Entertainment
I’m Very Late To The Party, But The Book Of Mormon Is An Absolute Masterpiece
By Robert Scucci
| Published
This past weekend, I celebrated my birthday by going to see The Book of Mormon for the first time at The Tennessee Performing Arts Center (TPAC). My wife bought us tickets, which I have not looked up the price for because I don’t want to have a heart attack, and I finally checked off the last box I needed to earn the best kind of bragging rights: to the best of my knowledge, I’ve finally seen every single project that Trey Parker and Matt Stone have their names attached to.
I have my own La-Z-Boy BASEketball (also a gift from my wife), and I fall asleep to the sound of the South Park DVD mini-commentaries more than I’d ever care to admit publicly. I’ve watched all of their college skits, and even the ill-fated and short-lived Princess series that the duo animated with Macromedia Flash.
The one thing that was missing from my life was The Book of Mormon, and for a pretty stupid reason. When the musical premiered in 2011, I was fresh out of college (read: broke) and starting to do that whole “career” thing (read: trying to move out of my parents’ house). So what it comes down to is that I’m cheap, and even though I would take the occasional trip to NYC to play shows with my bands, I never jumped at the opportunity to see the damn thing until this past Sunday.
I’m overjoyed to report that, as somebody who will blindly consume everything Trey Parker and Matt Stone put out, I’m more than willing to forget about Seasons 27 and 28 of South Park because The Book of Mormon is their magnum opus, and it’s not even close. The version of the play I saw didn’t feature any of the original cast, but the production was such a well-oiled machine that I don’t think that matters much. The songs hit hard, the jokes lit up the room with laughter, and I’ve never had so much fun cackling at other people’s misfortune because it’s all framed so wholesomely.
All About Mormons
This is where I come clean and admit that I’ve never attended the theater outside of the occasional high school trip when I was in the symphonic band and got dragged to the opera or symphony while competing. I was relieved when my wife told me I didn’t need to wear a tie or anything like that, and even more stoked when I found out I could order a hot dog and a Diet Coke for a nominal fee. The theater itself was beyond efficient. The only comparison I have in recent memory is a typical movie theater trip, where the concession line could potentially take you away from the film you’re trying to see for a not insignificant amount of time.
TPAC has a firm cutoff for stragglers, which worried me, but to their credit, they belted out concessions like nobody’s business. After looking for parking during CMA Fest (we gave ourselves plenty of time, relax), we were getting down to the wire.
The play itself is exactly what you’d expect from Trey Parker and Matt Stone. If you’re a longtime fan of South Park, you already know exactly what they think about the Mormons after watching the Season 7 episode “All About Mormons” (dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb-dumb!). The thesis presented in that episode is a simple one: the religion itself is often criticized for claiming that Jesus Christ visited the Americas, and that its scripture came from golden plates that only Joseph Smith could see and translate. It doesn’t hold up to scrutiny, but the flip side is that Mormons are also considered some of the kindest and most wholesome people you’ll ever meet, so that’s the tradeoff.
The Book of Mormon pushes this sentiment to extremes when the young, naive, and idealistic Elder Price and Elder Cunningham are shipped off to their first two-year mission assignment. Elder Price is dead set on going to Orlando, Florida, but as luck would have it, he’s paired with Cunningham, an emotionally immature pathological liar who means well but can’t help getting himself into heaps of trouble when left unsupervised.
They quickly learn that they weren’t adequately trained to handle the very real, very deadly problems awaiting them in Uganda, where a warlord named General Butt-F*cking-Naked rules with an iron fist and everybody fears for their lives. It’s a perfect odd-couple, coming-of-age story that uses the Mormon religion as its vehicle to show the insurmountable odds stacked against these young missionaries, and how they handle them as two kids from Utah who have, up until this point, lived very sheltered lives.
It Holds Up, Even If I’ve Never Seen It Before
My biggest fear going into The Book of Mormon for the first time was whether the humor would still land. Generally speaking, most things that were considered irreverent or offensive just a few years ago seem tame by today’s standards, especially when they’re rooted in topical humor. It’s the reason I think South Park’s most recent run may have been funny in the moment but won’t hold up 10 years from now as anything worth revisiting.
Heck, in the South Park documentary, 6 Days to Air, Matt Stone commented on the show’s early seasons and compared them to Yo Gabba Gabba! when discussing what they’re allowed to get away with now. With that in mind, my enthusiasm was guarded, but the conflicts presented in The Book of Mormon are not only as old as time, they’re universal. There is still civil unrest in developing countries, and young men and women still do missionary work, meaning the entire premise holds up without feeling dated.
As for the humor itself, it’s shocking how many different people were into The Book of Mormon. Songs like “Hasa Diga Eebowai” hilariously, and profanely, spell out the kinds of perils the characters face in Uganda, but then you get naively wholesome songs like “Sal Tlay Ka Siti,” which is all about starting fresh in the elusive and mythical paradise known as Salt Lake City, Utah. There’s really something for everybody here so long as you don’t mind a gratuitous amount of curse words peppered through each song and dance number.
Understudy Didn’t Break The Illusion
Between Act I and Act II, the role of Elder Cunningham was swapped out, and we were told over the loudspeakers that Jacob Aune would be replaced by Keith Gruber for the remainder of the musical. For what reason? I don’t know. Aune was magnetic, and his boisterous presence and enthusiasm for messing everything up for Elder Price (Ethan Davenport) never felt phoned in. I wondered if he fell ill or something because, if he was fighting off whatever caused the change, I couldn’t tell at all.
Honestly, the set changes were so efficient, even with the lights completely killed at times between musical numbers, that I wondered if Aune had been injured while everybody was shuffling around backstage and had to be swapped out quickly, though I’m only guessing here. His understudy, despite having brown hair instead of red and a noticeably different build, didn’t miss a beat. I’m no expert, but when one of the leads is swapped out right before his character’s big number, “Making Things Up Again,” and the show continues without a single hiccup, I’ll always be impressed.
It was also a treat to see two very talented individuals portray the same character, which allowed me to see what each performer brought to the table and how they contributed to the overall show. I’m calling this experience a treat because I’m notoriously cheap, and this will probably be the only time I venture out to see The Book of Mormon. I felt like I got a two-for-one deal!
The Book of Mormon was everything I thought it would be, and it may very well be Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s crowning achievement. Just like the most timeless South Park episodes, the musical doesn’t lean on topical humor, and its jokes will still land another 15 years from now. I watched elderly women laugh their asses off at jokes about maggots living in a poor Ugandan’s scrotum, and people my age cover their mouths when Elder Cunningham finally converts Nabulungi after essentially telling her that Mormonism is Star Wars.
I got lost twice looking for the bathroom line during intermission, and at one point I spit up my Diet Coke during “Hello! (Reprise)” toward the end of the musical. Don’t worry, I caught it in my shirt, and nobody was harmed.
If you’re like me and hate crowded places but love all things Trey Parker and Matt Stone, you owe it to yourself to check out The Book of Mormon, which is currently running shows all over the country as part of its 15th anniversary celebration.