THE BOOK OF MORMON • The Fox

I admit -- at one point I doubted that this show would ever come to St. Louis.  I saw it a couple of years ago in my favorite city and thought it would be too controversial.  But hey, look at me with egg on my face!  It's here, and I think you should try to get tickets.  ASAP.

This blog will be a bit of a quickie because I blogged about it in NYC. (and you can read that here…), but let's go over some broad strokes anyway, shall we?

Winning a slew of awards in 2011, The Book of Mormon offended many, but proved to others that the creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, best known for their animated series, "South Park", know a little something about musical theatre.  Following the story of a couple of squeaky clean, young Mormon missionary trainees serving their time in Uganda, The Book of Mormon can be brash and blasphemous, yet the structure of it seems so "textbook book musical" to me.  Right?

THE BOOK OF MORMON First National Tour Company

(c) Joan Marcus, 2013

Just with crude and incredibly dark subject matter, like female circumcision, AIDS, Ugandan Warlords and a very "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" (one of my favorite numbers... Dominus!!), and all while severely poking fun at the Mormon religion.  Okay so yeah, it can be really offensive, but I'm pleasantly surprised at the fact that despite this, I hardly saw any walkouts at the Fox at all!  Yay, St. Louis!!  Thing is, as offensive as it can be, it's more than just sophomoric one-liners.  In addition to a great score with some nifty tunes, it's got a sincere heart at the center that manages to address and salve the cuts that it inflicts along the way.

Go see it.  Seriously.  And again, you can check out the NYC 2011 review here.

THE BOOK OF MORMON

Book/music/lyrics by Robert Lopez, Matt Stone and Trey Parker

Directed by Casey Nicholaw

Fox Theatre, 527 North Grand Blvd.

through March 3 | tickets: $55 - $125

Performances Tuesdays, February 19 & 26, 8pm Wednesday February 20 & 27, 8pm, Sunday, February 24, 6:30pm, Thursday February 21 & 28, 8pm, Friday March 1, 8pm, Saturday Mar. 2, 2pm & 8pm, Sunday Mar. 3, 1pm, Sunday March 3, 6:30pm

THE BOOK OF MORMON First National Tour Company

(c) Joan Marcus, 2013

Cast:

Christopher John O'Neill (Elder Cunningham), Mark Evans (Elder Price), Samantha Marie Ware (Nabulungi), Grey Henson (Moroni), Derrick Williams (General) and Kevin Mambo (Mafala Hatimbi).

Creative:

Scenic Design by Scott Pask; costume design by Ann Roth; lighting design by Brian MacDevitt; sound design by Brian Ronan; hair design by Josh Marquette.