So on Sunday, I went with my boyfriend Alex and my good friend Zack to see the Book of Mormon, a musical written by South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker and produced by the people who created Avenue Q. After seeing advertisements for it all over comedy central (I'm a huge Daily Show fan) I knew this show was going to be awesome, but possibly incredibly offensive. I have gone and still occasionally go (though not as often as I probably should) the LDS church and know most of the lingo, doctrine and history of the church. So going into this musical, I was interested to see how much was accurate and how much was just Trey Parker being a douche.
The Book of Mormon is about 2 missionaries, one a geeky, compulsive liar who has very little knowledge of his own religion and the other a handsome, devout leader who is eager to share his faith. They are paired together and sent to a district in Uganda where there has never been a single baptism. There, the two learn about the horrors of Africa and have their faiths tested, though mostly the devout one (Elder Price) learns that the world is not as nice as he thought living in Provo, Utah. Elder Cunningham, the geeky one, learns to step up and grow up as a missionary.
The story is pretty simple and has a pretty standard message. If something makes you happy, then it doesn't matter how silly it may seem. Now, as far as this being offensive; if you go into this show planning on being offended, then most likely, you will. And yes, it does imply that Joseph Smith made the whole thing up. However, unless you live in fa-la-la land (*cough*Provo*coughcough*), then you have heard this before on multiple occasions. The show does sum up our religion pretty well with the song "I believe." The religion is based on faith and faith alone, whether there be evidence or not. A mormon just believes. Even in the missionary lessons, the main one is to pray on whether the book of mormon is true and if you feel it is, then it must be true. Again, a mormon just believes. I don't think this show would ever test an LDS member's faith, nor does it make the religion a derogatory thing. It's good to laugh at ourselves. And to anyone who doesn't know the context of our faith, some things seem pretty silly and most LDS members have come across this so many times (especially ones who have served in mission) that it should not be a problem. So to sum this up, any uber-conservative LDS member will probably not want to see this show. However, if you are an LDS member who can realize that there are other opinions of the church out there, then this musical is hilarious.
I would suggest this musical to anyone over the age of 15. A lot of the humor is (obviously) very south park- esque. Which means lots of swearing. A ridiculous amount. I have not problem with the F word and the C word, but I know some people have a problem with that. But it's a great time and it was worth the money.
The music you can find here. I don't know how long the link is active, but if you can, listen to the song "I Believe" and "Hasa Diga Eebowai." Both songs sum up the musical perfectly.
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