The Book of Mormon
A great night at National Theatre.
Many consider The Book of Mormon totally outrageous, as it follows the adventures of a mismatched pair of missionaries, sent around the world to spread the Good Word. Book, music, and lyrics, are by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. Original direction is by Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker. It is at the National Theatre only until May, 3rd.
The story begins at the Latter- day Saints (LDS) Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, where the enthusiastic and confident Elder Price, in this production played by the incredibly talented Ethan Davenport, is excited about his mission. He hopes to be sent to a desirable location like Orlando, Florida. Instead, he is paired with the socially awkward, and imaginative, Elder Cunningham, played by the multi-talented Jacob Aune who has a tendency to embellish the truth. They are great playing off each other, singing, dancing, and just bringing joy to the stage.
Together they are assigned to a remote village in Uganda, plagued by poverty, famine and violence, from a local warlord known as the General. The missionaries quickly realize the villagers are much more concerned with their dire circumstances than with any religious teachings. Elder Price has a hard time with this, while Elder Cunningham adapts quickly. He creates fantastical stories in his efforts to get the locals to accept what he is bringing to them. He borrows from popular culture to make the religious teachings more acceptable.
The irreverent humor which follows, the satirical take on organized religion, cultural misunderstandings, make this so much fun from beginning to end. Beneath the humor the play does explore themes of friendship, faith, and the importance of helping others. They discover this may actually be more important than adherence to strict religious doctrine. As the story unfolds both Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, with the help of the locals, undergo significant personal growth, and learn compassion, finding that more valuable than some of the dogmatic beliefs they had been taught.
The entire cast is brilliant but a clear standout, aside from the two leads, is the character Nabulungi, played by the talented and beautiful, Charity Arianna. She has a voice one could listen to all day.
The show is two hours and thirty minutes with a fifteen-minute intermission, and the time just flies. One has to laugh at the scenes with Jesus, and a surprise toward the end, has the show updated with an appearance by Jeffrey Epstein. The audience howled at that. The singing, dancing, acting, all laced with incredible humor, just leave you wanting more. Applause rang out throughout the show after every number, and there was a long, well-deserved, standing ovation at the end.
The creative team has done a fabulous job including Scenic Designer, Scott Pask; Costume Designer, Ann Roth; and Lighting Designer, Brian MacDevitt.
The Book of Mormon will unfortunately only be at the National through Sunday, May 3rd and is nearly sold out. But if you can grab a ticket, do so now online.