In the past month, lucky Illinois residents have witnessed wonderful tributes to lyricists like Cole Porter, Dorothy Fields and Oscar Hammerstein. The power of these musical legends has always been the hidden subtleties that lurk beneath their humorously witty compositions. The same can be said for Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s amazingly popular The Book of Mormon. While the lyrics and scenarios in this show echo the duo’s notoriously naughty South Park in context, the subtext is often more heart filled and hopeful than one would imagine.
Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, two young Mormon missionaries, are sent to a remote Ugandan village to convert its people to the Church of Latter Day Saints. Price, a shining star in his community, and Cunningham, a socially awkward Star Wars fan, are surprised to find that their fellow Elders have made little progress due to the village’s fear of the General, a savage, local warlord. Riddled with AIDS and poverty, the villagers, also, find little parallels between their world and that of the Mormon’s. Cunningham’s fanciful reworking of the book, though, soon has the whole village under his sway. As Price loses his way in disappointment and in a hilariously nasty encounter with the General, Price finds his true strength in crudely, comical ways.
Of course, anyone who has seen other works by Parker and Stone will know that no group or community is exempt from the duo’s unbridled humor. The main target, here, of course is religion. Their notion that all one needs to be a good Mormon is unquestioning belief is a concept that can apply to almost any institution. This gives the piece a universality that supersedes its initial concept. With assistance from co-creator Robert Lopez, the two fill the piece with emotional resonance via the journeys of Price and Cunningham, as well.
Directors Parker and Casey Nicholaw work with bright efficiency. Nicholaw’s ebullient choreography reaches its zenith with the villager’s hysterical re-working of Mormon history in the show’s latter moments. Meanwhile, the cast amazes with precise zeal. Nic Rouleau illustrates every moment of Price’s learning curve with enthusiastic joy. As a local father and daughter, Steppenwolf’s James Vincent Meredith and American Idol top gun Syesha Mercado provide multiple delights. Meredith, in particular, exposes a joyous freedom. Those who are accustomed to his more dramatic offerings should revel in the levels he uncovers here. It is young Ben Platt, fresh off his co-starring role in Pitch Perfect, who steals this particular show, though. With zany soul, he reveals the pieces’s courageous heart, ultimately offering up a performance that provides revelatory happiness.
The Book of Mormon runs at the Bank of America Theatre, 18 W. Monroe in Chicago until September 2013. Tickets range from $55-$110 and can be purchased by visiting www.broadwayinchicago.com. – Brian Kirst
Be sure to check out Sheridan Road’s exclusive interview with Book of Mormon’s James Vincent Meredith in our February-March 2013 issue!
Tags: sheridan road magazine, Sights + Sounds
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http://www.sheridanroadmagazine.com/blog/?p=5638