Written by the creators of the television series South Park, “The Book of Mormon” is a musical satire in which two Mormon missionaries are sent to Uganda, Africa, to take on the most challenging location in Mormon history.
If the dangerous animals don’t kill you then the AIDS, or crazy war generals, will.
This musical has a classic hero’s journey story arc.
The main characters, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, are brought to a world seemingly different from their own; a faithless village that even has their own word to curse God whenever anything remotely bad happens.
When faced with a difficult challenge, as one does when in Uganda, Elder Price does what any great prophet hero does, and runs away.
This musical is hilarious and is a great introduction to Broadway musicals. As a newbie to the musical theater scene I was intimidated by the premise, but the small Eugene O’Neill Theatre was inviting and a great home for “The Book of Mormon.”
The sets were well made for a small theater, while still having on-stage props the theater also had large frames around the stage. The frames were interchangeable and were a great use of their small space.
I quite enjoyed the exaggerated set of Uganda. The set consisted of the small village that the missionaries resided in, which included small huts made of mud and various animal bones and bamboo stairs.
This set is so clearly juxtaposed with the rest of the play. The majority of the play takes place in the Uganda set, however as the play goes on you get used to the background and it starts to melt away. When the scene is changed it is either to a lighter and cleaner looking scene, which portrays the main character’s journey into a different world.
I think this production was done exceptionally well. The details that you don’t notice at first seem to pop up every time the scene changes and gives the viewer a new experience.
If you don’t like well placed gay jokes, then “The Book of Mormon” probably isn’t for you.
The characters were fun and I quite enjoyed Elder McKinley, played by PJ Adzima, who was the leader of the Mormon missionaries in Uganda. Elder McKinley is a closeted gay man who makes sly references throughout the whole play about being gay but then contradicts himself in the song “Turn it Off” where he sings about crushing the box of gay thoughts in his mind.
Many of the side characters only had a few minutes of talking time while on stage, but it was never boring.
All of the characters were well developed and were full of personality and it added to the viewing experience.
There is never a dull moment during this show.
Allison Cannon is a first year student who is exploring their major, but is minoring in Spanish and law, justice and society.