The Book of Mormon a surprise – not a spoof
Ding! Dong! There they are at the door bell again – the two earnest young men in dark suits, white shirts and ties, sure of their mission, clutching their theological tomes and looking for converts. Elder Price and Elder Cunningham are back ringing promoting THE WORD as revealed to that “All-American prophet,” Joseph Smith.
The duo first donned the official missionary uniform back in 2011 in Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez’ The Book of Mormon. Stone and Parker are famous for spawning the scabrous South Park animated television series. Lopez created the potty-mouthed puppet show Avenue Q. (He also wrote the unavoidable Let It Go for Disney’s Frozen.) All three are here credited with book, music and lyrics.
The musical comedy sensation, which continues its successful run on Broadway and in London’s West End, hilariously caricaturing The Church of Latter Day Saints, opened for a six-day run at the Jubilee Auditorium on Tuesday night.
The show is the bromantic story of two young, naive and optimistic Children of God. After having completed their studies at “Mission Central” in Salt Lake City, they are sent off to convert the world. Elder Price, a self-regarding, stainless steel, golden boy is paired with Elder Cunningham, a chubby, klutzy, lonely misfit. A compulsive liar, he admits that he has never really read THE BOOK (“It’s so boring”) and is not above adding bits of Star Wars and The Hobbit to goose up the dull passages.
The two hope to be sent to Orlando – “Land of Sea World and Disney and putt putt golf” – but instead the undynamic duo is sent off to Uganda and a poverty-stricken village coping with AIDS, famine and drought, and ruled over by a trigger-happy warlord (with an odious name that will go unmentioned on this genteel website), who advocates female genital mutilation.
Be prepared for irreverence and racism. The Book of Mormon is meta-raunchy, profane and insults just about everyone.
Yet by some kind of theatrical alchemy, the play manages to balance all that X-rated humour in a modern morality play and a buddy story all set on a good old-fashioned singin’ and dancin’ traditional Broadway template. It pulls off the feat of keeping both atheists and people of faith in the same theatre – smiling and laughing. (One method is to put all the most scrofulous language in the mouths of non-believers who need to be saved anyway.)
Surprisingly, the Church of Latter Day Saints (adherents – not the institution) comes out of it rather well. There is a degree of respect for these two guileless believers who are way in over their heads, but searching for something bigger than themselves. The show gives us a plucky Mormon hero who, in Act II, plants his feet and (movingly) belts out the power-chord-driven anthem, I Believe, in which he proclaims that, in a chaotic and Godless world, he will continue to cling to the tenets of his religion.
You can see why the Church of Latter Day Saints advertise in the program (“Our version is sliiiightly different,” reads the ad) claiming that new adherents have joined their ranks after seeing the show.
The Book of Mormon never loses its sunny spirit and, if you wade through the scandalous underbrush, you may note a theme of faith and doubt, and the universality of the word of God. But then, perhaps you’ll be laughing so hard you won’t notice. The whole show rushes past at a breathless pace.
The Book of Mormon is not a spoof. If it were it certainly wouldn’t be as popular as it is today. There’s a recognizable truth to real characters with real beliefs. It’s also crackling with comic energy and can lift you from crass vulgarity to celestial heights in seconds.
This current Broadway Across Canada production, despite its growing years and the frequency of its visits here, somehow manages to maintain its freshness and bounce. No signs of aging here. Kevin Clay as Elder Price is a commanding presence – believable and charming. He makes a solid hero but his comic timing is so good, and he could probably play the comic lead as well. Connor Pierson’s Elder Cunningham has an impressively supple voice and body, which he twists into comic shapes never designed by mother nature. Kayla Pecchioni is Nabulungi, the lovely village maiden who first embraces the message of the missionaries, is winsome indeed while displaying a formidable vocal range. The rest of the large 23 member cast are all first-rate.
