Surprised it's up already, but Hollywood Reporter is a
Rave.
Anyone who saw South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut shouldn't be surprised to learn that Trey Parker and Matt Stone genuinely appear to love musicals even as they subvert them. What's perhaps less expected is that while The Book of Mormon packs in plenty of blissful profanity, sacrilege and politically incorrect mischief, the defining quality of this hugely entertaining show is its sweetness. Teaming with Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the music and lyrics for Avenue Q, Parker and Stone have created one of the freshest original musicals in recent memory. It has tuneful songs, clever lyrics, winning characters, explosive laughs and disarmingly intimate moments. Religious zealots are not going to roll up, but the show has a comic field day with Mormonism while simultaneously acknowledging - maybe even respecting - the right of everyone to follow any faith they choose. Or invent.
Co-directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw - who also did the choreography - the show's delightful contradictions extend to its craftsmanship. It manages to mock and celebrate musical-theater conventions in staging that is both tongue-in-cheek cheesy and polished, with storytelling that is blunt yet sly as a fox.
The cast is terrific, and Gad and Rannells make a dynamite pair, exchanging leader and follower roles with equal conviction. Gad (a correspondent on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart) may be giving the single funniest, most endearing performance on Broadway. But Rannells is not far behind, his character's righteousness at war with his inflated ego.
Number after number hits a bull's eye ...
The designers merit loud applause. Framed by a proscenium that conjures the Mormon Tabernacle, Scott Pask's sets make droll use of old-fashioned backcloths and painted flats, particularly in the hilariously vivid village. Costumes by Ann Roth are full of witty touches, and Brian MacDevitt's lighting is equally descriptive in hellfire and celestial modes.
In choosing Lopez and Nicholaw as key collaborators, Broadway neophytes Parker and Stone have shown enormous savvy. The result is a show that's slick where it needs to be while retaining the rough-and-ready quality that put the South Park duo on the pop-cultural map. What makes the musical irresistible, however, is its panache in making naughty mockery of a whole string of untouchable subjects, without an ounce of spite.
Hollywood Reporter review
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end: then stop.
Updated On: 3/24/11 at 07:41 AM
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