For over half a century, The Mormon Miracle Pageant was a staple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Manti. The church ended it in 2019. Now, a scrappy team is trying to bring pageants back to Utah.
A fully original work will debut next summer at the Sanpete County Fairgrounds in Manti, in central Utah.
Pageants are theatrical performances that promote religious faith. The new pageant is called “The Spirit of Freedom,” and unlike its predecessor, it will be non-denominational. It’s about an English reverend from the 1600s who made big sacrifices for his beliefs.
The musical’s rousing theme song says, “I won’t try to hide, I’ll be there with pride, ‘cause freedom rings in me.”
The idea was hatched three years ago over a Thanksgiving meal where Ned Armstrong and his family were talking about the hole left behind by the Mormon Miracle Pageant.
“I feel like our community used to come together as a whole during the summer, and that's kind of gone,” said Armstrong, who’s from Manti.
Tens of thousands of people attended the Mormon Miracle Pageant every summer before the church decided to end its 52-year run. At that Thanksgiving meal, Armstrong’s mother-in-law suggested a new pageant, but this time not about LDS Church history and not sponsored by the church.
“And I just felt, felt fire from head to toe, and just knew this had to happen,” he recalled.
A software engineer by trade, Armstrong doesn’t know how to read music and has no theater background other than acting in one high school play. Despite that, he started to compose songs.
He felt inspired to make the pageant about the Rev. John Lothropp, sometimes also spelled Lothrop or Lathrop. He brought on Arizona historical fiction author Ora Smith to help write and edit the script. She’s also a Latter-day Saint and wrote a book on Lothropp called “The Pulse of His Soul.”
Smith said Lothropp lived when the Church of England was the only lawful church, so his congregation — the First Independent Church of London — had to meet in secret.
“He was willing to risk his life for what he believed,” she said.
The reverend has an impressive roster of descendants. They include Latter-day Saint prophet and church founder Joseph Smith, Presidents George Bush (both senior and junior) and Franklin D. Roosevelt, and former Sen. Mitt Romney.
“The Spirit of Freedom,” however, was adapted from a different book about Lothropp called “Exiled,” by Helene Holt. Armstrong hopes the reverend’s life will inspire people and bring Utahns and Americans together.
“I really believe that anybody who comes to see this production will love their freedoms at a deeper level.”
Hamish Reeves was brought in for the pageant’s score. Armstrong met Reeves at a Latter-day Saint media conference. The Brigham Young University music education student had only been in the U.S. from Australia for five months and was trying to launch his freelance music career here. Reeves was immediately sold.
“He inspired so many generations, and seeing the stuff that he did, I was like, ‘Wow, this is a man whose story deserves to be told,’” he said.
On the piano, Reeves played some of the score he had written and described what was happening at that point in the show — Lothropp is wrestling with his faith. The music is slow and haunting.
“Do I pretend that I'm with the King of England all the way through? Or do I stand up for what I believe and what I know is right?”
Religious pageants date back to medieval times, before even Lothropp was alive.
Their popularity faded around World War I. But the LDS Church kept doing them long after everyone else stopped, said Megan Sanborn Jones, a BYU theater professor and author of a book called “Contemporary Mormon Pageantry.”
She believes theater has been a big part of church culture because the prophet Brigham Young loved it and “felt that theater was one of the best ways to teach.”
Jones pointed out that the Salt Lake Theatre was built before the Salt Lake Temple was.
“They were like, ‘let’s get the theater done,’” she laughed. “We’re gonna work on that and worry about the church buildings later.”
The church announced the end of all Utah pageants in 2018. As the church grew globally, church leaders said they wanted members to focus on gospel learning at home.
But people in these kinds of shows are changed, Jones said, by acting as historical figures, like those who were around Jesus Christ in the Mesa Arizona Easter pageant — one of the LDS pageants still around.
“Because every night they look at this actor who looks like, they think Jesus looks like, and they kneel down in front of him,” she said. “That participatory moment really strengthens your understanding of who Christ might have been as a person. That's a strong testimony moment.”
It’s unlikely “The Spirit of Freedom” will become the next “Hamilton,” but Jones believes it could have a positive impact.
“I believe faith communities are better when they participate in live theatrical events.”
She also said that people are changed when they sacrifice their time to perform for others, and that’s partly why Armstrong put this new pageant together.
“It is such an opportunity to serve people and to be a part of something meaningful and spread light,” he said.
