The Book of Mormon
with book, lyrics, and music by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (of South Park Fame)
and Robert Lopez (Avenue Q) is an irreverent, satirical, hilarious, sparkly
romp of a musical that tells the story of two Mormon missionaries who are sent
to Uganda and the trials they face.
Elder Price, the golden, athletically built, popular Elder (who just
knows that Heavenly Father will send him to his dream mission location of
Orlando) and Elder Cunningham the socially awkward, Sci-Fi obsessed, outcast
are placed in this highly unfavorable mission location to deal with angry
warlord generals, AIDS ridden locals, and a troupe of massively unstable and
ineffective Elders. This show isn’t for
everyone, it’s satire of Mormonism actually indicts all religions in people’s
willingness to believe outrageous things as a means to grab onto hope.
The Fox Theatre in
Atlanta played host to this touring company and, while a bit cheesy in it’s
over the top Arabian Nights décor, was a wonderful venue. The show takes place inside a proscenium that
looks like the Mormon temple in Salt Lake City,
but with windows that flash in different colors with the music and
topped with a spinning Moroni it feels more like a Disco temple. The lighting and set were fabulous, I was
amazed at the things they were able to do with a tour set, it had a floor that
allowed the pieces to move on their own, blasts of steam, and the most epic
disco balls I have ever seen. The
costuming was great as well, there were lots of quick changes that moved
effortlessly and they were visually astounding.
“Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” had dancing coffee cups, an electric guitar
playing Satan, Genghis Kahn, and one of the sparkliest Hitlers I have ever
seen.
The music gives nods
to multiple styles of Broadway music and Disney Lion King mockery abounds. Songs like “I Am Here For You” and “Sal Tlay
Ka Siti” bring in emotional layers to the characters that help this show go
deeper and save it from becoming a two hours long episode of South Park. The music is well written and funny on its
own and I loved the Cast Recording going in so I knew I would like the
show. What I didn’t know was how the
amazing choreography would just make the show 3000 times (YES 3000 TIMES!!)
funnier. Casey Nicholaw’s choreo was
epic, to say the least. It was funny and
modern and referenced the music and gave each character the chance to shine. He used African dance but morphed it into
this offensive wonderful dance for “Hasa Digga Ebowai” so many middle
fingers!!! “Two By Two” was a song that
never really shone for me until I saw it with the dancing and it became this
delightfully funny number that is now one of my favorites. I personally enjoy dance and have seen
multiple shows from Broadway musicals to local dance recitals and have NEVER
seen anything like what he did, the choreography alone was enough to make me
want to see the show again and again.
I am always hesitant
to see a tour cast of a show, but BoM did not disappoint. Elder Price was played by Mark Evans,
recently off his West End stint as Fiyero in Wicked, he is part of an exchange
program between American Equity and UK Equity.
I however did not know this until speaking with him after the show (I
didn’t have a chance to read my playbill before the show). His American accent is flawless, it actually
took me a few minutes to wrap my head around his real accent. The Fox is a large theatre and he filled it
with this wonderful sense of joy in his performance. Christopher John O’Neill is an inimitable
Elder Cunningham. Going into a role
originated by Josh Gad must have been daunting, but O’Neill grabbed this role
and made it his own. I can only liken
him to a young quirkier Paul Giamatti.
His energy and relentlessness in this role made me tired just watching,
and this was a two show day for him.
With his little head twitches, effusive dancing, and self-conscious tics
O’Neill brought a sweetness to Cunningham that turned into a weirdly attractive
sexuality in “Man Up” and by the end I was ready for him to baptize me as
well! The entire cast was wonderful and
Samantha Marie Ware’s (Nabalungi) voice is a delight to listen to it makes one
wish “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” was even longer.
The Book of Mormon was a
wonderful show and I left it with sore cheeks and abs from laughter and a hoarse
throat from cheering. While many would
be offended by this show it would be more from the amount of obscenities,
references to sodomy, and giant phalluses than from anything related to
Mormonism. I was pleasantly surprised by
the audience’s reaction in Atlanta. I
assumed they would be fairly reserved but the house was filled with loud
raucous cheering and laughter and a standing ovation during curtain call. It takes a certain kind of irreverent person
to enjoy BoM and it pleases me to know that there are enough of us in this
country to keep this show alive.
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| Elder Cunningham, Chris O'Neill |
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| Elder Price, Mark Evans |
