Review: THE BOOK OF MORMON at Ohio Theatre

THE BOOK OF MORMON, which makes a return visit to Columbus Oct. 8-13 at the Ohio Theatre (39 E. State Street downtown), is a once-in-a-lifetime kind of musical.

And if Matt Stone, who created the musical with South Park co-creator Trey Parker and lyricist Robert Lopez, has his way, there will never be another one.

In a 2012 interview with entertainment publication COLLIDER, Stone was asked if he and Parker had any plans to make another musical.

“No – these are hard as shit. And what we’re learning is that they’re never done,” Stone said. “(With South Park) we finish the show, we send it off, it goes on the air – and the next morning honestly half the time I wouldn’t be able to tell you what that show was about. Theater - it’s just not like that. You must take care of it.”

The fact THE BOOK OF MORMON is a one-and-done production is a mixed blessing. It is blasphemous and profane on one hand and yet hilarious and iconic on the other. Once the doorbell rings on the opening number “Hello,” a portal to a different type of musical is opened.

There is no parental rating system for musicals, but after watching THE BOOK OF MORMON, some might believe there should be. It is not for the easily offended, but those who open that door are in for an unforgettable evening.

For those unfamiliar with the show, THE BOOK OF MORMON is the story of two missionaries who are thrust into Uganda for their two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Elder Price (played by Sam McLellan), the self-assured, Alpha missionary, is partnered with the mega insecure Elder Cunningham (played by Diego Enrico), who describes his role as to “stand next to you and watch.”

After witnessing the murder of a villager by a ruthless warlord (Dewight Braxton Jr.), Price becomes traumatized and seeks to abandon his post for the sunny confines of Orlando. (This is a comedy, right? Stick with me.) This leaves the wildly incompetent Cunningham to take over. Cunningham has a propensity to bend the Book of Mormon to meet the needs of the villagers, adding in characters from STAR WARS and LORD OF THE RINGS to complete the text.

Enrico, who took over the role a little less than two months ago, has forged a ying-yang chemistry with tour veteran McLellan. Enrico encapsulates that goofy awkwardness and has that sly grin of someone who is getting away with something but is aware of the consequences of his actions. McLellan, on the other hand, starts out with an aww shucks kind of confidence but when adversity happens he is painfully aware of the inadequacies of his faith. His crisis of faith when he sings, “Heavenly Father, why do you let bad things happen? More to the point why do you let bad things happen to me?” in “Man Up” is not played for laughs but seems genuine.

Keke Nesbitt navigates the role of Nabulungi seamlessly as the wide-eyed dreamer of a better place in “Sal Tlay Ka Siti (Salt Lake City)” and the accepting convert of Cunningham in “Baptize Me.”  A classic bit of the show is Cunningham’s routine butchering of Nabulungi, calling her Jonbonjovi, Noxzema, and a host of other absurd mispronunciations. Nabulungi smiles and rarely corrects him.

The beauty in THE BOOK OF MORMON is that it relies on the characters on the periphery as much as it does those three main players. Watching the squirming discomfort of the LDS Missionary President (Trevor Dorner) as the ensemble of villagers act out Cunningham’s version of the story of Joseph Smith is one of the show’s many highlights as is the interaction among Price and Cunningham’s fellow missionaries in “Switch It Off.”

Given the venom in which South Park attacks other religions like Catholicism and Scientology, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints gets off easy.  While Parker and Stone’s script with the clever word play of Lopez pokes at some of the church’s doctrine, the script doesn’t go for the cheap laughs at its history with polygamy or its temple garments (known as the Mormon magic underwear).

It doesn’t fling mud at LDS as much as it paints its followers as a compassionate, well-meaning group of naïve disciples. When it first came out, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints even took out ads in the show’s playbill saying, "You've seen the play...now read the book.”

It would have been interesting to see where Parker, Stone and Lopez would have gone with their next musical. However, perhaps that doorbell will go unanswered.

Photo credit: Julieta Cervantes

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