Hear it. Feel it. Live it.
Their love shaped a movement. Their faith changed history.
Hear it. Feel it. Live it.
Their love shaped a movement. Their faith changed history.
Available Wherever You Consume Music
Available Now!
More than a decade in the making, listen to the sweeping new concept album that brings to life the faith, love, and sacrifice of Joseph and Emma Smith and all the early Saints who helped restore the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The Project
Why Joseph Smith?
Why Joseph Smith?
BROTHER JOSEPH is a grand, mega-musical based on the epic true-life story of Joseph and Emma Smith and their work to restore the fulness of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their story is told through song, dance and dialogue. It is currently a work-in-process launching first as three concept albums; a 4.5-hour spiritual journey
BROTHER JOSEPH is a grand, mega-musical based on the epic true-life story of Joseph and Emma Smith and their work to restore the fulness of the everlasting Gospel of Jesus Christ. Their story is told through song, dance and dialogue. It is currently a work-in-process launching first as three concept albums; a 4.5-hour spiritual journey performed by an international cast backed by a large virtual orchestra.
Why embark on such an endeavor?
Jack Viertal, professor of Musical Theatre at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and accomplished Broadway theatre executive, wrote, “Unlike in any other kind of story, characters in musicals keep interrupting themselves to burst into song. They dance, they leap, they speak one line and sing the next; they convey what’s in their brains in dialogue; but they turn what’s in their hearts into melody and movement.”
This is why Joseph’s story needs to be told through this uniquely wonderful medium: because religious conversion is a story of the heart; of deep spiritual feelings and impressions - it is not an intellectual exercise. For most of us, we embraced Jesus Christ as our personal Savior the moment we felt the truthfulness of the message rather than after we successfully reasoned out the particulars in our minds.
Let’s take the story of Ezra Thayer, an early convert to the restored gospel as an example:
Ezra heard Joseph’s brother, Hyrum, preach at a meeting in the yard of the Smith house. After the meeting, Hyrum handed Ezra a copy of the Book of Mormon. “I said let me see it. I then opened the book and I received a shock with such exquisite joy that no pen can write and no tongue can express.” All this without reading a word.
When he opened the book again, he felt “a double portion of the spirit.” “I did not know whether I was in the world or not. I felt as though I was truly in heaven.” [1]
Ezra’s experience was not entirely unique. For many early converts the experience of merely opening the Book of Mormon transcended the actual contents of the book. Most acted on their spiritual feelings more than their sympathy with specific ideas presented in the book. These early converts went on to sell their properties and move their families at great personal risk across oceans and continents all because they felt a burning in their bosom and a deep abiding love for their Savior, Jesus Christ. [2]
So, while words express what we think (and without a doubt they can be beautiful and intellectually satisfying), music bypasses the brain and delivers those words directly to the heart with the ability to transport the listener to new and ever higher planes of being. The great director Steven Spielberg said, "All human beings come equipped to be able to suspend our disbelief, to be transported more by music than any other single art stimulus. Music...will take us places that no other medium or art form can take us.” [3]
Therefore, while the many wonderful books published about Joseph, Emma and the Restoration are replete with delightful details, and while the numerous heartfelt testimonies of Joseph's divine mission are beautifully articulated, I am compelled to present his story through music to transport the living experiences of the restoration directly to the hearts and souls of all those who have ears to hear.
This is why I embark on this endeavor.
I hope you find the time you spend listening to BROTHER JOSEPH a sublime and spiritually satisfying experience. The process of creating it has certainly been that for me.
[1] Larry C Porter “A study of the origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the states of New York and Pennsylvania, 1816-1831” (1971), page 99 as quoted by Richard L Bushman in “Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism”, page 141
[2] Paraphrased from “Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism”, page 141 by Richard L Bushman
[3] Steven Spielberg, “Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story”
(Picture of "Eternally Bound" courtesy of Julie Rogers at JulieRogersArt.com)
Why Joseph Smith?
Why Joseph Smith?
Why Joseph Smith?
Born in 1805, Joseph Smith Jr. is clearly the most controversial religious figure to have ever graced the American stage. Claiming to have been visited by God the Eternal Father and his son, Jesus Christ, when he was just 14 years old, Joseph’s contemporaries fell squarely and passionately into one of only two camps: Joseph Smith was a pr
Born in 1805, Joseph Smith Jr. is clearly the most controversial religious figure to have ever graced the American stage. Claiming to have been visited by God the Eternal Father and his son, Jesus Christ, when he was just 14 years old, Joseph’s contemporaries fell squarely and passionately into one of only two camps: Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and the mouthpiece of the Lord – or he was a dangerous charlatan who needed to be locked in prison or, better yet, killed. When it came to Joseph Smith, there were no fence-sitters. In the end, the latter camp eventually succeeded in effectuating his murder. Joseph Smith was killed for his testimony of Jesus Christ when he was just 38 years old.
Nevertheless, in those intervening 24 years between his first vision of God the Father and Jesus Christ and his martyrdom, Joseph was able to establish the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He restored a number of doctrines to Christianity, many of them controversial to mainstream Christian believers, such as Christ’s “Plan of Salvation” which is so merciful that it provides salvation even to those who are non-believers; the belief in Heavenly Parents, both a Heavenly Mother and a Heavenly Father; and the doctrine of eternal progression. In other words, achieving a place in heaven is not the ultimate objective for our souls. There is more work to do and more things to learn after this life on earth.
Today, the church Joseph established has a total membership of more than 17 million people worldwide; has published the Book of Mormon in 113 languages and provides more than a billion dollars in humanitarian aid in over 180 countries annually.[1]
Joseph was continually persecuted for his beliefs and teachings. He was poisoned, beaten, tarred and feathered, unjustly imprisoned, sentenced to die by firing squad, arrested at least 42 times and saw six of his children die in infancy. Financial difficulties plagued him and his wife all the days of their lives, seldom having a home they could call their own.
Indeed, Joseph led an epic life. Poor and barely educated, the odds against Joseph doing anything worth remembering were substantial. Yet, from the time he was just 14 years old, hardly a day passed that something extraordinary did not happen to him. His journey is one worth remembering and the trials, travails, and prejudices he experienced have meaningful lessons for us even in our day.
This is why I work to tell his story. There is something in Joseph’s story for all of us.
[1] See: https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/2023-statistical-report-church-jesus-christ and https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-jesus-christ-caring-summary-2023
Who I Am
Why Joseph Smith?
Who I Am
I am a believer.
I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Since joining, I have spent an enormous amount of time studying the life of the Prophet which has only strengthen my belief that he was in fact everything he claimed to have been and indeed he saw everything he claimed to
I am a believer.
I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on my testimony of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Since joining, I have spent an enormous amount of time studying the life of the Prophet which has only strengthen my belief that he was in fact everything he claimed to have been and indeed he saw everything he claimed to have seen.
For me it simply boils down to this: living the precepts of the Gospel as revealed through Joseph Smith has enriched my life. I find that my life is infinitely better and happier than it was before I joined the church. So then for me faith becomes a conscious decision. I choose to believe and as I seek to draw my soul closer to the Lord, I continually seek for and find more reasons to continue to believe.
As I see it, Jesus Christ did not qualify his promise, “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: for every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”[1]. In other words, if one seeks for reasons to believe, one will find them; contrariwise, if one seeks for reasons to not believe, one will find those as well. So I choose to seek for and find reasons to believe. I find that my faith makes me happy and fills my heart with hope and love.
I feel my Savior’s love every day and I am grateful to Joseph and Emma Smith for suffering through all their afflictions so that I could come to experience the joy of knowing Jesus Christ through His restored gospel... and I want to share their story with all those who are willing to honestly listen.
[1] Matthew 7:7,8; KJV