Is The Book of Mormon Right For You?

geetargrl59, we hope you'll write a review for us after you see the show—considering we'd have to sell a kidney to get tickets. –Sparkitors

If you clicked on this post hoping to find a discussion on religion, or a persuasive argument as to why you should convert to Mormonism, sorry to disappoint! What I’m here to talk to you about is the Tony award–winning musical The Book of Mormon!

You've probably heard that this comedy musical about the Morms won the coveted Best Musical award at this year's Tonys. You may have also heard the loud, continuous sound of begging coming from my house, as I slowly convinced my mom to spring for tickets for our New York trip in November. We thankfully got not-fantastic-but-pretty-decent tickets for my siblings and I just moments before they were no longer available.

I’m super excited to see this show: I’ve watched the Tony Awards performance at least 20 times, and I bought the soundtrack in the hopes that I’ll have all the songs memorized come November. It seems like a great and truly deserving show...however, it may not be the best show for everyone. There are a couple of reasons not everyone will be adding this musical to their must-see list:

1. It’s offensive. The creators of the musical, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, say that the musical isn’t meant to be offensive. In fact, Parker sees it as a tribute, “an atheist’s love letter to Mormonism.” But at the same time, these are the guys who created South Park, so you can probably guess that there are more than a few religious cracks in there. The show itself has been taken pretty well by the Mormon community (with a few exceptions), but you should also keep in mind that it’s set in Africa, so there’s probably going to be lots of jokes about race, sex, and AIDS. If you’re a sensitive to these sorts of things, then it’s probably best if you sit this one out.

2. It has baaad language. As you can imagine, the show’s language is as filthy as Cartman’s. I had to go on Urban Dictionary to see what some of the profanity meant, because I'd never even heard it before. This show is like a delicious Broadway cake filled with f-bombs instead of icing. Unless language really doesn’t bother you and you’re able to laugh it off, then stick with clean musicals.

3. It’s kinda awkward to watch with parents. Thankfully I’m going to be seeing this with my older brother and sister, not my mom and grandparents! Otherwise, it’d be reeeaaally awkward; there are a lot of sexual innuendos in there. According to my research, there’s also a scene involving a simulated horizontal naked dance. Needless to say, it’s all a little raunchier than the average musical, but that’s what you get when you combine South Park and Broadway!

Does The Book of Mormon sound like a musical for you?

Related post: A Day in the Life of a Broadway Actress

Wanna write for SparkLife? Read this first!