Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez
Anne Garefino, Important Musicals LLC, Sonia Friedman Productions and others
Palace Theatre, Manchester
September 11–October 5, 2024; 2 hrs 20 mins
I know, I know – all the reviews for The Book of Mormon are glittering, it’s the Funniest Show Of All Time; kill for a ticket.
The crowd at the performance I saw was definitely up for it – many had clearly seen it before (some more than once, according to reports) and there was huge love in the room.
But, whisper it soft, haven’t we moved on a bit since 2011? Or even since 2021, when the show was apparently overhauled? Adding Nigel Farage’s name to a running gag is an easy laugh, but doesn’t that just reinforce the fact this is now, most definitely, a period piece?
(I’m assuming that was an update – surely Mr Farage wasn’t already a cultural phenomenon in 2013, when the show opened in the West End?)
The tale of two 19-year-old "elders" of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, sent to be missionaries at a Ugandan village, gave the writers all the scope they needed to skewer a long list of political, social and international issues – none of them funny.
The writing team – famously also responsible for TV’s South Park - stunned audiences by taking on female genital mutilation, AIDS, child rape, domestic abuse and homophobia, along with restrictive religion and empire building, and wrapping them in slapstick, jokes and the best traditions of the Broadway musical. The critics swooned, the awards multiplied.
The speed, energy and joie de vivre of this latest revival can’t be denied, and the jolly campness of the Mormon ensemble is all-pervasive, but of course has lost its original limp-wristed subversiveness – now it's the stuff of Saturday night TV.
The two elders (Adam Bailey as Price and Sam Glen as Cunningham) tick every box and deliver the sharp script to great effect. I wasn't sure if Elder Cunningham’s sweaty top lip is make-up or the real thing, but it is effective, either way. When Price (who really, really wanted a Mission to Orlando) sings Believe, the paradoxes are stark – not much difference between God and Mickey Mouse here.
Nyah Nish stands out as Nabulungi, she of the “difficult” name that finally degenerates, if that is not libellous, to that of the politician. She has the one serious, reflective moment in the show, given a moment to imagine a release that will never come.
Direction (Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker) and choreography (also Casey Nicholaw) is as tight and precise as you could hope for. And Scott Pask’s set is clever, detailed and effective.
Plaudits to costume designer Ann Roth: I particularly enjoyed the moment Mrs Brown turned and revealed an entire tiger crouching down her back. Jesus and the Angel Moroni were straight out of pre-Raphaelite paintings, adding another level of knowingness to a show that wears its erudition lightly but with great impact.
But, but… is it just wokery to feel a little uncomfortable, not at the language (which shocked at the time and is everyday now), but at the sledgehammer approach to the issues? Can the original intentions of the show still work when there is so much more public awareness? How many people came away wondering about the latest statistics on female genital mutilation in Uganda?*
*The 2023 annual report for the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on the Elimination of Female Genital Mutilation says in Uganda, FGM prevalence has significantly declined: from 1.4% in 2011, 0.3% in 2016, and on track to be eliminated by 2030.
More info and tickets here
