5. The Excellent Story And Writing
The story itself is a pretty simple one, and follows two young followers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, Elder Price (Gavin Creel) and Elder Cunningham (played in the show I went to by David O'Reilly) as they embark on their first mission, to convert everyone in Uganda to the ways of the Mormon church. The set up is simple and the scene where the two find out their destination is played brilliantly, especially Elder Cunningham who seems convinced that it will be just like The Lion King. The reality of course is much different, and what follows is the rather bumbling Cunningham finding his way from under the shadow of the "perfect" Elder Price, as Price himself goes through somewhat of an existential crisis. The story takes the audience from Salt Lake City, to Uganda, all the way to spooky Mormon hell! As you'd expect from Parker and Stone, the writing is razor sharp and tight. The satire that they bring to the table in South Park is all here. The jokes all hit the spot and everyone in the audience, old and young, loved every second. The Book of Mormon will offend many, but I think it celebrates Mormonism as opposed to tearing it apart. Sure, it makes fun of Mormons, but it's never nasty. Everything is tongue in cheek and is more a mockery of religion in general. Everything is brilliantly told and well paced. It may not be as layered as some other works out there, but it keeps you hooked all the way through. To give away any more of the story or scenes would be criminal, but suffice to say, there's a lot of variety and the backing cast are all unique and interesting enough without pulling focus from the two leads. This leads me to the second point...