Book of Mormon

I knew what I was getting into with Book of Mormon at the Orpheum.  While this was my first time seeing the show, I'd heard several songs from the soundtrack and was expecting a hilarious, morally dubious, I-really-should-not-be-laughing-at-this experience. From the moment the curtain raises the show leaps, joyfully, from one middle-finger-at-God joke to another.

Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the guys behind South Park, have carried their penchant for cracking people up over subjects we were all raised to avoid to the stage.  What I found astonishing was how adept the musical is at both laughing at faith and glorifying it.  The central characters' perspective, though misguided and sometimes self-serving in many regards, is also charmingly innocent.  Their dogged belief in their ability to make change is awe-inspiring, given the truly deplorable enemies they face.

The "bad guys" in the story, though physically wrapped up in the persona of General Butt-Effing (see, I can't even type that word, knowing everybody's going to read it) Naked, are actually the disasters of the modern condition: starvation, poverty, AIDS, female genital mutilation, maggots in one's nether regions.  Seriously.  This is in a comedic musical.  Our heroes, joined by a beautiful Ugandan village girl Elder Cunningham repeatedly calls by product lines (Neutrogena, Neosporin, Nicoderm CQ), must not only maintain their faith in the midst of such human trial, they must somehow impart their vision of God to the villagers they encounter.  It seems an insurmountable task, but one that, over time and with a few tweaks to the sacred text (Joseph Smith and the Death Star?), is uniquely successful.

I see a lot of shows around town and I, like most people, often leave a theatre thinking of who I know that would love the production.  I want to spread the word, let people in on all my theatre-going secrets.  This one would prove a bit tricky.  I'm a Christian and while I've watched my share of South Park and enjoy some inappropriate humor, there were elements of this show that gave me pause.  I think any Christian would cringe inwardly at a Jesus Christ -actor using profanity (and that was seriously tame compared to some other moments).  So my recommendation for the show would be to know oneself and one's tolerance for irreverence.  I laughed a great deal, but I would not have wanted to see this show with my Mom. So y'all can take that bit of warning to heart if it's helpful.

If you're comfortable with laughter at the expense of religious deference, this show is a must-see.  The talents are fantastic, and Samantha Marie Ware's Nabulungi (Neosporin, Neutrogena, etc.) is worth the price of admission in and of itself.  It's a fast-paced show with the audience barely able to catch a breath between moments of hilarity, whether they be hobbits, skeletons in the Spooky Mormon Hell Dream, or pink-sequined, tap-dancing Mormons. Sidestepping the occasional moral discomfort, the show provides moments of poignant ingenuity, ridiculing the rules of Religion while embracing the joy and community a belief in God provides. There are moments of beauty wrapped up in all that profanity, and I never stopped smiling.

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