Broadway Across Canada’s “The Book of Mormon” asks what faith really means

by V. S. Wells on November 13th, 2024 at 4:19 PM

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When you think about it, there are actually quite a lot of religious musicals, from Jesus Christ Superstar and Godspell to Two by Two and The Prince of Egypt.

The Book of Mormon is different, being not based on the titular religious text of the Latter Day Saints but instead poking fun at some of the many idiosyncracies of the religion. It’s a pretty toothsome satire—being written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and writer Robert Lopez (he of Frozen and Avenue Q fame)—that isn’t afraid to try and offend, well, everyone.

The show follows two young Mormons, self-important Elder Price (Sam McLellan) and dorky Elder Cunningham (Diego Enrico), on their two-year evangelizing trip. The unlikely duo get sent to Uganda, and there find the local population more concerned with earthly problems (AIDS, famine, warlords) than divine ones. The Mormons already in the area haven’t managed to convert a single person, but they also don’t seem particularly bothered about actually trying to help people.

Pre-pandemic, The Book of Mormon looked a little different. In 2021, 20 Black cast members wrote to the creators expressing concerns with the original script’s racist content. Subsequently, there have been some rewrites designed to give the Ugandan villagers more agency, and to make it clearer that the joke is on the buffoonish Mormon missionaries, not the people they’re trying to “save.” Leading lady Nabulungi (a charming Keke Nesbitt) in particular gets more of a chance to shine, becoming more pivotal to the final climax of the plot.

As a result of the edits, it’s clearer that the musical isn’t meant to be a real depiction of Uganda. Instead, it’s the Mormons’ idea of what rural Africa is like. (Case in point: shock-laugh song “Hasa Diga Eebowai” isn’t actually in Swahili.) It’s a bit of a difficult needle to thread, as making fun of offensive stereotypes can look a lot like perpetuating those stereotypes—especially if they’re ones that the audience members are already likely to hold.

Doing its best to toe that line, the musical goes to great lengths to lampoon Mormonism with specificity (and some accuracy). Elder Price’s “I Believe” is a catchy anthem that repeatedly shoehorns in some of the more egregious beliefs, such as that “God lives on a planet called Kolob,” “the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri,” and “in 1978 God changed his mind about Black people.” (Kinda wild that a religion banned Black people from joining its priesthood until less than 50 years ago!)

Besides all that, it is a genuinely enjoyable musical with a lot of nods to other works. “Orlando” apes “Tomorrow” from Annie, and “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” is a send-up of Little Shop’s “Somewhere That’s Green”. The sparkly tap number to “Turn It Off” harkens back to the olden days of Broadway grandeur, while guilt-ridden “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream” delivers a delightfully batshit experience.

Considering it deals with big topics like religion and race with scattershot irreverence, it’s totally fair if The Book of Mormon isn’t for you. How well the edgy satire has aged in the decade since it first premiered is up for debate. But it remains a surprisingly sweet look at the power of faith, stuffed with tracks you’ll be humming all the way to Utah.