Oh yes, I saw The Book of Mormon musical last night, with Beliefnet’s very own blogging Mormon, Jana Riess, (can I say that? or am I still under the influence of South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone and their sort of off humor?)–and it was an utter BLAST. And let me tell you, Jana laughed even harder than I did. And at places I didn’t. Her howls of joy made me wish I knew the inside scoop of everything-Mormon so I, too, could get every single joke.
Anyway, given the South Park pedigree of this production, here are my top ten reasons to see it, which includes a checklist of sorts that should help you decide if you are truly the audience for such a theater-going experience as this:
1) You can sit through South Park episodes without getting angry and offended. You’ve got to understand: the humor of this musical is very South Park. Which means it’s incredibly smart, yet it takes things way far beyond the acceptable.
2) Putting humor and religion together is okay in your book. Be ready for them to poke some serious fun, not only at Mormonism, but the nature of religious beliefs in general.
3) You are religiously literate enough to get the jokes.
4) You have a soft spot in you about the power and purpose of faith, and the ways that it motivates the devout. As much as they poke fun of, I’ll call it “Mormon earnestness,” the musical also celebrates this very thing.
5) You might be willing to close your eyes at some of the most egregious parts. I will not recount them here. I certainly had my hands over my eyes during a few parts. But I was giggling like crazy behind them, too.
6) You love great music. Especially by Robert Lopez, the composer behind the Broadway smash, Avenue Q, who did the music for Book of Mormon. The AWESOME, AWESOME music. The songs are CRAZY GOOD.
7) You simply love musicals in general.
8) You love to hear men in particular, singing in harmony. The musical features a pack of missionary Mormon boys. They are not only utterly hilarious and winning, but their voices are fantastic.
9) You love watching men dance in a musical. Yes, believe it or not, there is fantastic dancing in The Book of Mormon. All (or almost all) done by the missionary boys. The choreography is both great and plays up the humor.
10) You want to make sure you get in on what is certain to be Broadway’s newest smash. Really. It’s that funny.
I want to see it again. Seriously. I do. I think I will. But in the mean time, I’m looking forward to Jana’s full review over at Flunking Sainthood. She was taking copious notes next to me during the entire show, in between the bursts of laughter, and I can’t wait to see what she decides to talk about.