Andrew Randells and Josh Gad encounter a Ugandan,in The Book of Mormon.
By Hap Erstein
Trey Parker and Matt Stone have been freaking out television’s Standards and Practices folks (a/k/a censors) for almost 15 years with their purposely profane animated series South Park, so it should come as no surprise that their first Broadway musical, The Book of Mormon, will never get any awards for good taste.
They should, however, clear off their mantelpieces for the imminent arrival of multiple Tony Awards for this runaway hit musical, by all accounts the season’s best.
It is the tale of a couple of squeaky-clean, though enormously misguided Mormon missionaries who head off to Uganda to spread the word of Joseph Smith to the perfectly content natives. It shows not only Parker and Stone’s well-established talent for irreverence, but a firm awareness of the tenets of musical theater and a working knowledge of its history.
For when, late in the second act, the carefully but erroneously taught Ugandans enact their version of the genesis of Mormonism, Parker and Stone are savvy enough to relate it in a tongue-in-cheek send up of the Little House of Uncle Thomas sequence from The King and I.
Joining the South Park guys to write the score and script is Robert Lopez (Avenue Q), and the songs have a similar infectious sweetness, with plenty of that show’s shock punch line language. (CBS, which is already wondering how to identify the play The Motherf**ker with the Hat on the Tony Awards, will also have to be resourceful to find a musical number from The Book of Mormon that can be aired intact.)
The main thing is that Broadway has a big fat hit in Mormon, one that is likely to attract a new young audience to the theater, which is great. And even though the religion is certainly the target of lots of ridicule, do not be surprised if this show attracts new disciples to it.
During the day, I pursued a feature story on casting directors, specifically the New York-based casting pros who have South Florida theater clients, talking about how they aid in matching theaters and performers long distance. I had lunch at the Edison Hotel Café (a/k/a The Polish Tea Room) with Janet Foster, who casts shows for Palm Beach Dramaworks. Then I headed downtown to the Pearl Studios, where I met and interviewed Bob Cline, whose clients include the Maltz Jupiter Theatre. It’s turned into a good story.
Then, before dinner with Bill Hirschman of the South Florida Theater Review, my former on-air partner on the Internet TV show Aisle Say, I high-tailed it to Bloomingdale’s to buy a guilt gift for my wife, who stayed home in Florida while I got to play this week in New York.