Not since The Book of Mormon’s national tour rolled into Milwaukee three years ago has the city seen such an irreverent, zany, sophomoric – and hilarious – brand of musical theater. Created by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone, The Book of Mormon is still going strong, almost eight years since it opened on Broadway at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre.
Parker and Stone are the creators of the hip animated TV series, “South Park,” in which elementary school kids utter observances that, years ago, would have gotten their mouths washed out with soap. Ditto for the cast of Muppet-like characters in co-creator Lopez’s Avenue Q. The Book of Mormon is choreographed by Tony Award-winner Casey Nicholaw (Mean Girls, Spamalot). The show’s journey – involving two missionaries-in-training for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints—wouldn’t be nearly as successful if the creators had come down too hard on this particular religion, much less religion in general. The show’s creators are assuredly laughing with the show’s concept; and this makes the irreverence palatable, at least to this observer. It makes room for people of faith to express their convictions, even the goofy ones outlined in the song, “I Believe.”
Fast forward to the scene in which the two protagonists, Elder Price (a boy wonder played with near perfection by Liam Tobin), and his slovenly, overweight sidekick, Elder Cunningham (who eventually proves that he’s nobody’s second in command) are introduced to the Ugandan villagers they are supposed to convert. Their church has set up an outpost in this area of Africa, with basically no success. A highlight of the show is when the eager young missionaries are caught up in one of the tribe’s favorite song-and-dance routines. It is their answer to the war, famine, and poverty around them. The young Americans dance and chant with the villagers until the tribal leader (played with an authentic sincerity by Jacques C. Smith) translates the words for the missionaries. Shocked beyond belief at the song’s F-bomb to God, they flee to the missionary house. But things aren’t exactly “normal” here, either. The current missionaries-in-residence advise the newcomers to “Turn Off” their emotions, thus pushing away the frustration and despair that could easily sabotage their purpose. For one missionary, the feelings he must suppress are prohibited sexual ones. Elder McKinley (Andy Huntington Jones) as the gay-leaning missionary pulls off this neat trick with irresistible humor, which otherwise might rankle today’s more open-minded society.
Aside from its off-putting lyrics and dialogue, The Book of Mormon has all the hallmarks of a classic American musical. The catchy tunes are framed as neatly as any song from more traditional Broadway shows. And as for the show’s “irreverence,” it has been embraced by thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of Broadway theatergoers. The Book of Mormon is still drawing in capacity crowds on the Great White Way.
