumorah near Palmyra,
Wayne County, "a pageant performed with the spirit of a George Lucas techno-dazzler
and the scope of a Cecil B. DeMille epic."
What gives the Hill Cumorah Pageant a twinge of the eerie is that it has been
performed since 1937 on the very site where 14-year-old Joseph Smith purportedly
discovered what was later to become known as the Book of Mormon.
This July, the tradition will continue under the guidance of members of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or Mormons as they are commonly
called.
Reminiscent of the religious pageants performed in Europe in the Middle Ages,
but with more theatrical illusions, The Hill Cumorah Pageant mimics spectacular
events like earthquakes, lightning strikes, an erupting volcano and the immolation
of a prophet.
A carefully selected cast of 600, decked in magnificent costumes, begins the
show by parading through the audience toward a 7-level sound stage constructed
on the side of 300-foot Hill Cumorah-topped by a 40-foot golden statue of the
angel Moroni.
The story line, beginning at about 600 B.C., describes how a group of people
left Jerusalem and were guided to a land that would one day be known as America.
According to the Mormons, the people were miraculously visited by Jesus in 34
A.D. Events leading up to this climactic point are dramatized from stories in
the Bible and the Book of Mormon.
Hill Cumorah itself is crucial to the story because Mormon religious history
is believed to have been written on metal tablets by the prophet Mormon and
hidden in a stone box by him around 400 A.D on this very hill. They are purportedly
the same tablets found by Smith in the early 1800s.
Non-Mormon viewers may consider The Hill Cumorah Pageant little more than a
well-dramatized fantasy, and may find the salt potatoes sold by local Lions
and Rotarians more palatable.
People-watching is always fun in this natural lawn amphitheater because each
performance draws about 10,000 guests. So, whether you consider it dogma or
entertainment, come early. Bring the family and a picnic supper. Plan to enjoy
a pageant that is definitely world-class.
If you go: The Hill Cumorah Pageant, 1997 Dates: July 11, 12, 15-20 Begins
at dusk (about 9 p.m.) in outdoor amphitheater on Route 21, 2 miles north of
NYS Thruway. Seating for 7,000. No admission charge. 315-597-2757.
Margaret Nichols is a former Palmyra resident who now resides in Dansville.
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