The team at Shows in London are passionate about theatre in the West End – and each week, you’ll find us attending one show or another. And as we do, we’ll bring our thoughts back to share with you.
Show attended: The Book of Mormon
Date attended: 3rd April 2013
What did you enjoy about the show?
- The similarity with South Park episodes. The clever references to other West End shows – not just The Lion King, but Wicked and Hairspray amongst others. The gentle ridiculing of all organised religion. I really enjoyed the first song of the Mormons ringing on doorbells, and the final song that mimics this again. I also loved the character who seems to pop-up now-and-again with a line about his maggot problem.
- The humour in this show is brilliant and the songs are surprisingly quite catchy. I think the sets were pretty good and the two main characters Elder Price and Elder Cunningham were fantastic. I hardly ever ‘laugh out loud’ at a show but this had me laughing most of the way through. The constant little jokes through-out and mannerisms of the characters had me chuckling.
- I loved the references to other musicals and the similarities of some of the main songs to other popular songs in other musicals (you’d have to be a theatre-goer to notice this but added to the comedy)
What didn’t you enjoy about the show?
- There were very few moments I didn’t enjoy, but I think the solos that Nabulungi sang were a bit too cheesy. However, I suppose the show needs to emulate a West End musical somehow.
- There wasn’t anything I didn’t really like but if I had to pick one thing it would be some of the long dance/musical bits – I would have preferred more jokes!
Any tips for people going to see it?
- Be aware that the show is very much in the spirit of South Park and therefore littered with profanities. This is not one for the easily offended. If you’re interested, it’s worth reading-up about Mormonism briefly on Wikipedia, just so that you can follow the story-line a bit better.
- Prepare yourself to be shocked and perhaps watch a few South Park episodes to prepare yourself for this type of humour. Also maybe read a bit about The Mormons so you know what they are about.
Brief description of the show:
- A hilarious musical, looking to shock and awe with its profane attitude to organised religion. It’s *almost* South Park on stage – it just doesn’t feature Stan, Kyle, Cartman or Kenny.
- This is a fun show having a laugh at Mormons with constant jokes all the way through, sometimes quite rude so be prepared! It concentrates on two Mormons who get sent to Uganda to get a village interested in the Mormon faith with hilarious consequences.
Marks out of 10: 8.5
