It was finally time for me to evaluate this much-talked-about West End Show.
Tongue-in-cheek, yet irresistible. That is the way to sum up this masterpiece play by the makers of South Park. Although, those of you with delicate sensibilities may want to stop reading right now as sometimes it borderlines on total ridicule of the Mormon faith.
It has taken a while for me to get round to seeing exactly what this was all about and all I went in with was a knowledge that some people might find it offensive. Luckily for me I do not get easily put off and I went to a Saturday night showing, immediately pleased by the opening song, which takes the mickey out of the door-to-door selling of religion by depicting a Mormon training academy.
The music was great and the lyrics were really quirky (and outright rude at times… be prepared for the C word and some jokes about maggot infested scrotums). One ditty was about switching off any feeling you might have in order to be a positive person. A guy referred to fancying his buddy and having to switch off the gay part of hisself. Another talked about his sister dying and him not being there when she passed away because he was queueing for the latest iPhone. Generally it was pointing to the fact that some of the stories and ideas within this religion were hard to follow or explain but the preachers had to simply forget about those aspects that didn’t quite make sense.
Without giving away the plot, the two missionaries went to Uganda where they tried to convert locals to the Mormon way of life and get them baptised. Suffice to say, this was not an easy task. A local army general was treating the locals badly and creating a barrier to any progress they were making.
This hilarious play was punctuated with spectacular song and dance numbers and its stars really shone with incredible vocals, clever dance routines and great comic acting.
