Theatre: The Book of Mormon at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (October 2019)

The Book of Mormon is a musical comedy first staged in 2011. The play is a satirical examination of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints' beliefs and practices that ultimately endorses the positive power of love and service. The script, lyrics, and music were written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (best known for creating the animated comedy South Park) and Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the music for Avenue Q.

 

The Book of Mormon follows two Latter-Day Saints missionaries as they attempt to preach their religion to the inhabitants of a remote Ugandan village. The earnest young men are challenged by the lack of interest from the locals, who are distracted by more pressing issues such as HIV/AIDS, famine, female genital mutilation, and oppression from the village warlords. 

In 2003, after Parker and Stone saw Avenue Q, they met with the musical's co-writer Lopez and began developing the musical, meeting sporadically for several years. Parker and Stone grew up in Colorado, and references to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had been commonplace in their previous works. For research, the trio took a trip to Salt Lake City to meet with current and former Mormon missionaries. 

The show opened on Broadway in March 2011, after nearly seven years of development. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded indifferently; however, they did purchase advertising space in its playbill in later runs. The Book of Mormon garnered overwhelmingly positive critical responses, and set records in ticket sales for the Eugene O'Neill Theatre. The show was awarded nine Tony Awards, one of which was for Best Musical, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The original Broadway cast recording became the highest-charting Broadway cast album in over four decades, reaching number three on the Billboard charts. 

The Book of Mormon has grossed over $500 million, making it one of the most successful musicals of all time. As of July 27, 2019, it is the 14th longest-running Broadway show surpassing 42nd Street. 

Synopsis

Act I

At an LDS Church Missionary Training Center, devout, supercilious missionary-to-be Elder Kevin Price leads his classmates in a demonstration of the door-to-door method to convert people to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ("Hello!"). Price believes if he prays enough, he will be sent to Orlando, Florida for his two-year mission, but he and Elder Arnold Cunningham, an insecure, compulsive liar, find out that they will instead be sent to Uganda as a pair ("Two by Two"). Price is sure he is destined to do something incredible, while Cunningham is just happy to follow ("You and Me (But Mostly Me)"). 

Upon arrival in northern Uganda, the two are robbed by soldiers of a local warlord, General Butt-Fucking Naked. They are welcomed to the village by Mafala Hatimbi, where a group of villagers share their daily reality of living in appalling conditions while being ruled by the General. To make their lives seem better, the villagers repeat a phrase that translates as "Fuck you, God!" ("Hasa Diga Eebowai").

Price and Cunningham are led to their living quarters by Nabulungi, Hatimbi's daughter. They meet their fellow missionaries stationed in the area, who have been unable to convert anyone to the Church. Elder McKinley, the district leader, teaches Price and Cunningham thought suppression, a widely accepted method of dealing with the negative and upsetting feelings ("Turn It Off"). By the time they go to bed that night, Price is riddled with anxiety, but Cunningham reassures him that he will succeed and that, as his companion, Cunningham will be by his side no matter what ("I Am Here for You"). 

Price is certain he can succeed where the other elders have failed, teaching the villagers about Joseph Smith through a song that begins as a tribute to Smith but eventually descends into a tribute by Price to himself ("All-American Prophet"). The General arrives and announces his demand for the genital mutilation of all female villagers. After a villager protests, the General murders him. Taking every last measure to protect her, Hatimbi commands Nabulungi to stay in their house with all the doors locked and windows closed. She protests, insisting that the women of the village won't have to stay in hiding if they just listen to the missionaries, as they hold the secrets to liberation, protection, and eternal happiness. Though her protests to go out and talk to them fail, she calms down after remembering how she was moved by Price's promise of an earthly paradise and dreams of going to live in that new land with all of her fellow villagers ("Sal Tlay Ka Siti"). 

The mission president has requested a progress report on their mission. Shocked by the execution and the reality of Africa, Price decides to abandon his mission and requests a transfer to Orlando, while Cunningham, ever loyal, assures Price he will follow him anywhere ("I Am Here for You [Reprise]"). However, Price unceremoniously dumps him as mission companion. Cunningham is crushed and alone, but when Nabulungi comes to him, wanting to learn more about the Book of Mormon and having convinced the villagers to listen to him, Cunningham finds the courage to take control of the situation ("Man Up"). 

Act II

When the villagers begin to get frustrated at Cunningham's teaching of the Book of Mormon and leave, Cunningham quickly makes up stories by combining what he knows of LDS doctrine with pieces of science fiction and fantasy. Cunningham's conscience (personified by his father, Joseph Smith, hobbits, Lt. Uhura, Darth Vader, and Yoda) admonishes him, but he rationalizes that if it helps people, it surely cannot be wrong ("Making Things Up Again"). 

Price joyfully arrives in Orlando but then realizes that he is dreaming. He is reminded of the nightmares of hell he had as a child and panics when his nightmare begins once again ("Spooky Mormon Hell Dream"). During this dream he sees Satan, Jeffrey Dahmer, Johnnie Cochran, Genghis Khan and Adolf Hitler. Price awakens and decides to re-commit to his mission. 

Cunningham announces several Ugandans are interested in the church. McKinley points out that unless the General is dealt with, no one will convert. Price, seeing the chance to prove his worth, sets off on the "mission he was born to do". After re-affirming his faith, he confronts the General, determined to convert him ("I Believe"). The General is unimpressed and drags Price away.

Cunningham concludes his preaching and the villagers are baptized, with Nabulungi and Cunningham sharing a tender moment as they do ("Baptize Me"). The missionaries feel oneness with the people of Uganda and celebrate ("I Am Africa"). Price is seen in the village doctor's office, having the Book of Mormon removed from his rectum. Meanwhile, the General hears of the villagers' conversion and resolves to kill them all. 

Having lost his faith, Price drowns his sorrows in coffee. Cunningham finds Price and tells him they need to at least act like mission companions, as the mission president is coming to visit the Ugandan mission. Price reflects on all the broken promises the Church, his parents, his friends and life in general made to him. 

Nabulungi and the villagers perform a pageant for the mission president to "honor [them] with the story of Joseph Smith, the American Moses" ("Joseph Smith American Moses"), which reflects the distortions put forth by Cunningham, such as having sex with a frog to cure their AIDS. The mission president is appalled, orders all the missionaries to go home, and tells Nabulungi that she and her fellow villagers are not members. Nabulungi, heartbroken at the thought that she will never reach paradise, curses God for forsaking her ("Hasa Diga Eebowai [Reprise]"). Price has had an epiphany and realizes Cunningham was right all along: though scriptures are important, what is more important is getting the message across ("You and Me (But Mostly Me) [Reprise]"). 

The General arrives, and Nabulungi is ready to submit to him, telling the villagers that the stories Cunningham told them are untrue. To her shock, they respond that they have always known that the stories were metaphors rather than the literal truth. Price and Cunningham arrive just in time to use Cunningham's lies of the latter being resurrected after being eaten by lions to scare the General and his men away. Price rallies the members of the Church and the Ugandans to work together to make this their paradise. Later, the newly minted Ugandan elders (including the General) go door to door to evangelize "The Book of Arnold" ("Tomorrow Is a Latter Day"/"Hello! [Reprise]"/"Encore"). 

Response

The Book of Mormon contains many religious themes, most notably those of faith and doubt. Although the musical satirizes organized religion and the literal credibility of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Mormons in The Book of Mormon are portrayed as well-meaning and optimistic, if a little naïve and unworldly. In addition, the central theme that many religious stories are rigid, out of touch, and silly comes to the conclusion that, essentially, religion itself can do enormous good as long as it is taken metaphorically and not literally. 

The Book of Mormon received broad critical praise for the plot, score, actors' performances, direction and choreography. 

Vogue Magazine called the show "the filthiest, most offensive, and—surprise—sweetest thing you’ll see on Broadway this year, and quite possibly the funniest musical ever." 

New York Post reported that audience members were "sore from laughing so hard". It praised the score, calling it "tuneful and very funny," and added that "the show has heart. It makes fun of organized religion, but the two Mormons are real people, not caricatures." 

Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times praised the music, and stated: "The songs, often inspired lampoons of contemporary Broadway styles, are as catchy as they are clever." McNulty concluded by stating "Sure it’s crass, but the show is not without good intentions and, in any case, vindicates itself with musical panache." 

Peter Marks of the Washington Post wrote: "The marvel of The Book of Mormon is that even as it profanes some serious articles of faith, its spirit is anything but mean. The ardently devout and comedically challenged are sure to disagree. Anyone else should excitedly approach the altar of Parker, Stone and Lopez and expect to drink from a cup of some of the sweetest poison ever poured." Marks further describes the musical as "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years." 

However, The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout called the show "slick and smutty: The Book of Mormon is the first musical to open on Broadway since La Cage aux Folles that has the smell of a send-in-the-tourists hit. ... The amateurish part relates mostly to the score, which is jointly credited to the three co-creators and is no better than what you might hear at a junior-varsity college show. The tunes are jingly-jangly, the lyrics embarrassingly ill-crafted." Other critics have called the show "crassly commercial" as well as "dull" and "derivative". 

The show's depiction of Africans has been called racist. NPR's Janice Simpson notes that "the show doesn't work unless the villagers are seen mainly as noble savages who need white people to show them the way to enlightenment." She further criticized the depiction of African doctors as well as the references to AIDS and female genital mutilation. Max Perry Mueller of Harvard writes that "The Book of Mormon producers worked so hard to get the 'Mormon thing' right, while completely ignoring the Ugandan culture".The Aid Leap blog noted that "the gleeful depiction of traditional stereotypes about Africa (dead babies, warlord, HIV, etc.) reinforced rather than challenged general preconceptions", and "the Africans are just a background to the emotional development of the Mormons". 

Eugene O’Neill Theatre

The O’Neill Theatre, named after playwright Eugene O’Neill, is owned and operated by Jujamcyn Theaters. The house can accommodate up to 1108 guests and has been home to big hits, Big River, Spring Awakening, and the long-running 2011 Tony Award Best Musical winner, The Book of Mormon. 

Designed by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it was built for the Shuberts as part of a theatre-hotel complex named for 19th- century tragedian Edwin Forrest. The Forrest Theatre opened on November 24, 1925, with the musical Mayflowers as its premiere production. 

The venue was renamed the Coronet Theatre in 1945, with renovations by architects Walker & Gillette. In 1959, it was rechristened the O'Neill in honor of the American playwright by then-owner Lester Osterman. It later was purchased by playwright Neil Simon, who sold it to Jujamcyn Theaters in 1982. Jujamcyn is one of the three leading Broadway theatre companies, and since 2009, Jujamcyn Theaters has been owned and operated by Jordan Roth.