If you find yourself wandering into the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts in the next couple of days, be forewarned: You'll have to check your faith at the door.
The "Book of Mormon" arrives in town with all the subtlety of an out of control car smashing through the window of the local hardware store.
This musical won nine Tony Awards in 2011, including Best Musical. It also could probably have won the award for the most blasphemous, scurrilous, rakish and downright profane musical ever to hit the stage.
Oh, let’s not leave out the fact that this play is so funny it had a capacity crowd roaring Wednesday night. I mean roaring.
The story concerns two young Mormon boys, Elder Price (David Larsen) and Elder Cunningham (Chad Burris), who are sent out on their first mission. They land in a village in Uganda, something that is out of their wheelhouse.
What follows is a story complete with: Jesus Christ, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, armed barbarians, Yoda, an angel named Moroni, natives, devils, Jeffrey Dahmer, Hitler, skeletons, dancing girls, a warlord with an unprintable name, villagers who are ravaged by AIDS and the whitest group of boys ever to grace the stage in recent years, the Mormon boys.
The first song the boys hear when they land in the village is "Hasa Diga Eebowai" which can’t be translated here. Suffice it to say that the middle finger and God figure prominently in the phrase.
This play was put together by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who are the creators of "South Park" and Robert Lopez who composed the music and lyrics for "Avenue Q."
This touring production is a first class event with a cast of lively and outstanding actors, singers and dancers.
Burris stands out in his role as Elder Cunningham. Think Chris Farley as a young man and you’ll get a feeling for what Burris brings to his role.
While the sacrilege and dirty jokes may well be the calling card for "Mormon," the truth is that this show resembles and reinvigorates the Rodgers and Hammerstein style that helped create the world of musical theater.
The songs are funny and sentimental and they are the kind of music that sticks with you after the show. There is nothing threatening or dangerous in this play and there is a sweetness to even the most blatant broadsides fired at Mormons.
Burris, for example, is at his most blasphemous when he sings the classic "Man Up."
What did Jesus do when they sentenced him to die?
Did he try to run away? Did he just break down and cry?
No, Jesus dug down deep, knowing what he had to do
When faced with his own death, Jesus knew that he had to...
Man up, he had to man up
So he crawled up on that cross, and he stuck it out
And he manned up, Christ, he manned up
And taught us all what real manning up is about.
That is one of the milder shots taken at organized religion in this play. The guys who wrote this have absolutely no filter. Nothing is off limits and everything is played for a laugh.
And it’s very successful at getting laugh after laugh after laugh.
The Book of Mormon runs through May 31 and information on showtimes and tickets is available here.
With a history in Milwaukee stretching back decades, Dave tries to bring a unique perspective to his writing, whether it's sports, politics, theater or any other issue.
He's seen Milwaukee grow, suffer pangs of growth, strive for success and has been involved in many efforts to both shape and re-shape the city. He's a happy man, now that he's quit playing golf, and enjoys music, his children and grandchildren and the myriad of sports in this state. He loves great food and hates bullies and people who think they are smarter than everyone else.
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Despite some opinions to the contrary, Dave likes most stuff. But he is a skeptic who constantly wonders about the world around him. So many questions, so few answers.
