Sam McLellan and company in “The Book of Mormon,” North American tour. Photo by Julieta Cervantes.
Providing laugh-out-loud theatre for more than a decade, the nine-time Tony Award®-winning musical “The Book of Mormon” is as fresh and entertaining now as it was when it premiered on Broadway in 2011. Super-confident, Mormon golden boy, Elder Price (Sam McLellan) believes that his prayers will be heard, and he will be assigned to serve his mission in the greatest place on earth—Orlando, Florida. When the church pairs him with an annoying and insecure Elder Cunningham (Sam Nackman) and sends them both to Uganda, the newly minted missionaries find themselves in uncharted territory, surprised to discover that the Book of Mormon might not have all the answers to life’s dilemmas.
…as fresh and entertaining now as it was when it premiered on Broadway in 2011.
With book, music, and lyrics by Robert Lopez and South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the world outside Salt Lake City serves up a cast of characters. Local warlord General Butt F*cking Naked (Dewight Braxton, Jr,) promptly robs Elders Price and Cunningham, Ugandan villagers deal with life’s vagaries by singing, “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” (loosely translated to F*ck you God), and the elders’ fellow missionaries can’t seem to convince a single Ugandan to join the church.
Equally adept at singing and dancing, the chorus delivers some of the show’s most memorable numbers. In “Turn it Off,” the Mormon missionaries sing about suppressing inconvenient feelings. At the end of Act One, Cunningham and the cast decide they must emulate Jesus in an exuberant “Man Up.” Act II includes the riotously funny “Baptize Me,” featuring Cunningham and young villager, Nabulungi (Keke Nesbitt). “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” sees some of history’s most heinous figures hit the stage—Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, and the devil himself, among them.
Some of the costumes by Ann Roth by themselves inspire laughter. Jesus, Joseph Smith, and even O. J. Simpson’s lawyer, Johnnie Cochran, make appearances. Set Designer Scott Pask takes us from Salt Lake City to a Ugandan village, and from spooky Mormon hell to “ancient” upstate New York.
“Book of Mormon” is certainly not free of controversy, but for audience members who enjoy irreverent humor and value critical thinking over conformity, this musical will resonate. For those who have been harmed by religion—a not uncommon occurrence—”The Book of Mormon” can serve as a cathartic experience, training the spotlight on the absurdities manifest in all religion when it replaces humility and empathy with rigid and unyielding doctrine.
Running Time: Two hours and 30 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.
Advisory: Contains explicit language.
“The Book of Mormon” runs through March 17, 2024, at the National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, D.C. 20004. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 202-628-6161 or go online.
