Hill Cumorah Pageant begins Friday

This Friday evening, the quiet of the Hill Cumorah hillside in Palmyra will be broken, when the strains of the processional march is heard introducing the opening of the famed Hill Cumorah Pageant, the oldest and largest outdoor pageant in America. About 640 members of the cast move swiftly through the audience in a processional march reminiscent of the medieval dramas.

It is a colorful sight. There are prophets, priests, and kings dressed in exotic Meso-American style costumes. The procession includes believers and unbelievers, Lamanite dancers, warriors wielding swords and battle axes, members of wicked King Noah's court, headdresses of real deer antlers, and gleaming brass shields and helmets.

There is an audible gasp from the audience when all 640 reach the great seven-tiered stage (half the size of a football field) and stand with their backs to the audience, and in one dramatic moment turn in unison to a music cue and face the audience. The pageant has made its first dramatic statement and the excitement mounts as the drama unfolds.

The question is often asked. How do you put a group of 640 amateurs and volunteers together and come up with a pageant of such scope as the Hill Cumorah Pageant? Jerry Argetsinger, the former pageant director, says the answer lies in commitment. "They believe in the message performed on stage. They are volunteers and many come at great personal sacrifice." The cast members pay their own expenses, including airfare, food and lodging.

The directors have said that if it were professional Broadway theater, it would take at least three months to cast this many actors. The directors do the casting in one Saturday morning. They are in rehearsal that afternoon, with a full run-through on Wednesday night. They are cast according to physical stereotype. Voice is not important. All lines are lip-synched. The cast members are spread out on the field in small groups arranged according to gender and age. Everyone gathers in designated areas in different parts of the field. There is one main director, Rodger Sorensen from Idaho, who followed Argetsinger last year. There are four additional directors, three choreographers and a "battlemaster" for the battle scenes. By noon everyone is cast in their respective parts.

The cast is chosen by application and, when they arrive, everyone receives a part. There are no stars. Two years ago when Donnie Osmond and his family came they had to compete just as everyone else did. People were surprised that even a star like Donnie had to try out. Argetsinger always said that those who do not receive the speaking parts are happy because "they are proud to be crowd."

State-of-the-art theatrical productions with breathtaking visual special effects (on a hillside two miles from the nearest village) are exciting surprises. The Hill Cumorah setting is the appropriate location for the story as it unfolds on stage. The magnitude of the hillside calls for a large cast and accommodates the battle scenes and dramatic moments. Important events in the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints took place at the Hill Cumorah. It is not only significant to their history, but their spirituality as well.

Ten scenes unfold as the Pageant dramatizes the story of a small group of citizens from Jerusalem as they leave their homes shortly before the great Babylonian conquest of their country about 600 B.C. Warned by a prophet that Jerusalem is about to be destroyed, they migrate to the Western Hemisphere. Here in the Americas during the next thousand years, these refugees multiply into a mighty civilization. The expansion of their cities, their wars, their commerce, and their religion is chronicled in the Book of Mormon.

The history was recorded by ancient prophets onto brass plates and the Mormons believe the record was buried in the Hill Cumorah by their last great prophet, Moroni. The plates were delivered to the young Joseph Smith, September 21, 1827. With divine guidance it was subsequently translated by him from the ancient hieroglyphics and became The Book of Mormon - a Second Witness for Christ.

The high moment of the drama arrives when the resurrected Christ appears descending in the night sky in fulfillment of Book of Mormon prophecy. In a poignant moment, Christ cradles the little children, mingles with the people, heals the sick, and then ascends and disappears into the black night sky.

The Pageant is free and is presented at dusk, about 9:15 p.m., July 9, 10, 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17. There is seating for 9000, with grassy areas for lawn chairs, blankets and picnics and plenty of free parking.

It is located 23 miles southeast of Rochester on Route 21 or two miles north of Interstate 90, exit 43. Food is provided by the Lions and Rotary Clubs.

top of page

Copyright © 1999
Courier-Gazette, 613 S. Main St. Newark, N.Y. 14513
All Rights Reserved