THE BOOK OF MORMON Reviews!- Page 3

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:03pm

Does anybody know why Book of Mormon has had barely show footage released or song previews? Like, is there a reason why the producers of the show are keeping the content so secretive?

Like even the commercial ads for the show only feature pull quotes and text rather than actual footage from the show??

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:04pm

Like, that is weird.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:06pm

Going in blind is really the best way to see the show. It's actually a smart maneuver until the real reviews come in- people actually have to SEE the show to judge it.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:07pm

I see...have you seen the show? And if so, how was it?

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:08pm

I have. It's brilliant.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:10pm

IT IS HERE: http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/theater/reviews/the-book-of-mormon-at-eugene-oneill-theater-review.html

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:12pm

A RAVE REVIEW FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES!!!!!
Ben Brantley Reviews:
http://theater.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/theater/reviews/the-book-of-mormon-at-eugene-oneill-theater-review.html?pagewanted=1

“The Book of Mormon” achieves something like a miracle. It both makes fun of and ardently embraces the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical. No Broadway show has so successfully had it both ways since Mel Brooks adapted his film “The Producers” for the stage a decade ago.



-- Wow!!!

[Sauja]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:12pm

I'm with Kad. Going in with less information is more fun. If you don't see the jokes coming, they're that much more funny and surprising. I saw it for the second time tonight. I can't believe I went back so soon, but I saw a ticket available for opening night and leapt on it. Paul Rudd, Tyne Daly, Tovah Feldshuh, Marcia Gay Harden, Alan Cumming, Jeff Daniels, John Benjamin Hinckley and I'm sure many more celebs in attendance. It's the best new musical in the past few years. Which I also said about The Scottsboro Boys, so give it up for a really strong season (obvious duds aside). I hope the Times raves this. It deserves it. And I'm going to start a Rory O'Malley for Best Feautured Actor campaign right...now.

[Jordan Catalano]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:16pm

Congrats to everyone over at the O'Neill. Looks like your show is officially a hit.

Updated On: 3/24/11 at 10:16 PM

[Katurian2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:17pm

Soooomething Incredible!!

My favorite passage from the NYT review:

"But a major point of “The Book of Mormon” is that when looked at from a certain angle, all the forms of mythology and ritual that allow us to walk through the shadows of daily life and death are, on some level, absurd; that’s what makes them so valiant and glorious."

Brantley seems to be a streak of his better written reviews ever right now. Loved his 'Arcadia' one was well.

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:18pm

I can't wait to see this, think I might have to fly in from LA for the night.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:18pm

Wow, wow, wow!!! Good for them! So well deserved!

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:20pm

So well deserved. It's looking like it's going to be THE musical of the season.

[theatreguy]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:20pm

You won't have to campaign too hard, Sauja. I think it's safe to say that O'Malley is the front-runner . . . as is everyone else who could possibly be nominated. The question is, will it do a Producers-style full sweep, or a Hairspray-style almost-everything sweep?

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:20pm

I'm now so excited to see this, I may have to pay full price. Did anyone else see Matt and Trey on Fallon last night? They're hilarious and very charming. I wish them and "Mormon" the best.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:21pm

USA Today adds to the positive: http://www.usatoday.com/life/theater/reviews/2011-03-25-mormon25_ST_N.htm

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:21pm

Variety is up as well and seems to be a rave also.

Sadly I cannot pull the review due to variety's new two per month rule!

[broadwaydevil]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:23pm

Here's the Variety Review for those who can't get it:

Given the key contributors that "South Park" creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone teamed with for their first Broadway outing, one might expect "The Book of Mormon" to show the influences of "Spamalot" and "Avenue Q." As it happens, this raucously funny new show surpasses both of those Tony winners, and handily so: Every song enhances the hilarity, expert staging heightens every gag, and the cast of fresh faces is blissfully good. Broadway hasn't seen anything like it since Mel Brooks came to town with "The Producers," only "Mormon" has better songs.
Tuner's success rests on a formidable foursome of talents. Parker and Stone have demonstrated their subversive brand of humor since 1997 on the animated "South Park" and the 1999 movie musical "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut." Robert Lopez (credited alongside the duo for music and lyrics), brings a dose of the musical-comedy knowhow he demonstrated as co-scribe on "Avenue Q," while Casey Nicholaw (who co-directed the show with Parker and choreographed) has never met a musical accent that couldn't be punched up by a broad gesture, as evidenced by his work as choreographer on "Spamalot" and choreographer-helmer of "The Drowsy Chaperone."

The result is a show that never quits, particularly in its nonstop fusillade of obscenities; the authors lob more four-letter words than can be found in a Mamet three-act. Pattern is set early on with "Hasa Diga Eebowai," a chirpy, feel-good tune patterned on "Hakuna Matata" from "The Lion King." It's only midway through the third refrain that the natives cheerfully slip in the blasphemous translation, resulting in the first of several showstoppers.

The story is simplicity itself: Two young missionaries sent by the church to find converts in a Ugandan village ravaged by disease and a local warlord. After various trials and tribulations, they are inevitably victorious. Along the way, there's a pageant relating a fractured version of the Scriptures, complete with mystical frogs, streaming dysentery and comical rubber-hose appendages; Christ makes several appearances in a decidedly non-flattering manner; and there's a "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" in the second act that includes Genghis Khan, Jeffrey Dahmer and Johnnie Cochran (with telltale glove).

The producing team, led by Anne Garefino ("South Park") and Scott Rudin, have come up with a production as lustrous as the golden statue of the angel Moroni that rotates atop the proscenium. Show is boosted by canny contributions from set designer Scott Pask, costume designer Ann Roth and the music department of Stephen Oremus, Larry Hochman and Glen Kelly. Choreography is outstanding, especially when Nicholaw has his frenzied shirt-and-tie missionaries jerk around like '60s go-go dancers.

Andrew Rannells, as the overachieving young Elder Price, is the brightest of a uniformly fine cast. Sporting a hypocritical smile as plastic as a Ken doll, Rannells dances as if possessed and positively shines, as though lit by his own personal halo. Josh Gad plays the other hero with a nervous cackle and the gentility of a young John Belushi, perhaps a little more broadly than necessary. The heart of the show is Nikki M. James as the Ugandan convert Nabulungi. Her performance of "Sal Tlay Ka Siti" -- dreaming of that utopian city in faraway Ooh-tah -- brings touching sincerity to this outlandish fairy tale.

Michael Potts is a friendly presence who makes the most of "Hasa Diga Eebowai," and Rory O'Malley adds a wry note as a tap-dancing Mormon who has learned to "turn off" his forbidden urges. Ensemble of Ugandan villagers and Mormon boys is impressive, the latter sporting what must be the whitest teeth in Broadway history.

For all its sacrilegious jabs, the show is earnestly about the power of faith, cresting with a rousing anthem ("I Believe"). The Ugandan natives believe, and ultimately embrace religion, while the heroes realize that doctrine is all metaphor -- "a bunch of made-up stuff, but it points to something bigger." And that describes "The Book of Mormon," an original made-up-for-Broadway production that approaches musical-comedy Rapture.

[maxximumvolume]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:23pm

That Brantley review is just... wow. Hello Tony! So deserved. What a fantastic show.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:24pm

Variety's review is, indeed, pretty much a rave as well.

The only category Book of Mormon doesn't have an actor for is, like The Producers, Leading Actress. Nabalungi is simply not a leading role.

[Katurian2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:26pm

I'm amazed at the amount of praise the sets are getting. Seems like it's the favorite in that category now as well! Possible tie for most Tonys in history??

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:29pm

As of now, it's certainly the frontrunner in basically every category- but, too be fair, it's pretty early to call.

[kyl3fong2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:30pm

It seems as if the only bad review it has gotten so far is from the Toronto Star...congrats to the cast and crew of this production!

[ljay889]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:32pm

Possible tie for most Tonys in history??

I do expect it to sweep, but that's really pushing it.....

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:32pm

It's too early to call. I mean, it'll PROBABLY win Best Musical.

But still...