"The Book of Purim" - An Awesome Parody of "The Book of Mormon"

The Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, is the hottest show in New York, with tickets, if you can find them, selling from $300 to $600 apiece. It's gotten many rave reviews, and we're waiting for the discount tickets to appear before seeing it live.

The Year-In-Israel students of the Hebrew Union College-Institute of Religion have created The Book of Purim, a well choreographed, well sung, and well acted parody of The Book of Mormon to tell the story of Mordechai's fortitude and faith, as well as Esther’s courage, in rescuing the Jewish people from their dire fate.

The opening number "Shalom," is based on "Hello," the opening number from The Book of Mormon. It's the best Purim video we've seen this season.  In the original "Hello" a devout, handsome, supercilious missionary-to-be, Elder Kevin Price, leads his classmates in a demonstration of the door-to-door to attempt to convert people to Mormonism. In the Purim version, the door-to-door visitors try to leave copies of the Megillah at each house as they explain the story of Esther, Mordechai, Haman, and Achashverosh.

If you have the time, it's worth watching the complete 16 minute production, which we're sharing below.

Here's the original "Hello" song from The Book of Mormon, just in case you're curious as to what the Purim parody is parodying.  Enjoy!