Last week I had the opportunity to go to the Orpheum Theater in Downtown Minneapolis to see "The Book of Mormon." And it was amazing.
"The Book of Mormon" originally premiered on Broadway in 2011 after many years of work by Trey Parker and Matt Stone in partnership with Robert Lopez. Parker and Stone are best known for creating the show "South Park," a show about a group of four Colorado boys and their shenanigans. The two projects share the same crude sense of humor and in the Book of Mormon, it creates the tone of satire about the Church of Latter Day Saints.
"The Book of Mormon" centers on two nineteen-year-old boys, Kevin Price and Arnold Cunningham who are being sent on a two year mission (an important part of growing up Mormon) in Uganda. The two boys are meant to bring more people into the church but find this task easier said than done. The story follows a hilarious series of events that poke fun at the Church of Latter Day Saints and at religion itself. My description will never be able to show you just how witty and hilarious this show is -- you absolutely must see it!
There is no bad seat at the Orpheum Theater. You can be sitting in the front row or you could be sitting in Row U in the Balcony (like I was) and you’ll still feel as if you’re part of the show. You can see every expression on every actor’s face. The lighting is awesome, especially when light is directed onto two disco balls at the front of the theater during “You And Me (But Mostly Me)” that engulfs the entire theater in twinkling light as Elder Price declares that he, and definitely not his companion, Elder Cunningham, is going to go out and change the world and do something incredible with his two year mission.
No difficult conversation is off-limits in "The Book of Mormon." The show sheds dark humor on the intersection between being gay and being part of a religion, religious guilt (“Spooky Mormon Hell Dream”), AIDS, and other topics. The audience can take guilty pleasure in laughing at the notion of “turning off the switch” and letting one’s “hetero side” win. We can laugh at how angry the people in this small village in Uganda are at God and how abandoned they feel when a war general comes to take over the village and ruin their lives even more. We can experience how ridiculous and hilarious a four-minute sexual innuendo comparing baptism and having sex for the first time really is.
Whether you’re religious yourself or not, this show has something in it for everyone. You’ll laugh and will have to fight the urge to sing along with the actors.
The touring group for "The Book of Mormon" has moved on from Minneapolis, but if you ever have the chance to come to this show, it is worth splurging on tickets. Come see the show and bring your friends and family! "The Book of Mormon" is quite the experience.
“Hello, my name is Elder Price / and I would like to share with you / the most amazing book.”
