Review: The Book of Mormon – Edinburgh Playhouse

One of the most successful new musicals of the 21st century, thus far, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone’s The Book of Mormon needs little introduction. Edinburgh audiences, for example, have hardly been able to escape proclamations of ‘The Mormons are Coming!’ on the side of every second bus.

It’s precisely what you would expect from a musical birthed from the minds which first created South Park. That is to say, no one and nothing is above being ridiculed in pursuit of the biggest possible laughs. So when freshly graduated Mormon missionaries, wonderboy Elder Price (Adam Bailey), and the gauche Elder Cunningham (Sam Glen) are sent to Uganda to save souls, the easily offended are in for a trying night in the stalls.

It’s quite a step change, the cheeky silliness of the opening ‘Hello’, a tongue-in-cheek ode to Mormons, doorbells, and their little book, giving way to dead donkeys, more AIDS than you can shake a stick at, and the gloriously anti-‘Hakuna Matata’ anthem, ‘Hasa Diga Eebowai’ sung by impoverished Ugandans. That’s ‘F*ck you God’ to non-invented African language speakers.

How you experience The Book of Mormon from this point to the end, will largely depend on whether you view it as an ironic destruction of the white saviour trope and Western stereotypes of African culture, or an excuse to make a tonne of bad-taste jokes about everything from Female Genital Mutilation to baby rape, all tied up with cheaply stereotyped poor, gullible black folk.

“It’s quite a step change, the cheeky silliness of the opening ‘Hello’, a tongue-in-cheek ode to Mormons, doorbells, and their little book, giving way to dead donkeys, more AIDS than you can shake a stick at, and the gloriously anti-‘Hakuna Matata’ anthem, ‘Hasa Diga Eebowai’…”

What’s unmistakable is that the overwhelming majority of the packed Edinburgh Playhouse audience loved every minute. Personally I think it’s pretty funny – not the funniest production I’ve seen – and I do think its heart is in the right place. Is the constant misnaming of earnest village heartbreaker Nabulungi (a truly winning Nyah Nish) schtick fresh from the ’70s? Sure, nbut Elder Cunningham’s increasingly wild new version of the Mormon’s holy book (the locals won’t swallow the original), is a thing of silly joy.

Click to enlarge and for details.

The play also benefits from a first-class songbook thanks to composer Lopez. Whether it’s delightfully subverting the ‘I Want’ genre with ‘You and Me (But Mostly Me)’ or taking us down to a rocking ‘Spooky Mormon Hell Dream’ The Book of Mormon is easy on the ears. If you do need to tune out the show’s edgier comedy, then at least you can tune into these catchy melodies and memorable arrangements. The orchestra under Maggie Yu on the current tour certainly makes themselves heard in the best possible way.

Just when you think the show has played its strongest lyrical card, it pulls out the soaring ‘I Believe’ – delivered with effortless grace by Bailey, and then goes one better with the utterly ridiculous but chorally gorgeous ‘I Am Africa’ (sung, of course, by jubilant white Mormon missionaries).

Ok, back to the drama, handled with absolute conviction by a first-rate cast, whether it’s a deliciously dry Kirk Patterson as the village fixer Mafala Hatimbi, or a gorgeously OTT Rodney Earl Clarke as regional terror General B*ttFu**ing Naked. Indeed, when the villagers assemble for the show’s comedic zenith play-within-a-play, the performers dial matters straight to 11.

“Just when you think the show has played its strongest tuneful card, it pulls out the soaring ‘I Believe’ – delivered with effortless grace by Bailey…”

Kudos are also due to the double act of a stellar Bailey, who evokes shades of young Seth Macfarlane, and a charmingly awkward Glen as his underdog partner in proselytising.

Again, there is a chance you will walk out of the theatre ready to burn down Parker and Stone’s houses (given South Park’s history, you will likely have to get in line), but it won’t be because of a lack of talent in the show’s production or performance. Or you might think the show is ultimately about the Ugandans saving the poor, dumb white missionaries, and go forth with your jaw sore from all the laughing.

So, off you pop to The Book of Mormon for a hilarious, tuneful time, or, at worst, the highest-quality 2 hours of offence you’ve ever taken.

All Images: Paul Coltas