Mailbag: ‘Book of Mormon’ is crass and a bore

Re. “Commentary: Close the book on `Book of Mormon,’” (June 21): Finally, a review of the “Book of Mormon” that hits the nail on the head.

James P. Gray’s commentary in the Daily Pilot was spot-on. I have been amazed at the praise for the “Book of Mormon.” It’s like everyone has drunk the same Kool-Aid.

The musical is crass and insulting, and the music just isn’t that good. If you like juvenile humor, I suppose you could say it is funny. But tell me how this was judged the best musical of the year and a Tony Award winner.

There isn’t one remarkable musical number from the play. How can it be compared with the great musicals by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Lowe, Leonard Bernstein or Andrew Lloyd Webber? It can’t. And, like Gray, I am not a prude, and I am not a Mormon. I just didn’t think it was that great or entertaining.

Sharon Fisher

Newport Coast

*

Toll penalties too punitive

Re. “Transit agency extends toll road grace period,” (June 24): I am one of those caught by this toll road change, and I have to say the new system and the “grace period” are a farce.

I used the 241 to go to and return from an interview on a Friday. The 48-hour period to set up an account and pay the toll is too little time. With the interview bumping up against the weekend, I didn’t remember until Monday, but by then it was too late. I had to wait for the citation.

The citation is another affront. The $3.25 toll has fines and fees that total approximately $98. And since I used the 241 both ways, that fine was doubled. The “grace period” was applied to only one of those, and it reduced the fine to $5. It did not eliminate it.

I find the fines exorbitant on such a small toll, and the implication that the toll road agency is somehow working with drivers is false. Instead the agency is suggestive of a loan shark squeezing us for every nickel and dime it can get.

John Sullivan

Corona

*

Gun control doesn’t stop violence

I see the Daily Pilot has printed another column advocating gun control (“Commentary: We’re a nation held hostage by gun nuts,” June 20). If gun control works, why isn’t Chicago the safest city in America?

John Feeney

Costa Mesa

*

City allowed Westside to decline

What we have not heard is why City Hall has allowed so much neglect in Costa Mesa, resulting in distressed properties, and why its only solution to problems it allowed is to bulldoze in favor of making someone else a higher profit.

And by doing this, they would offer the less fortunate residents of Costa Mesa no transition option other than to simply evaporate during the redevelopment.

James H. Bridges

Costa Mesa

*