The Hill Cumorah Pageant - An Overview

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You Are Cordially Invited!  Experience the excitement, drama and pageantry of one of America's greatest outdoor theatrical productions. Since 1937, the Hill Cumorah Pageant, a uniquely American drama, has thrilled hundreds of thousands of visitors from all over the world. Today, it is presented in the tradition of the great religious pageants begun in the Middle Ages, but with the advantages of high-technology. Digital sound, state-of-the-art lighting, thunder and lightning and earthquakes all serve as a backdrop to the story. The Hill Cumorah Pageant is an account of the rise and fall of the ancient inhabitants of this continent and the visit of Jesus Christ.  Don't miss this uplifting, family-oriented, free, nighttime drama!

  For Full Pageant Date Info, Click Here                 This is an un-official web site

Volunteers Make It All Free!  The Hill Cumorah Pageant is free to the public because everyone connected with producing the show is a volunteer. The cast of over 600 pay their own expenses to come from all over the U.S., Canada, and many other countries, volunteering their time and talents. 

Broadway Can't Top The Costumes!  Extensive historical research has been done by Rory Scanlon, Associate Dean of College of Fine Arts at Brigham Young University, whose task as Hill Cumorah Pageant costume designer is to make the over 1400 costumes as authentic as possible. All are handmade of natural fiber fabrics, leathers and furs by volunteers. There are over 300 wigs and 100 handmade beards, woven strand by strand. All are carefully stored in special temperature and humidity-controlled buildings.  Spectacular!

Volcanoes, Earthquakes And Theatrical Illusions!  Rick Josephsen, a Hollywood special effects director, has designed many pageant wonders.  Sounds of volcanoes and explosions with special volcanic effects.  A prophet is burned at the stake. A 5,000K carbon arc light "star" with FAA clearance, appears at the Nativity scene. Christ appears in the night sky, descends, and teaches the people!

Daylight Brightness On The Darkest Night!  State-of-the-art lighting on 30 and 50 foot towers illuminates the stages with more than 450 lighting instruments requiring more than 500,000 watts of power for each Pageant performance.

Beautiful Words And Magnificent Music!  The script was written by Hugo and Nebula award-winning novelist Orson Scott Card. The story comes from the  writings of two books, the Bible and the Book of Mormon. The musical score was crafted by renowned ASCAP award-winning composer Crawford Gates. The high-tech digital sound recording was made in the acoustically-famed Salt Lake City Tabernacle with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, a 100 voice children's choir, and the Utah Symphony Orchestra.

Pinpoint Sound And Sound-around!  The sound comes from 75 speakers in clusters on the hill and around the audience, plus giant, 13-foot speaker horns that were developed by Harvey Fletcher, the father of stereophonic sound. The clarity and dimension of the sound system, though unique, has been imitated by many indoor and outdoor music concerts.

Half A Football Field On 7 Levels!  The seven stages, designed by Hollywood's Eric Fielding, rest on 106 concrete footings and are linked by a grid work of  aluminum beams, plat-formed with open waffle grids and front-surfaced with a molded fiber skin. The front stage is rigged with a ship's mast and sail using a counterbalance system. At the conclusion of each pageant season, all stages are disassembled and stored and the quiet, natural beauty of the Hill Cumorah is restored.

Ready in one week!  A team of five directors, two choreographers and a battle master, are led by Brent Hanson, Artistic Director and Associate Professor of Theatre at Dixie College. Miraculously, they turn hundreds of amateurs into skilled theatrical performers and mood-makers within seven days.

Acres Of Lawn For Pre-Pageant Picnics!  Bring your own food, or buy food and drink on the Pageant grounds. Bring blankets or lawn chairs for a pre-show picnic, or use  some of the 9,000 free chairs furnished in the natural lawn amphitheater.  Food service at the Hill Cumorah Pageant is provided by the cooperative efforts of local Rotary and Lions Organizations.  All proceeds go to support local charities.

Near Palmyra, N.Y.  The Hill Cumorah is 23 miles Southeast of Rochester, NY, on Route 21, four miles south of Palmyra, two miles north of New York State Thruway Exit 43. There are interpreters available for the hearing impaired and the grounds are handicapped accessible. For further information, call (315) 597-5851.

The New Hill Cumorah Visitors Center! The Beautiful New Hill Cumorah Visitors Center, the Joseph Smith Farm with its Welcome Center, Sacred Grove, Log Home, 1820's Frame Home, Cooper Shop and Threshing Barn, as well as the Peter Whitmer Log Home, Book of Mormon Historic Publication Site and the Martin Harris Farm are all open year round.  Click Here for information about those areas.

My purpose for making this site.  My family and I were cast members in 1999, 2000 and 2003.  This is an unofficial web site, but I hope that by posting the current 2004 & 2005 basic information and then sharing a lot more, that you will visit the 2004 Hill Cumorah Pageant and come to love it as much as my family and I do!  Basically, my purpose in putting this site together is simple; I love Pageant!

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