Book of Mormon Raunchy Fun

The rave reviews tendered Book of Mormon are well-deserved. The show is wickedly raunchy fun – just what you would expect from the creators of South Park and Team America: World Police. Missie and I agreed that BoM was the best show presented this year in Playhouse Square’s Key Bank Broadway series.

Book of Mormon shared many characteristics with our favorite show from last season: Addams Family. Both are musical comedies. Both have lovely, tuneful scores that, while you may not leave the theater with any particular song stuck in your head, do a wonderful job of telling the story of the show. (It is for this reason that I own both Original Cast Albums.) Both were performed by incredible casts, skilled in singing and dancing and making the audience lose the performers in their roles.

But BoM is a unique beast unto itself. It is primarily a lampoon of the Mormon faith and, more broadly, people’s ability to invest belief in religious systems, regardless of the facts staring them in the face. But it is also a story of misplaced friendship and the consequences of overconfidence. And it is the tale of the hardships of the Ugandan people. It is a show designed to offend. I found it outrageously fun.

The actors in the production we saw were flawless. Brit Mark Evans as Elder Price was exactly the right mix of bravado and vulnerability. His vocal and dance skills were astonishing.

However, the real star of the show for me was Christopher John O’Neill as short, pudgy, non-conformist, compulsive liar Elder Cunningham. According to the program, this is his first national tour. It definitely should not be his last. His performance danced the knife edge between camp and comedy with brilliance. He was an absolute delight to behold and genuinely seemed to relish the experience. I totally bought into his Book of Arnold and am ready to convert! (As I am a pagan, this is a pretty significant feat.)

The entire cast shone like golden plates uncovered in the midday sun. Carole Denise Jones’s turn as the oft-mispronounced Nabulungi was a masterpiece. Kevin Mambo’s performance as Mafala Hatimbi had a vibrant physicality that enriched his role tremendously. His “bits of business” while singing were practiced and natural. The ensemble performed perfectly, even when wielding gigantic faux phalluses. (The Ugandan converts musical-within-a-musical is worth the price of admission alone.)

I say again, Book of Mormon was this season’s best show.

The search for a Bricco replacement continues. Just a few week previously, we engaged in a disastrous search, wandering around Playhouse Square to find all the restaurants (except Starbucks and Subway) closed on a Saturday afternoon. In the end, we settled for a lackluster meal in a hotel restaurant and with much dissatisfaction, we decided to ditch Guys and Dolls and go to the Bricco Pub in Merriman Valley. This time, we drove to Great Lakes Brewery for a very good, if slightly expensive meal and then headed over to the theater district. After the show, we stopped into Parnell’s Irish Pub for a libation while the parking deck cleared out and then moved on to Bricco Pub.

Although Great Lakes was fine, the convenience of parking in the deck, walking to a decent place for lunch/cocktails and then walking back to our show is desperately missing. I hope we can have something sorted out before the next season begins this fall.