Has been a major spike in anti-Semitic attacks in New York this year for n.p.r. News I'm Sean Carlson in New York the Russian military has declared its new intercontinental weapon operational They say the weapon can fly 27 times the speed of sound and can make Sherpa new verse while heading toward its target if true that would make the missile much harder to intercept officials say the missile can also carry a payload of up to 2 megatons the flu is in full swing just in time for the holidays the c.d.c. Estimates that 4600000 Americans have had the flu so far this season and it's not over yet N.P.R.'s Sidney leptin reports 25 states are now experiencing high flu activity according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention It estimates that there have been $39000.00 hospitalizations from the flu so far the rate of hospitalization is similar to previously seasons this flu season is still gaining steam according to Dr William Schaffner with Vanderbilt University Medical Center it likely will peak within the month and then several weeks we might see it recede know of course flu is fickle meaning it can be unpredictable last year there were 2 peaks one for each dominant strain of the virus public health experts say it's not too late to get a flu shot Sidney leptin n.p.r. News the major stock indexes on wall street clothes don't most flat to finish the week the s. And p. 500 closed out the day up 110th of a point to finish at 3240 the Nasdaq composite slipped 15 points the Dow Jones Industrials closed up 23 points to end the week at 28645 this is n.p.r. . U.s. Officials say an American defense contractor was killed today in a rocket attack on an Iraqi military base several u.s. Service members and Iraqi troops were wounded the bases located near the city of Kirkuk in northern Iraq officials there suspect the attack was carried out by Iranian backed militia. Legendary Broadway songwriter Jerry Herman has died he was 88 years old Hermann is best known for writing big happy optimistic musicals including Hello Dolly may mental Akasha fall he was also a major contributor to Aids research Hermann died yesterday in Miami from pulmonary complications Jeff Lunden reports one of Jerry Herman's biggest hits was a full which opened in 1983. And while Herman won a Tony Award for the score it was not the best of times the aids crisis was starting in many of the show's cast members died Hermann was diagnosed as HIV positive in 1905 and his lover passed away in 1989 but thanks to a cocktail of drugs he survived and gave back says Marilyn Stasio who coauthored Herman's autobiography he started a lot of hospices he gave a lot of money to Aids causes for n.p.r. News I'm Jeff Lunden in New York at least 12 people were killed today when a plane crashed shortly after takeoff in Kazakhstan another 54 people are said to be hospitalized the back Air jet was leaving the main airport in the city of all muddy when it crashed I'm Dale Willman n.p.r. News in Washington support for n.p.r. Comes from n.p.r. Stations other contributors include age 24 presenting uncut gems starring Adam Sandler Edina I'm Kevin Garnett directed by the staff the brothers now playing in theaters everywhere and a Annie e. Casey Foundation. This is Fresh Air I'm David Bianculli editor of the website t.v. Worth Watching sitting in for Terry Gross we usually spend this time of the season revisiting some of our staff interview picks for the year but since this is 21000 where widening the scope and presenting some of the staff picks for the entire decade today the focus is on Broadway musicals and our guests are some of the artists behind some of the biggest hits of the decade later we'll hear from T.V.'s South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker whose musical The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway in 2011 and became a major hit the biggest hit of the decade was written by our 1st guest Lynne Mann Well Miranda who's musical Hamilton one Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for drama Miranda wrote the music the lyrics the book and starred on stage in the original cast almost 5 years since it premiered in 2015 Hamilton remains the hottest ticket on Broadway Miranda's 1st Broadway show in the Heights was a musical set in a Latino neighborhood in New York similar to the one in which he grew up in 2008 that show also won the Tony for Best Musical Terry Gross spoke with Lynne Mann Well Miranda in 2017 after he had left his starring role as Alexander Hamilton but his hip hop musical about the Founding Fathers remains a cultural phenomenon. Ok so I want to talk to you about how often. And so let's start with my shot and this is Alexander Hamilton making his big statement about how you know he's come to America he's going to make it and he's not giving away his shot you know and you know 1st it's going to be in the Revolutionary War and the new American government so let's hear some of it and then we'll talk so this is Lynne Mann Well Miranda from the cast recording of Hamilton by you know. Such. A trivial scrap. To King's College. I got Maysan astonished. The brains of an old Polish. Knowledge. Speech. Cold. Enough to get a job at McDonald's don't just walk the streets famishing the food is just. A column. For the Flynn man while Miranda from his cast recording of how much and so you are so incredible at these like intricate rhymes that you do in this show how do you assemble all these intricately placed rhymes for me the fun of writing my shot was it's Hamilton's declaration of purpose and I wanted to demonstrate his intellect and his ambition not just in what he was saying but in the way he was saying it so. Prior to his arrival and singing my shot the other guys in that bar right Laurens Mulligan in Lafayette are raw. I mean at the end of the line it's I'm John Lawrence in the place to be 2 pints and I was but I'm working on 3 rhyme at the end of the line and then here comes Hamilton and suddenly you're getting a lot of internal assonance and a lot of internal rhyming and not content to just rhyme at the end of the line but you know have these Big Pun ask lyrics you know I know the action in the street is exciting but Jesus between all the bleeding and fighting not been reading and writing so it's there intricately tied together and if you consider that Hamilton is delivering this in real time suddenly like whoa this is the greatest 1st Tyler who ever lived. And so that was the fun in constructing that and it was many days and months of work to sort of make his lyrics just that much more intricate than everybody else's because he was so smart and so verbal Yes So do you use any tools like a rhyming dictionary do you catalog words do you have like lists of words that you know when you were doing your research did you write down key words that you thought would be good to use in their lives and so that you'd have a kind of storage box like words or phrases that you could work with I would love to tell you that that's exactly what I did that would seem like it took such care but honestly I kind of throw the kitchen sink at whatever situation I'm in at the moment I'm writing so I remember when I got up to Lafayette section and being like wow I don't even have conversational French so going and figuring how do you say in French How do you say how do you count to 10 in French I didn't know any of these very elementary things and doing research just to be able to have it feel tossed off my life I get a mix of French and English while he is learning English in the original colonies and that was you know that amount of time. That I spent for those 2 lines. I'm also sort of a love letter to Lancelot in Camelot which is my my mother's favorite score so have him ending his line with Sam wa which is Lancelot's big tune that's my little love letter to Lerner and Loewe just him saying that So the answer is No I kind of I stop and research whatever situation that's and that being said I did have Ron Cherry Now his book as a guide post do you do anything to be able to capture the speed without tripping up your tongue does it get harder or easier over time when you're doing the same you know wraps every night and again it's really fast intricate lyrics and you have to get them unbeaten do it without stumbling. The fact that I'm a performer helps me enormously as a lyricist I wouldn't give a performer something I couldn't deliver myself. With the occasional exception of Davi Diggs who's just so exceptionally articulate and able to articulate at high speeds that I give him some raps that I probably couldn't deliver the same way at that velocity but I'm not trying to make something is difficult to perform every night needs to proceed at the speed of that character's thought because that's the only way it's actable But you know it's interesting I think the. It was an enormous challenge to do that show every night and yet who to blame but myself I wrote the heart and a and it was also the most thrilling roller coaster every night you know I got to fall in love I got to win a war I got to write words that inspired a nation so how it has such an interesting connection to the White House for 2 reasons the show basically originates at the White House you started off thinking of Hamilton as a concept album about Alexander Hamilton and the 1st time you performed one of the songs the opening song from the show it was at the White House what was it like an evening of American music or something that Michele Yeah about my thing about poetry and spoken word and it was in about May of 2009 you know fresh new administration and thrilled to be asked let's hear a little bit of that performance at the White House from 2000 Here's one man Well Miranda. I'm thrilled the White House called me tonight because I'm actually working on a hip hop album it's a concept album about the life of someone I think embodies hip hop Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton. You laugh but it's true that he was he was born a penniless orphan in St Croix illegitimate birth became George Washington's right hand man became treasury secretary beef with every other founding father and all on the strength of his writing I think he embodies the words ability to make a difference so I'm going to be doing the 1st song from that tonight I'm accompanied by Tony and Grammy winning music director Alex like more. Anything you need to know I'll be playing vice president Aaron Burr and snap along if you like. This is a bastard for Finn son of the whole reason the Scotsman dropped in the middle of the forgot and spot in the Caribbean but probably the wrist disqualified to be a hero when the scholar. Found him father without a father I got. To know a lot. Of stuff. Placed him in charge of the trade in. The way he. Was long. Haul the brawl that Flynn ran while Miranda performing the opening number from Hamilton at the White House with Michelle and Barack Obama in the audience so let's skip ahead when Vice President elect Mike Pence attended Hamilton and he was cheered he was booed when he was there and then when the show was over Brandon Victor Dixon who now plays Aaron Burr came out and read like a little speech directed to Mike Pence and I'll read some of it for our listeners who might not have heard this yet this is what he said Vice President elect Pence we welcome you and we truly thank you for joining us here at Hamilton an American Musical we really do we serve are the diverse America who are alarmed and anxious that your new administration will not protect us our planet our children our parents or defend us and uphold our inalienable rights sir but we truly hope this show has inspired you to uphold our American values and to work on behalf of all of us all of us thank you truly for seeing this show this wonderful American story told by a diverse group of men women of different colors creeds and orientations. So you co-wrote this as minors and you co-wrote. It with the director and the producer doing it right yes with Tommy and Jeffrey we got the heads up that he was coming that afternoon and sort of put that together before his arrival Ok so what was the conversation like between you and whoever else was involved whether you should say something or not. Well the conversation was this is been an incredibly divisive election with a lot of hurt feelings and disappointment and anger on both sides and the overwhelming sort of statement within that statement is we truly hope you lead all of us we're a play that tells the story of our founders with a very diverse company that we feel if you know reflects what our country looks like now and so it was really intended as an olive branch you know please lead all of us and I was what I was really grateful for was that Sunday Mike Pence really was grateful for that and I think got it in the sentiment in which it was intended he said I wasn't offended I assure you that we are trying to lead all of you and so I was I was grateful for his statements and for him stopping to listen you know he didn't have to do that but he did and I thought it felt like a a civil dialogue between us Lynn mineral Miranda the composer and lyricist of the Broadway musical Hamilton speaking to Terry Gross in 2017 more after a break this is Fresh Air. This is Fresh Air Let's get back to Terry's 2017 interview with Lynn manwell Miranda the composer lyricist and original star of the musical Hamilton It's one of our staff picks for interviews of the decade so how often is in part a story about an immigrant and about immigrants and which of course relates to your family background your father came to New York from Puerto Rico for college and your mother technically making him not an immigrant because Puerto Rico is a commonwealth but the experience of Spanish to English displacement right are similar exact in your mother I think moved as an infant to the u.s. From Puerto Rico correct and you grew up in a predominantly Latino neighborhood. You went to like the Hunter College elementary and high school to have that right that's right yeah so you've spoken in the past about this divide between who you were at home and in your that neighborhood and who you were at school with friends what was the difference between those 2 use. Oh man I feel like we've just stepped into codes which because that's what I was doing I think that's that's sort of the interesting thing I mean I think if you want to make a recipe for making a writer have them feel a little out of place everywhere have them be an observer kind of all the time and that's a great way to make a writer I won the lotto when I got into Hunter to get a great free public school education sort of saved my family and I was aware of it I was aware of that I was at a school with kids who were really smart. And I also had friends in the neighborhood who do went to the local school and I remember feeling that drift happen you know when you spend your entire day with someone your closer friends become the ones you go to school with and yet I'd still have sleep overs with the friends from the neighborhood make movies with my friends and they were hood and you know the corner of that I lived in was like this little Latin American country it's one in which the nanny who lived with us and raised us who also raised my father in Puerto Rico never learned needed to learn English all of the business owners in and around our block all spoke Spanish and yet I'd go to school and I'd say I'd be at my friend's houses on the Upper East Side Upper West Side and I'd be the one translating to the nanny who spoke Spanish so it's interesting to become a Latino cultural ambassador when you're 7 you know. So I had that experience as well so you know we change depending on the room we're in I'm talking quieter because I'm talking to Terry Gross. So you obviously you know love rap and hip hop what were the 1st recording. That made a big impression the 1st rap recordings that made a big impression on you. I've several I remember my sister bringing home the Fat Boys when I was really little and also taking me to the 1st hip hop movies I remember going to see Beat Street going to see breakin as a really little kid being sort of dragged along by my older sister I my sister is as responsible for anyone for giving me good taste in music. I remember stealing her copy of Black Sheep a wolf in sheep's clothing and learning engine and. The New York transit law and I think that's probably the 1st rap song I really worked hard to memorize in 6th grade but then also you know naughty by nature and Queen Latifa the music you love when you're a teenager is always going to be the most important to you and I find that it's it's all over the score of Hamilton the quotes are big quotes they're Big Pun these are all New York east coast ninety's rappers and that's when I was a teenager so I'm going to put you on the spot and ask you to do one the 1st rhymes that you remember writing that you still remember today. Well hello my name is Lynn but if you're dyslexic call me male my rhymes are going to kill so I suggest you write. To me I am the you picked to me it coolest can't be read to me because I will be hitting the mike tonight notice my voice went up about 2 thirds it's because at that time I was listening to nothing but the far side and my favorite rapper in the far side had that well there she goes again don't just Ethiopian and now the world around me it was it was that cadence and I think my rapper voice is still influenced by far side but that is those lines were a rhyme I wrote in one thread that I showed to friends and they're like oh right stick to your day come on those are pretty good that's funny. Now so your father has or had a political consulting company he worked with New York City Mayor Ed Koch he still has it and it vising him on Latino Affairs and you apparently wrote jingles when you were younger for this political consulting company that your father. How old were you when you started writing them and please sing one for us well jingles is misleading because it sounds like a way to wake up in the morning it's not they're not like I like Ike they were it's background music for commercials I was basically cheap labor for my dad he would say I need 30 seconds of some jazz for a Sharpton spot that's going to be on w.b. Ls or I need some bright spots for Fernando for air campaign commercial you know I wrote music for Eliot Spitzer before we knew what we knew when he was running for governor and whatever Democrat was running or my dad was working with I was writing the campaign music I like writing the negative ads more than because it's more minor chords you just kind of hit the synthesizer. Politician x. Voted against that and then it ends with bright salsa. Vote politician y. So you know who you're talking about. The compartmentalize you that you are when you are at home and you know that Tino neighborhood in the you you were at school when your friends were white and Latino and then you learned finally to bring all those parts together with the same kind of compartmentalisation happening for you musically you loved Broadway shows and you loved him and it's maybe hard to find people who were in their teens love both. Yeah I mean absolutely and honestly what a fantastic question because theater is really the thing that began to break that divide for me my senior year in high school I was the director of the school musical and I picked West Side Story painfully aware that there were not enough Latino kids to play all the sharks. At hunter must or at least audition and so what that became for me was actually this kind of weird. Way of bringing my culture to school I remember being knocked out when I 1st saw the movie in 6th grade that there's actually a musical number in the canon about whether you should stay in Puerto Rico and live in the United States. You know that's amazing when you're 12 and you grow up in New York and your family is all from this other island to have that conversation happening in front of you in an iconic musical and so. I had my white and Asian sharks and I brought my dad in and he did dialect coaching you know while they're singing America I want the things they're yelling while they're cheering each other on to be accurate I want the accents to be accurate. Our guest is Lynn men will Miranda original star of the Broadway musical Hamilton who wrote the show's music lyrics and book he spoke with Terry Gross in 2017 and after a break we'll continue their conversation we'll also hear another of our staff picks for interviews of the Decade by revisiting Terry's 2011 interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone creators of the Book of Mormon I'm David Bianculli and this is Fresh Air. We're finally on the field and got quite the wrong grants we get the job done so what happens if I go back bring freedom to my people to give it will be with you. Not. To looks like. Someone who is more like a memory where we could speak. To me at least. Expecting . To get the sinew of our Family Foundation supports w.h.y. Wise fresh air and its commitment to sharing ideas sleep encouraging meaningful conversation support for n.p.r. 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Application you can't be counted this message sponsored by Alaska counts and initiative by Alaskans for Alaskans to get a complete count in 2020 This is Fresh Air I'm David Bianculli in for Terry Gross back with more of Terry's 2017 interview with Lynne Mann Well Miranda creator of Hamilton the Broadway Hip-Hop musical about the Founding Fathers won 11 Tonys and the Pulitzer Prize for drama this interview is one of our staff picks for interview of the decade. So I have to ask you about Stephen Sondheim because you have a very interesting history with him 1st of all when you were directing West Side Story in high school he came to your class because he was the friend of the father of one of the students in the cast and spoke so. John white men's Oh you wrote the book for assassins and Pacific overture sculptures Yeah Ok so there's that so you get to meet him in high school and then you get to write the Spanish lyrics for the Spanish production of West Side Story and then you got to be in a production of Merrily We Roll Along which is a great Sondheim musical that always needs to be revived because the original Broadway run was so very short and so this was a city center in New York City Center encores production in fact I want to play just a little bit of you in that which was gracious enough to this I saw you in this in this production so you're playing a lyricist who works with a composer but the composer has kind of like sold out and you know he's just doing like commercial work and the lyricist now has come to think of the composer instead of just being his friend and collaborator Franklin shepherd he thinks of him now as like Franklin Shepherd Inc because he's so much about like deals and making money in this scene like you're getting interviewed on t.v. You're just kind of pretty bitter about the whole collaboration with this composer Now how do you do you work together you know you answer that. How do we work together sure he goes. And I go. And soon we're humming along. To writing the song. 2 and I go. And the phone goes down. And he goes mother mother mother mother yester all mother no dro mother mother mother mother that's going to Rome but her mother mother mother mother do it to Rome quick sorry Charlie 2. So I go. And he go. And I go. And soon we're tapping away. Sorry Charlie secretary intercom guess Franklin Shepard think. The president what I like this Ok that's my guest Lynne men will Miranda you're so much fun and that and I really think doing hip hop rhymes is great preparation for that lyric. Singing Yeah and Sondheim has written so many He's just like the most brilliant lyricist but what are some of the things you feel you learned either from talking with song Hi I'm because I know he also gave you feedback on Hamilton before you actually put it on stage so what are things you've learned from actually talking to him or just from like. Getting intimately acquainted with his work. The thing he always sort of stressed was variety variety variety variety variety when you're dealing with a constant rhythm no matter how great your lyrics are if you don't switch it up people's heads are going to start bobbing in their skin to stop listening to what you're saying so consistently keep the ear fresh and keep the audience surprised and you know that was his sort of watchword throughout the writing of Hamilton this Sondheim song that's closest to comic rap is in my opinion not getting married. Which is they don't is everybody here because of it but if you would like to thank you all for coming to the wedding you do more thing where I'd appreciate your going but more I mean you must have lots of better things to do and not a word of it's Paul remember Paul you know the man I going to marry but I'm not because I never ruined anyone as wonderful as he is thank you all for the gift of the flowers Thanks you all for the card in the showers don't tell Paul but I'm not getting married today anyone who could do that song has an incredible tongue it's absolutely so tricky it's so fast in the words or so it just kind of like dance and funny and rhyme Ian So have you thought about that song a lot in terms of intricate rhyme schemes and what the human always I say capable of without totally. Honestly I think about that song more when people ask me how did you think rap was going to work on Broadway and I go nothing in my show is faster than getting married today. So I don't know what you're talking about there's so much precedent for the work in both quote unquote hip hop and not in terms of patter for the stage but you know what's what's amazing about getting married today is also in a master class in making a lyric easy there are consonants on which you waste air h. There's no h's in that because if you say Ha you've lost half the air in your lungs so it's very. Easy Thank you all as everybody here because if everybody's here I'd like to thank you all for coming to the wedding it's more about breath can. Troll than being a it's not a tongue twister it's very consciously not a tongue twister it's about being able to say it in one continuous breath and getting out of the way and choosing words that do not require any extra air or any extra tongue or jaw work so it's actually not about trying to make it hard it's about making it easy so did you learn that intuitively or did Sondheim tell you that that was as intention to stay away from as many ages as possible and to keep it to things that could easily be said I think I read about that in a conversation he had at some point but I also knew that intuitively because of the hip hop artists I liked who rapped fast you know they're not trying to make something that's hard for them to perform I mean they're trying to make something that sounds impressive and is a joy to deliver trying to think of like a really specific early ninety's example it's not just broke it looks more like a fractured catch that but let's see what we've got to crush that's even 1902 and it's it's fast there's. You and I to watch shows there's plenty of people out there which is ready to pull it while you're trying to jump in front of the bullet young lady no h's so you learn intuitively that like the writer is trying to make something that flows easily off the tongue so did the writer of Alexander Hamilton try to avoid a chance. Writing Well if you will observe that Hamilton is not in any of the fast wrapping that happens on stage right it's George Washington goes Hamilton and Jefferson is the want to go so he knows the do when they're trying to engineer would have included friends I mean so we're not pampering anyone with Hamilton. Well Lemon Well Miranda it's just been wonderful to talk with you I thoroughly enjoyed it thank you so very much Likewise the joy as mine. Lynn Maine Well Miranda is the creator and original star of the hit musical Hamilton Terry Gross interviewed him in 2017 Next up we'll hear from the writers of The Book of Mormon another hit musical of the decade as our staff picks of favorite interviews from the decade continues this is Fresh Air. That's support for n.p.r. Comes from this station and from Capital One committed to reimagining banking offering savings and checking accounts that can be opened from anywhere Capital One what's in your wallet a capital one and a and from the y.m.c.a. a Nonprofit working to fill gaps and bridge divides in 10000 u.s. Communities details about the impact of donations are available at y.m.c.a. Dot net slash giving the why for a better us. This is Fresh Air continuing with our staff picks of favorite interviews of the decade is a conversation from 2011 with Trey Parker and Matt Stone the creators of T.V.'s South Park and the co-creators with Robert Lopez of Avenue Q Of the hit musical The Book of Mormon which $19.00 Tony Awards including Best Musical if you know anything about South Park you would expect that a musical written by Parker and Stone would be irreverent and you'd be right but it's also got heart the story is about 2 young Mormons who are sent on their 1st mission to Uganda where they learn Africa is not like the line King let's start with the opening song set at a mission training center in Salt Lake City where young Mormons are learning door to door missionary technique. L.o.l. My name is Elder Price and I would like to share with you the most amazing book. My name is. A long long time. So many awesome parts. Much this book can change your life hello. My name is Elder Green I would like to share with you this book. This book with you to just. It has. To change. Right. No no. That's not how we do it don't make things up again. True Parker Matt Stone welcome back to Fresh Air and congratulations on the Book of Mormon Thanks Paul thank you to did Mormons come to your door and did your family let them in when you were growing up. They never came to my door I don't think I don't know if my dad would have let them in either yeah we were we live in we grew up in Colorado so we actually we were around a lot of Mormons and we went to school with Mormons and things like that but I think of the 1st time I actually saw them come to the door was in college actually I had some Mormons come to where I was staying in college since then we've had we've had a few and we always try to I always try to start a kind of a dialogue with them but you learn pretty quickly that they are trained impeccably to be able to handle anything but you know with Hello The idea was that that we would you'd reveal that you're at the missionary training center which is in Provo Utah which is where they get they learn all their language skills and they learn their you know what to do when you do get invited into a house and we found out later that missionary training center they actually have like prop living rooms like fake living rooms with actors that you know it's like one of your tests is the go and I go into this fake living room and sit down and do your spiel and you have to deal with this in a in a real situation it's like it's like a holodeck on started driving simulator Yeah so I don't want people to get the wrong idea about how you present Mormonism in your show because you kind of challenge. The credibility of this the literal credibility of the story of the Book of Mormon but you love your characters and you think that eventually they do do good in the world in a way that they expected to but you're not about being like really kind of cynical in this yeah no and I really what what I grew up loving Broadway for was the fact that it at least the you know in all these classics you know they weren't cynical they were they were very optimistic and it offered this kind of there was ended with a big happy number and everything was Ok and as easy as that can seem I loved it you know and that's you know I don't think anyone would want to go see a 2 hour long Mormon bashing that's not what we would want to see that either it's just not obviously you have to have characters that you love and even if you. Things have characters that you love to hate that's fine but you know everyone wants to see a little piece of themselves up there and that's what makes a musical draws people in and so you know like we were saying about the whole thing about this even though this is about a very devout Mormon getting put was someone getting shot around the world and trying to be very Mormon people can relate to just that feeling of being in high school and getting out and thinking Ok well now I'm ready to just go tell everyone what's up and make my mark in the world and it's going to be really awesome and then you get slapped back down to reality you know and I think that everyone can relate to that part of it and also what the reason we knew or work great with Bobby right away was because we all shared this thing where it's like we love the goofiness of Mormon stories we love the you know some of them are so incredulous and yet we really like most almost all the Mormons we've ever met so I have Mormons in the audience enjoyed the musical Do you know I've gotten feedback it's really funny we can actually when we were there for previews and we were there that whole month where we go and watch it every single night and try to change it you could hear the pockets of Mormons you could hear where they were because there's some certain things in the show that are very specifically Mormon and things you you either or at least x. Mormons you know I think you could hear these people little group of people laugh and no one else really got the joke but it and it would just be some reference to something that's very Mormon and and you know obviously it's a select group of Mormons that are going to come to this show of have kind of embraced it and the official church response. Fishel were church response was something along the lines of the Book of Mormon the musical might entertain you for a night but the Book of Mormon the book of scripture well could change or will change your life through Jesus or something like that which is a great many actually completely agree with you totally very big hearted American response it's kind of like they're the Mormon Church's response to this musical is almost like our q.e.d. At the end of it's like See we told you Mormons are that's a cool that's a cool American response to like a ribbing you know a big musical that's done in their name so. It just that was like the end were like there see that's we were talking about because before the church responded a lot of you know people would ask us about like Are you afraid of what the church going to say and train our like they're going to be cool trust us they're going to be cool and people in New York are like no they're not going to be you no matter you guys are going to be protest like no they're going to be cool and I mean I don't know if we totally knew but we weren't that surprised by the church's response we had faith in them yes we had faith we're listening to an interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone from 2011 more after a break this is Fresh Air. This is Fresh Air Let's get back to Terry's 2011 interview with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone their musical The Book of Mormon 19 Tony Awards and their conversation with Terry is one of our staff picks of the decade Ok time for another song. So I want to play turn it off which is this great production number and you know in a lot of musicals there's that big inspiring number where you're told to like you know be yourself and think great thoughts whenever you're sad like put on a happy face or if you fall down pick yourself up and start all over again but this is called Turn it off like if you're feeling something unpleasant just like turn it off it's a song about repressing feelings tell us about writing this song and the kinds of songs that inspired this one. This was a little ditty. I wrote a 1st version of this basically because I just we knew we had to have a big tap number we've got a bunch of dude's And you know white shirts and ties it's like we've got to have a tab number but this is a great example of a sonnet like I had just a little ditty for there was just this rip very repetitive turn it off like a light switch just go click it and I remember Bobby right away saying yet cool kind of runs in place you know like it was the same thing musically over and over and over and this song expand and expand and then we all would sit in the room together and say well maybe it shouldn't just be that it was all just the stuff about gay thoughts and all those jokes and they were great jokes and it worked but then we sat there going Well what else you know maybe we should have other Mormons chime in and other things that aren't just gay thoughts but other things and we started writing the other verses and then Bobby actually wrote the verse about the father the abusive father and then it grew and grew and then Casey came in and turned your co-director our number yeah rector and whatever and turned it from a little tap song into a giant taps and add all this other stuff and so there's just this great song that you watched going from this little ditty to this big Broadway number you know kind of before your eyes so let's hear it this is turn it off from the new cast recording of the Book of Mormon which was co-written by my guess Trey Parker and Matt Stone the creators of South Park. Turn it all like a light switch just go. It's a cool little mole or main trait that we do with all the time when you're feeling certain feelings that just don't seem right treat these pesky feelings like a reading lights turned off like a light switch it's just go. Really hard about that turning. Turning right. When I was young my dad would treat my mom really that every time is my. Turn into. The sad feelings of the fear that I might get cancer too hot. When I was in the rain and I had a friend Steve Steve and I were close as 2 friends could. Lead to another. Was having really strange things for Steve I thought about us on a deserted. What . The. Speech there. For you. Should be with a company. So if you ever feel you'd rather be with her. Family I think it's a good question it off from the new cast recording of the Book of Mormon and the show was co-written by my guests Trey Parker and Matt Stone who also created South Park so every time I hear that song I I laugh. Because it's. It's ironic but it's also it's so upbeat and so catchy and so I don't know the other song for me yet so for me is is is is funny because it's so happy but it's about something that likely all exactly is about early on I think it's kind of the most tragic thing you know and I mean not just for you know like the character that sings is played by Rory O'Malley who just kills it and that song is amazing. Is about a missionary you know who's overseas and obviously gay and the church has just said you know you're not just don't think about that you know which is like no solution at all and but it's not even even if you were just they send these 19 year old kids around the world even if you know they're just the sexual beings you know their sexual animals and they just turn that off and there's just nothing in that you know at that point in the story when price they're now they've landed in Africa they've seen some or they're really questioning what the hell's going on they go back to the mission he says while having some confusing thoughts and then this is the song that's given to them so the song is not supposed to really help you you know he realizes it doesn't really get much he doesn't get much out of it just one more thing I think that the Book of Mormon has something of the quality of South Park in the sense that South Park is just kind of stripped down animation it's down to the basics and there's something so basic about the show it's a great music great performers great orchestrations really original concepts but there's nothing fancy about the sets it's just like it's been was a very conscious decision the reason that we did that is because we did so many workshops in New York in the sort of 3 years leading up to and we do would do these workshops which were no costumes no light just in a big room with Horizon lights and a c. You know 40 people sitting there and it would kill and we're just like Ok all we can do now is ruin this so let's add just enough to make it a beautiful Broadway show but not not step on any toes what's been great to talk with you again congratulations on the success you've been having with the Book of Mormon and thank you so much for coming back to Fresh Air thank you thanks thanks a lot Trey Parker and Matt Stone speaking to Terry Gross in 2011 their interview with Terry was one of our staff picks for interviews of the decade. On Monday show fresh air is ending the decade with a holiday week series of interviews featuring staff picks from the decade on our next edition we'll hear from 2 beloved journalists whom we lost this decade Anthony Bourdain and David Carr for Dane was a food writer a chef and the host of several food t.v. Shows Carr was a respected and very readable media columnist for The New York Times I hope you can join us. One final note since today's show was devoted to Broadway musicals we'd like to acknowledge the Jerry Herman the composer of Hello Dolly and mame died yesterday at age 88 Here's a song from the original Broadway cast recording of mame with Angela Lansbury singing one of Hermann's many famous songs if he walked into my life. Did he need a stronger. Did he knew. That time. a shame I never already. Told. Support for n.p.r. Comes from the station and from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and from the John d. And Catherine t. MacArthur Foundation supporting creative people and effective institutions. 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K s k Anchorage life informed This is Alaska Public Media. Ask. To see the fire because of the teacher it's the single greatest witch hunt in that because his ideas are limited plus whales catch anchovies now news. Live from n.p.r. News in Washington I'm deal Willman rescue teams in Hawaii say they've seen no sign of passengers or crew amid the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed on the island of Kauai the helicopter went missing Thursday night a pilot and 6 passengers were on board the helicopter when it went down the radio host Don Imus has died at the age of 79 in a hospital in Texas where he'd been since Christmas Eve during nearly 50 years on the air Imus's with an acid tongue one legions of fans all this tendency to trade on racism and sexism one plenty of critics as well and P.R.'s Andrew Limbaugh has more his most memorable bit is probably his most infamous in 2007 making fun of the Rutgers women's basketball team some of them nappy headed hos. The comments sparked national outrage and got Imus canceled from his network c.b.s. Though he came back to radio on a different network later that year Imus was born in Riverside California and he began his broadcast career in 1968 he got his own show in New York just 3 years later and he quickly racked up an audience and accolades including hosting the White House Correspondents Dinner in 1986 and while his popularity faded he continued working retiring from Imus in the morning just last year in June buying n.p.r. News Russian military officials say their new weapon which they claim can fly 27 times the speed of sound is now operational they say can also maneuver sharply while in flight which if true would make it much harder to intercept Russian President Vladimir Putin has described the weapons creation as a breakthrough comparable to the 19 $157.00 Soviet launch of the 1st satellite. Police in New York City are increasing their presence in some Brooklyn neighborhoods following some possibly anti-Semitic attacks during Hanukkah police say that early this morning a woman slapped 3 other women in the face and head in the Crown Heights neighborhood that was the 6th attack this week around the city thought to be anti-Semitic. Officials from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the.