Julieta Cervantes
By now The Book of Mormon musical is well known, starting first in 2011, written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone from South Park along with Robert Lopez, at the time known for co-creating Avenue Q. The Broadway nerdiness was always apparent from Matt and Trey, especially shown in their earlier animated musical South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut — the stylistic choices are classic and modern Broadway homages, with more profanity and definitely a lot more immature humor than most mainstream musicals out there.
In this ensemble we follow our leads Elder Kevin Price (Ethan Davenport) and Elder Arnold Cunningham (Jacob Aune), newly named missionaries out to spread the word of the Mormon religion. Price is the more seemingly put together, respected type who knows the scripture backwards and forwards, while Cunningham is more socially awkward and without as much religious knowledge.
Although at first much of the humor comes from Arnold’s awkwardness and eagerness to please against the more straight-laced Kevin, both get chances to shine — there are a few key musical stings and moments that Ethan Davenport absolutely nails the comedy of, and he capably pulls off some the biggest songs of the show. Jacob Aune expertly balances his dramatic arc, pulling off impressive vocal skills with really great physical comedy. The two also have a great rapport, both in manner and in the actual musical harmonizing.
They are sent to a stereotypical remote village in Uganda to spread their mission, and encounter the local folk, mainly doe-eyed young Nabulungi (Charity Arianna) and her worried father Mafala (Jarius Miquel Cliett) — all from the specter of an stereotypical African warlord (Shafiq Hicks) who plans to kill or mutilate the women of the village. Charity Arianna is given the difficult task of playing the naive ingénue type, but she does an excellent job — having to pull off some of the most badass vocal runs of the show, all with a smile on her face.
Julieta Cervantes
Jarius Miquel Cliett does funny work as her father, even bringing drama when it makes sense, while Shafiq Hicks has an even more thankless task of making a brutal warlord scary and funny, but he pulls it off. The ensemble is also filled with excellent singers and funny performances — primarily these are the other villagers and the other missionaries onsite with Price and Cunningham.
They’re all great, but I do have to pay particular attention to Craig Franke as the flamboyant Elder McKinley that could easily fall into parody with less care, and Jonathan Grunert, who plays multiple parts including Joseph Smith — all very funny performances. The ensemble in general plays multiple roles in the different set pieces, with a lot of great work all around — ‘Spooky Mormon Hell Dream’ in particular was very well orchestrated.
If you’re at all curious about the show, this is a great cast to see for this tour, with a fun production, some epically hilarious moments, and a lot of well done songs — and performances that aren’t just crude, but even have a touch of heart. Overall a very well done production.
The Book of Mormon runs 2 hours 30 minutes with one intermission. This show contains explicit language.
The Book of Mormon runs through March 17 at Washington DC’s National Theatre. Other cities on the schedule include Baltimore, Tampa, Orlando, Portland OR, Atlanta, Sioux City, St. Louis, Rochester, Norfolk, Minneapolis, Salt Lake City and more. Visit the official website for more information.
Check our Ticketmaster link for ticket availability.
