Books I Don't Read on Faith (Book of Mormon recap)

Back (last night) from the touring production of Book of Mormon now installed at the Kennedy Center (just 10 days remaining in the run). The show was critically acclaimed, so, despite the difficulty getting tickets (12 hours on the crashy online members' presale) I had to see it. Blind faith (or at least a trust in the opinions of the Tony voters) worked out in this case! *g*

Probably everything that needs to be said about the show has already been said, so I'll focus mainly on the audience experience. The problems my friends had in the side section of the first tier (which I didn't, being on the end of the center section a row farther back) were sight lines and audio direction. The staging was so flattened and centered that people even in slightly off-to-the-side seats couldn't make out the lyrics and couldn't see the title on the revised Book that the cast holds up at the end. If you never get the punchline, the joke is pointless. It spoiled the experience for my friends.

My complaint was just that the program did not include a list of the production numbers and the names of the characters in them. There were actually two cast lists--the official one and the insert for "at this performance" adjustments. For the record, last night C. K. Edwards replaced Bobby Daye as Guard so that Daye could step in as Mafala Hatimbi for Stanley Wayne Mathis. I have no mental image of those characters at this point, but if there were a list of the numbers they appeared in, I might have been able to figure it out.

Edited to add: Also last night, swing player Antyon le Monte stepped in as the Doctor for Josh Breckenridge, who surrendered that role to serve exceptionally well as the General for Derrick Williams.

I keep my programs. I follow careers, or try to. That's how I know the darling dancer Alex Puette is now performing as Levi, one of the brothers, in the Clay Aiken showcasing of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, another religion-inspired show I had no desire to see except for its cast (Clay, obviously, is the draw. Alex was a bonus. But with only three weeks' notice, it was not possible for me to commit the time or money. Ogunquit's and I-95's legendary traffic was another deterrent).

But I digress, as Clay often compels me! *g*

Book of Mormon was raucous, rollicking, and crude, and very, very funny. I especially loved the "scary, burn in Hell dream" sequence. (Here is another instance of my friends' problems hearing the lyrics--they didn't know Johnny Cochran was among the residents of this nightmare Hell. The "He saved O.J." line was one of the show's funniest.)

The African version of the Joseph Smith/Brigham Young legend was also hilarious, and reminded me of "Small House of Uncle Thomas" in The King and I. Only smuttier.

But the story was also sinister and disturbing. It was a morality fable about blind faith (the Mormon missionaries) and believing in whatever serves your needs (sex with virgins cures AIDS; female sexual pleasure is evil, so the clitoris must be severed).

[SPOILER ALERTS]

While Elder Price (Mark Evans) did learn the lesson of hubris, the inherent evil of telling other people what to believe remained unchecked. The converted Africans picked up the mission of ringing other people's doorbells. And the hubris merely shifted to Elder Cunningham, as the cast adoringly held up their copies of the "Book of Arnold" (the punchline that my friends missed).

That all left me feeling a little depressed at the end of a very entertaining evening. Issues were brilliantly addressed, but ultimately unresolved.

love, hosaa
not insisting that you to agree with me, but would nevertheless find it pleasant if you did