The Book of Mormon

The next time I start on my rant on how live theater is dead as an art form, remind me of The Book of Mormon.  Matt Stone and Trey Parker, of South Park fame, have enough entertainment clout to have chosen any medium they wanted for their next project.  When they decided to desecrate the Mormon Church with the same incredible wit, satire, and filthy (and I mean filthy!) language that they bring to their television show, they teamed up with co-creator Robert Lopez of Avenue Q fame and chose live theater as their medium.  

Thank you.  What a funny, relevant, filthy, extraordinary show is playing at the Eugene O”Niell Theater and a very welcome entry to a rather lame season.

The ludicrous plot of The Book of Mormon tells the story of Elders Price and Cunningham, two teenage missionaries sent to Uganda to spread the word.  Price is the winner of the two, all Donny Osmond smile and white teeth, expected to do great things.  His companion, Arnold Cunningham, is a sort of mission-school dropout.  As played by the energetic Josh Gad, he’s an overweight kid with a lying problem, thrilled to be going on a mission so he will finally have a friend.  No one expects him to amount to anything.

When Price and Cunningham reach Uganda, the natives don’t want anything to do with either of them.  What with AIDS, war, bugs on their…uhm…private parts and the constant threat of their women being circumcised by a menacing General named Buttfu**innaked, they have enough to worry, and sing, and dance about.  

Price and Cunningham’s fellow missionaries in Uganda aren’t in much better shape than the natives and in a hilarious, show-stopping number Rory O’Malley almost steals the show with “Turn It Off,” leading a chorus of missionary boys in describing how they deal with feelings that aren’t authorized by the Church.

It is all too much for wonder boy Price, who flees, hoping The Church will reassign him to where he has always dreamed Heavenly Father would lead him – the magical world of Orlando.  Instead, he has “Creepy Hell Dream” a hilarious musical number where Satan joins with all that is evil (including dancing Starbucks coffee cups) in scaring Price back to the mission. 

But he is too late.  In his absence, Cunningham was alone winning over the natives.  Since he’s never read the book of Mormon, and thinks it’s boring anyway, he creates his own story of deliverance featuring Jedi and Deathstars.  The man, who no expected anything from, has single-handedly converted more natives than any mission in Africa.

And he did it with a story that seems as plausible as the official Morman story, we are told, of ancient Israelis sailing to the New World burying messages on gold plates dug up millennia later by Joseph Smith. 

In the second act the heathens find happiness, Cunningham finds his calling, Price is back in the fold, and no matter how bizarre your beliefs, as long as you have faith you are a winner. 

I know I’ve devoted a lot of space to plot, but that really isn’t the point of The Book of Mormon; it’s all really a conceit for a cutting parody of all things Mormon, and all things Julie Taymor. Stone and Parker have done their homework and created a very traditional musical, with a story arc, an underdog, a love interest, an obstacle that must be overcome and a finish that wraps it all up in a nice pretty bow.  Songs and lyrics move the plot along, and borrow frequently from other musicals and musical styles, with big Broadway, rock, and lullabies all layered into a musical that moves.  Perhaps the highlight of a show that never stops topping itself is a takeoff on the Uncle John’s cabin scene from The King and I, where the natives perform the Book of Mormon (as described by Arnold Cunningham) to an audience of Mormon elders.  Like The King, they are not amused.

This being a musical parody set in Africa, Stone and Parker can’t help themselves from taking frequent swipes at The Lion King and Julie Taymor, whose Spider-Man disaster is playing down the street.  The biggest laugh of the night comes after the native performance, where one native asks about the Elders “Do they know we are in previews?”

The show is exceptionally well cast and choreographed.  Andrew Rannells, as Elder Price, brings innocence and leading man authority to the role.  Josh Gad, as Elder Cunningham, does what he did in Putnam County Spelling Bee, make you root for the fat, unpopular underdog.  Here he gets to show off his considerable singing and dancing talents (still, I couldn’t help but think what Norbert Leo Butz would bring to the role).  Nikki James, as Nabalungi, the female love interest, does what she can with a non-funny role in a very funny play. 

This may be the hardest working ensemble on Broadway.  Working with just enough electronic wizardry to set the scene, the audience is focused on the people on stage and they never miss a step.

I heard someone on line at intermission say that he was a missionary 21 years ago and it wasn’t all that different from what they were describing on stage.  Between Book of Mormon and Big Love, can we really trust the judgement of Mormon Mitt Romney as President?  I know what Stone and Parker would have to say.