Review: The Book of Mormon

[Smackie Chan]

No, not a review of the actual book, but of the Broadway play from the creators of South Park, Trey Parker & Matt Stone, with Robert Lopez. Admittedly, I'm probably not the most qualified critic of such musical productions, having only seen one on Broadway (The Addams Family, starring Brooke Shields as Morticia), and only one other production (Spamalot!) by a touring company. The show we attended was at the Kennedy Center Opera House in DC, which, I’ve been told, is where Screw_Michigan lives.

The play centers on two 19-yr-old Elders embarking on their two-year Mormon mission - Kevin Price & Arnold Cunningham. Elder Price is a top-of-his class kinda guy the rest of the Elders look up to, while Cunningham, uh, isn't. He's more of a Patton Oswalt-type character; short, unkempt, excitable, and lazy, with a tendency to embellish the truth, shall we say. While the other Elders are getting paired up and given assignments to Norway ("Land of gnomes! And trolls!"), France, and Japan, Price & Cunningham, predictably, get paired with each other. I have to believe at least one of the playwrights is familiar with our little family of smack boards, since when one of the missionaries, Elder Thomas, introduces himself, he says, “The elders here all call me Elder Pop-Tart.” Price's dream location for his mission is Orlando, and he hopes (and prays) that the hard work he has put in and favorable status with those making the assignments will result in his getting his desired locale. Of course, such is not the case, as he & Cunningham are assigned to Uganda.

Upon arrival at the African village, their luggage is immediately stolen, and they are introduced to the corrupt & evil tribal chief, General Buttfucking Naked, whose hot Nubian daughter, Nabulungi, has her name consistently mispronounced by Cunningham (Jon Bon Jovi, Neutrogena, Neosporin, Necrophilia, and Nikki Minaj are among the names he calls her). Price & Cunningham meet up with the other Elders of District 9 whose arrival preceded theirs, and are told that, to date, their mission of converting the locals to the Mormon faith has resulted in a grand total of zero baptisms. The story takes off from there, with Elder Cunningham’s vivid imagination, combined with the fact that he admits to having never read the Book of Mormon, setting the stage for his attempts at convincing the jungle bunnies of the benefits of becoming Latter-day Saints and the relevance of the Book to their daily struggles.

The audience is educated as to the basic teachings of the Book of Mormon and how it differs from other Christian religions, with appearances by Moroni, Mormon, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young, and, of course, Jesus. While familiarity with South Park is not essential to fully enjoy the play, there are winks & nods to the show that regular viewers will get and appreciate, such as depictions of Hell and some of its residents, including Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Genghis Khan, and Johnny Cochran.

While I am in no way an authority on dance, the individual moves and choreography of the play are hilarious. The play features 21 songs, with highlights including “You and Me (But Mostly Me),” “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” “Man Up,” and “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream,” the latter two featuring somewhat impressive guitar licks from Ethan Pakchar. The play is divided into two acts, with Act I being more humorous and having better music, as was the case with The Addams Family and Spamalot!. But all in all, the acting, dancing, music, dialog, scenery, and production were outstanding, making for a thoroughly enjoyable two-and-a-half hour experience.

Unbridled irreverence and over-the-top offensiveness are the hallmarks of Parker & Stone, and both shine through in The Book of Mormon, as exemplified by the English translation of “Hasa Diga Eebowai” (which I won’t divulge here at the risk of spoiling for those who may wish to attend the play at some point; however, I won’t be so courteous in TuneTown). If you find sacrilege and heresy distasteful, or are otherwise easily offended, I would not recommend this play. Then again, I wouldn’t recommend this board if that were the case. But if pokes at religion don’t bother you, and the production comes to a playhouse near you, I strongly suggest you attend The Book of Mormon. You will be entertained.

[Wolfman]

Thanks for the warning. If figured as much. To each their own. If they had real balls, Parker and Stone would do a send-off on Islam. Something tells me they would avoid that and pick on the Mormons knowing the only bad thing that might happen to them is a couple young guys in shirts and ties riding bicycles show up at their mansions to evangelize. The easy prey gets mocked, just as the wounded antelope is the lion's dinner.

[Smackie Chan]

If they had real balls, Parker and Stone would do a send-off on Islam. Something tells me they would avoid that and pick on the Mormons knowing the only bad thing that might happen to them is a couple young guys in shirts and ties riding bicycles show up at their mansions to evangelize.

They have lampooned Islam on South Park, and have received thinly-veiled death threats for doing so, as well as being censored by Comedy Central.

[Jay in Phoenix]

Nice review Smackie. I had a chance to see the show and it was everything you said and then some. In spite of Wolfies protestations, Parker and Stone have plenty o' stones, and they aren't afraid to toss 'em around. Brilliant writers and brilliant music as always. Say what you will about them, they spread it around to all sides, especially those that deserve the lampoonings. No fear at all.

[Left Seater]

Mrs Seater is going to check it out while she is in NYC at the end of this month.

[BSmack]

Thanks for the warning. If figured as much. To each their own. If they had real balls, Parker and Stone would do a send-off on Islam. Something tells me they would avoid that and pick on the Mormons knowing the only bad thing that might happen to them is a couple young guys in shirts and ties riding bicycles show up at their mansions to evangelize. The easy prey gets mocked, just as the wounded antelope is the lion's dinner.

Actually, although they send up Mormons on South Park, they end that episode with a stinging rebuke towards religious intolerance. Watch it for yourself.

http://www.southparkstudios.com/full-ep ... ut-mormons

[Smackie Chan]

Actually, although they send up Mormons on South Park, they end that episode with a stinging rebuke towards religious intolerance.

Fairly typical for SP. While they take unconventional routes to get there, most episodes end with "I learned something today..." followed by a moral or common sense message.

[L45B]

Saw it on Broadway last February, excellent show. No shortage of clitoris mutilation jokes, if you're into that sorta thing.

Especially having lived in Mesa AZ at one point (very high Mormon populous), was very appreciative of all the nuances of naive humor.

While we're talking Broadway musicals, for anyone visiting NYC in the near future, I would also recommend:

- Kinky Boots
- Pippin
- Once (although the original leads have now moved on)
- Newsies
- Wicked
- Jersey Boys

We're going to see Matilda next month, would expect to eventually be on this list as well...

[Left Seater]

So Mrs Seater couldn't go while in NYC so we went last night.

One correction to Smackie's post, the daughter doesn't belong to General ButtFucking Naked but to the village "mayor".

Lots of laughs despite musicals not being my favorite way to spend three hours. I laughed and had a good time. Lots of south park type humor and the part where Elder Cunningham changes the book of Mormon to keep the villagers interested is pretty funny. He claims that Prophet Joseph Smith fucked a frog to cure himself of AIDS, that Joseph Smith died of a bad case of the runs, and heaven was Salt Lake City. All laugh out loud moments.

Two additional funny moments came unexpectedly. We went to the opening night of the traveling show here in SA and the guy playing the village Dr was new to the production. He actually started laughing out loud at the scene where Elder Price has the book of Mormon shoved up his ass by General ButtFucking Naked and he is looking at the x-ray. This caused a few of the other cast members to start laughing and the guy playing Elder Price actually had to look away from the audience. As a side note the Dr through out the production is always popping up to mention he has maggots in his scrotum.

The second part was watching the audience reaction around us. my wife's company is a founding member and as such we were surrounded by blue hairs who were not used to hearing the f bomb on stage. Their gasps and facial expressions alone were worth attending.

[Derron]

He claims that Prophet Joseph Smith fucked a frog to cure himself of AIDS, that Joseph Smith died of a bad case of the runs, and heaven was Salt Lake City. All laugh out loud moments.

He actually started laughing out loud at the scene where Elder Price has the book of Mormon shoved up his ass by General ButtFucking Naked and he is looking at the x-ray.

You owe me 2 monitor screen cleanings. The whole Prophet Joseph Smith fucked a frog to cure himself of AIDS was just more than a mouthful of coffee could handle first thing in the morning.

[Left Seater]

Can you imagine if this production was called The [Book of] Quran and included comedic sketches with the same basic plot (e.g., an Islamic scholar having the Quran shoved up his ass by a Jewish general)?

The liberals would be all over that production and would have it shut down inside of a week.

[Goober McTuber]

The show we attended was at the Kennedy Center Opera House in DC, which, I’ve been told, is where Screw_Michigan lives.

I can totally picture Screwball as the Hunchback of Kennedy Center.