Cock-Eyed Irreverence By South Park Creators Spells Utter Hilarity in the Side-Splitting ‘The Book of Mormon’ at the National Theatre
ALEXANDRIA, VA – Hellfire and damnation figure neatly in the wacky and wonderful The Book of Mormon. With book, music, and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone, creators of the four-time Emmy Award-winning animated series South Park, you’ll luxuriate in all the irreverence you can handle. And then some. Winner of nine Tony Awards, the blowout show is legendary for its comedic take on Mormonism and its 21 unforgettably zany songs plus tap dancing and sequin-clad chorus line.
The story focuses on the bicycle-riding young men with skinny black ties and crisp white shirts eager to convert and well-trained in proselytizing. Two-by-two, they comb the earth seeking out sin and sinners and spreading “The Word”.
Elder Price and Elder Cunningham are two of the innocenti. Recently sprung from the church’s Missionary Training Center, they are partnered up for their mission to Uganda, where they’ll rendezvous with other eager young evangelists. Two more disparate comrades are impossible to conceive. Price (Sam McLellan – an absolutely brilliant comedic actor with a fantastic voice) is massively handsome, completely self-centered, and brimming with untested confidence. Ready to take on the world, he is miffed to be conjoined with Cunningham (Sam Nackman, who shines in his debut stage role), a portly nerd lacking self-worth and clinging to Price like a limpet mine to a submarine.
Hoping to prove they’ll be worthy in the afterlife, the two unlikely apostles set off on a journey so convoluted, riotous, and ungodly that your hair may stand on end. At a send-off staged by their parents, replete with a dancing witch doctor who references The Lion King, the hapless acolytes are told, “You get out there and you baptize those Africans!”
Instead, the boys realize converting the whole human race is not as easy as they had been led to believe. They soon discover the natives have their own brand of mythology, and it’s not any more far-fetched than Mormon founder Joseph Smith’s story of the never-before-seen-by-a-living-soul golden plates he personally excavated in upstate New York.
These Mormon-themed side skits are re-enacted hilariously by Joseph Smith (Trevor Dorner) and the Angel Moroni (Sean Casey Flanagan) in dream sequences comparing the origins of the Latter-Day Saints to the natives’ beliefs. But which of these tales is more fanciful?
Warlords and AIDS are on the minds of the Ugandans who have a middle-finger-raised musical response to God in the number “Hasa Diga Eebowai.” Dewight Braxton, Jr. plays the one-eyed General and bloodthirsty warlord who threatens to circumcise all the girls in the village by the end of the week.
There’s a sweet love story between the beautiful Nabulungi (Keke Nesbitt) and Cunningham, the most unlikely suitor, who woos her with dreams of a Mormon paradise. In her beautifully sung number, “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” (her African pronunciation of Salt Lake City), she places her hopes in his hands.
Though it takes a village, this is most certainly not The Sound of Music. And Nabulungi’s convincing her tribe to get baptized isn’t based on truth – Cunningham has convoluted the church’s teachings to suit his ignorance of its contents. “I actually never read it,” he confesses. (If you’re wondering how the Mormon hierarchy reacted to the comedic blasphemy, the quote is, “You’ve seen the play. Now read the book.”) But Cunningham is determined to make Nabulungi his first convert and croons “Man Up,” describing Jesus’ bravery as “growing a pair.”
Credit to Directors Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker plus Jennifer Werner for Direction and Choreography; Scott Pask for the Scenic Design; Sound Design by Chad Parsley; Costumes by Ann Roth; Lighting Design by Brian MacDevitt and the 12-piece kick-ass orchestra directed by Larry Hockman and Stephen Oremus. Twenty-two numbers and a nine-piece orchestra make this musical irresistible.
Highly recommended!!!
With Vince Klassen as Mormon; Sean Casey Flanagan as Moroni/Elder McKinley; Trevor Dorner as Price’s Dad/Missionary Voice/Elder McKinley/Mission President; Gideon Chickos as Cunningham’s Dad; Trinity Posey as Mrs. Brown; DeVon Buchanan, Justin Forward and Thomas Ed Purvis as Guards; Lamont J. Whitaker as Mafala Hatimbi; Jarret Martin as Doctor. Ensemble – Jarius Miquel Cliett, Matthew Dant, Justin Forward, Craig Franke, Lars Hafell, Kisakye, Evan Lennon, Joey Myers, Alexis Ijeoma Nwokoji, and Chelsea M. Smith.
Through March 17th at National Theatre, 1321 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20004. For tickets and information, visit www.TheNationalDC.com.
