Not Only Opera

The Book of Mormon
Prince of Wales Theatre
Stalls T10, £47.25
1 April 2019
Book of Mormon page

So. As a person non-musicals and stingy, what am I doing spending nearly fifty smackers on a musical? The answer: my mum’s birthday. For the last eight years my mum has been quietly and persistently saying that The Book of Mormon was something she’d like to see (as it turns out, because the general attitude towards it on the knitting forum Ravelry was one of positivity). It took me about seven and a half years to realize that this might be a hint. Once realized, triumphantly acted upon.

Was it worth it? At the end of the evening my mum turns to me and says, ‘Well, that wasn’t what I was expecting’. Because she knows it was a gift and is polite, she also says, ‘Aren’t they energetic! I enjoyed it! Thank you!’. What we have gained is knowledge. My mum might have more scepticism towards the opinions expressed in Ravelry. I now have something else to moan about to my friends and to you, dear reader. And as it cannot be undone, perhaps it is not wise to ask if it was worth it.

To be fair, I had some interest in seeing The Book of Mormon. There have been times when I thought South Park was a thing good for the world. I remember mildly enjoying Team America (though how innocent it now seems). And I found the Mormon museum in Salt Lake CIty really, really interesting. Sure, the musical might be like shooting fish in a barrel. But that can be fun.

Why wasn’t it fun? Well, I think one of the big things my mum and I weren’t expecting was that the musical should be so pro-religion. I mean, Mormonism is a pretty easy target as an example for the crazy things people do themselves and others in the name of religion. An ending which concludes that this make-believe is not only harmless but that the ends justify the means if it makes people happy confounded my expectations absolutely. Which I guess is interesting, but in this case not fun.

And so if The Book of Mormon is not a satire on religion, what is it? This is the second unexpected un-fun thing: racist humour. I feel guilty of a sense of humour failure – but I also wonder, hopefully, if we’ve actually moved on a lot since the musical’s birth in 2011. The main action takes place in Uganda, where there are jokes aplenty about how horrible it is to be in Uganda. Looking on the bright side, it forces the producers to employ a largely black cast. On the downside, they’re performing many variations on the same crude stereotype, made even more awkward by the fact the the audience was overwhelmingly majority white. Here we all are, laughing at these jokes about Africa. What fun!

There’s not really much you can redeem from that, is there? The performers were, of course, all absolute pros; the band was tireless; the music is catchy and well put together; the designs are fine although looking a bit tired. But this particular venture into mainstream music theatre has scared me back into my elitist bubble.