‘Book of Mormon’ turns it on in Salt Lake City

Members of the second national tour cast of "The Book of Mormon." Photo Courtesy: BookofMormonBroadway.com

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Aug. 8, 2017 (Gephardt Daily) — “The Book of Mormon” has been knocking on my door for a while.

It’s one of those shows that’s been on my radar since it went up on Broadway in 2011, and for a good long time, it was THE show: the one you absolutely couldn’t get tickets for for love or money.

I tried to score seats during my last two trips to London. The first time, there were none at all available, and the second time, there were literally two tickets available, but not together, which didn’t sound like much fun.

I also made a cursory effort to get tix the first time the show was in Salt Lake in 2015, but that totally wasn’t happening, partly because it was at the Capitol Theatre. It’s now playing at the much larger Eccles Theater, which seats nearly 2,500 people. A quick bit of math — the show plays for three weeks with eight shows a week. That’s a total of 60,000 seats available just for this run.

But because “The Book of Mormon” has been out for six years now, and “Hamilton” and then “Dear Evan Hansen” has taken its place as the super hot ticket on Broadway, it’s now a little easier to go. It’s playing here through Aug. 20, with some seats available toward the end of the run.

Seeing the show in Salt Lake City is rather like attending a rock concert by a band that’s from here. You can sense the electricity of the audience right from the moment they enter the theater; the opening proscenium is inspired by contemporary Mormon temples and other religious architecture, decorated with illuminated stained glass windows that transform in color throughout the evening, and topped by the gilded (and rotating!) statue of the Angel Moroni. Pretty rock ‘n’ roll.

There’s also a huge painted backdrop of Salt Lake City, complete with the Temple, Crown Burger and naturally, Zions Bank. Each of the Temple’s surfaces is coated in sparkle-filled enamel, and each building made of metal-laminated surfaces and then painted upon so that every aspect of the city is radiant.

There’s even a song totally dedicated to Salt Lake City, and you can sense the audience hanging on to every tiny reference to the place and the religion, with a sense of fervent ownership but also fondness. And that seems to be the case whether or not the audience member is actually a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The story of “The Book of Mormon” is actually pretty basic. It follows two mismatched missionaries as they are sent to attempt to share their scriptures in what they perceive to be the most challenging location possible: Uganda.

Pretty much everyone knows that the script, lyrics and music for the show were written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (yes, the “South Park” guys), who grew up in Colorado. They collaborate here with Robert Lopez, the co-composer/co-lyricist of “Avenue Q,” and, subsequently, “Frozen.” And herein lies the genius of the show. On the one hand, it is like one big long, juicy, offensive “South Park” episode; esoteric, super-sweary, so wrong and yet somehow so damn funny.

But the reason for its extreme popularity and longevity, I think, is that it combines this irreverence with absolutely brilliant theatrical elements; the songs, particularly those performed by the missionaries and Elder Price, are catchy and memorable. I am still humming “Hello,” “Turn it Off” and “I Believe.” There are some show-stopping dance numbers and as I mentioned before, the musical would be worth seeing just for the sky’s-the-limit sumptuous sets, costumes and lighting.

It’s the combination of every element that causes people to drool over the show. The New York Times calls the nine-time Tony Award winner “the best musical of the century,” while The Washington Post says, “It is the kind of evening that restores your faith in musicals” and Entertainment Weekly calls it “the funniest musical of all time.”

The cast is also sensational. I really enjoyed the two leads, Gabe Gibbs as Elder Price (straight from Broadway!) and Conner Peirson as Elder Cunningham, but my very favorite performance was from University of Utah grad Jaron Barney as an eager Elder. Interestingly, Barney was also in the Salt Lake-based parody show “Saturday’s Voyeur” in 2014.

No offense to Barney, but his appearance made me giggle every time I looked at him. He’s very tall and thin. His missionary trousers look like they have been pulled up just a little too far, and his earnest, welcoming smile rarely leaves his face.

The missionary roles also give the triple-threat actors wonderful material to chomp on, and Barney does this with relish. I’d love to see him in a bigger role when he’s been in the cast for a little longer.

“The Book of Mormon” isn’t going to make everyone happy, obviously. For some, it will be just too crude, whether or not one is religious. I’m not a big lover of poop jokes and maggoty scrotum jokes, of which there are quite a few. But when you get past that element, I did not feel the show was mean-spirited, in fact, it has a lot of heart.

Just like in “South Park,” the show makes fun of everything, from AIDS to Yoda. But it’s all rather affectionate. The message I took away is that if you need a story, absurd or not, to get you through the difficult parts of life, then by all means, believe.

And the LDS Church, to its absolute credit, does not take the joshing lying down. It takes out a full-page ad in the program, with the tag line “Our version is sliiiightly different.” So by embracing the parody, the church, in a sense, gets the last laugh.

“The Book of Mormon” plays at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday-Thursday, 8 p.m. Friday, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday, and 1 and 6:30 p.m. Sunday, through Aug. 20 at the Eccles Theater, 131 S. Main St., Salt Lake City. Tickets are $35-$180, with best availability toward the end of the run, from artsaltlake.org or 801-355-2787. One can also sign up at the theater box office for a ticket lottery two-and-a-half hours before a performance; only one entry per person.

Members of the second national tour cast of The Book of Mormon Photo Courtesy BookofMormonBroadwaycom

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