They call them musical comedies, but you can count on a couple of hands the stage shows that are truly, laugh-out-loud funny. Certainly on that short list is The Book of Mormon, fueled by humor that is irreverent and profane, sprung directly from the fertile brains of South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone.
These two wags are rookies when it comes to writing stage musicals, but fans of their cable TV series and their feature spinoff, South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, know the affection and understanding they have for the genre. And in the course of their story of two naïve Mormon missionaries in over their heads in violence-prone, AIDS-ravaged Uganda, they sprinkle affectionate send-ups of The Lion King, The King and I and others, plus numbers that fit the textbook conventions of musical theater structure.
Book of Mormon took Broadway like gangbusters in 2011 and is still going strong there, regularly selling out and remaining the hottest ticket in town. Nor is the demand on tour much different, but do what you have to — short of converting to Mormonism — to get your hands on some seats at the Broward Center, where a first-rate road company is playing through Dec. 22.
Parker and Stone were savvy enough to surround themselves with creative talent more familiar with Broadway. While the satirical tone is definitely theirs, at least some of the show’s success is attributable to co-composer/co-lyricist/co-book writer Robert Lopez (Avenue Q) and to choreographer/co-director Casey Nicholaw (The Drowsy Chaperone).
The foul-mouthed thumb in the eye to the Church of Latter Day Saints is evident early on, as some of the loopier beliefs of the followers of Joseph Smith pile up. But ultimately the show is more ecumenical, not only suggesting that Mormons do not have a monopoly on curious religious tenets but also that much can be accomplished if you believe in something.
Anyway, overachieving, self-centered Elder Price (Mark Evans) and chubby, fib-prone Elder Cunningham (Christopher John O’Neill) are teamed and sent off to Uganda, which they quickly learn has little in common with the circle of life of The Lion King. Chances are your reaction to The Book of Mormon can be gauged by the merry song the natives sing, Hasa Diga Eebowai, a sly send-up of Hakuna Matata, with a far less printable translation.
The pop culture references keep pouring out. Elder Cunningham has a sketchy awareness of The Book of Mormon at best, since he has never read it. So when describing the history of the church to the Ugandan villagers, he creates a narrative that is equal parts Star Trek, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. And when Elder Price conjures up a “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream,” it is populated with such icons of evil as Adolf Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer and Johnnie Cochran in an elaborate (and overlong) sequence which demonstrates how far Parker and Stone will go for a gag.
Evans has matinee idol looks, all the better to contrast with O’Neill’s slovenly, goofy appearance, but the two play off each other well and together have killer comic timing. Among the squeaky clean missonaries, Grey Henson is a standout as a closeted gay guy who thinks he is better at hiding his sexual orientation than he is.
The Ugandans amuse performing Nicholaw’s tongue-in-cheek tribal choreography and Samantha Marie Ware will win you over as name-mangled Nabulungi, as close as the show comes to a love interest. Unless, of course, you count the love of an audience for an anything-for-a-laugh musical that has more guffaws per square inch than any musical comedy of the past decade.
THE BOOK OF MORMON, Broward Center for the Performing Arts, 201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale. Through Sunday, Dec. 22. Tickets: $54.50-154.50. Call: (954) 462-0222.
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Radio City show: Yes, it’s spectacular
On the other end of the spectrum, not qualitatively but in terms of sheer wholesome family entertainment, is The Radio City Christmas Spectacular, a touring version of the holiday variety show that has been featured in the world’s largest movie theater since 1933.
Refreshed with new scenes that dazzle with high-tech stagecraft as well as nostalgic holdovers from the past, this is the Christmas show for transplanted New Yorkers yearning for yesteryear. And for everyone else who simply wants an enjoyable nudge into the holiday season.
Of course, the stars of the show now at the Kravis Center through Dec. 8 are The Rockettes, those stalwart, statuesque precision dancers who put the kick back in the kick line. These 18 women are rarely offstage, except to change costumes and touch up their hair and makeup and, for all I know, to suck down some oxygen. Then it is back in the spotlight, tapping and kicking up a storm.
The show is divided into 12 scenes, echoing the 12 days of Christmas, which happens to be the theme of a marathon interpretive tap number tailored for the Rockettes. Spelling them every now and then are a sextet of singers who offer carols as filler between elaborate production numbers.
A couple of the numbers actually date back to the original Radio City Music Hall Christmas spectacular — Parade of the Wooden Soldiers and The Living Nativity. The former Rockettes classic has them cross-dressing as timber-stiff toy soldiers going through some military manuevers until they all fall backwards in a line in slow-motion. To see the sequence is to understand why it has been kept in their repertoire for 80 years.
The latter scene is a change of pace from the evening’s secular images of Christmas, a recreation of the Wise Men’s journey to Bethlehem and the manger where the holiday’s namesake was born. The “living” Nativity is impressive, but anyone who has seen it at Radio City Music Hall will surely miss the guest appearances by a sheep and camel.
For sheer theatricality, you cannot beat the first-act finale, New York at Christmas, a “ride” aboard a double-decker bus with the Rockettes, viewing the city’s holiday decorations thanks to a clever digital film projection that simulates movement through midtown Manhattan.
Santa arrives early in the Spectacular, played by Brent Bateman, who has a pleasant deep singing voice and an aptly jolly manner. Explaining why there are so many Santas in department stores and on street corners these days, Bateman cues a scene where the stage is filled with singing, dancing Santas, soon joined by scores more on the movie screen.
Add in indoor snow flurries, air cannons shooting streamers into the audience, giant-sized Christmas ornaments and vintage newsreels of the history of Radio City and you’ve got a spectacular worthy of the label.
RADIO CITY CHRISTMAS SPECTACULAR, Kravis Center, Dreyfoos Hall, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Through Sunday, Dec. 8. Tickets: $40 and up. Call: (561) 832-7469.