Sunday, March 18, 2012

REVIEW: The Book of Mormon on Broadway


On March 11th (I know I'm running behind), I went to see THE BOOK OF MORMON after buying tickets in October. Well, I can say, even with Ben Schrader filling in for Josh Gad as Elder Cunningham, this show was WELL WORTH THE WAIT!

As someone who knew every word to the cast recording by heart, I still was surprised with the hilarity and humor and absolute perfection of the score and book. Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Bobby Lopez have crafted what was definitely one of the best musicals I have ever seen. I enjoyed that there were more little musical interludes not included on the recording and the book was hilarious. The one thing I will say is I did not think that the show was as risque as people made it seemed and I think all of the difficult subjects were handled well and respectfully.

I also really liked how much deeper the storyline was than I expected based on the recording. I think a message really can be garnered through what everyone goes through, especially the Elder Price storyline.

Technically, the show was awesome with a really intricate but simple set and a lighting design that really helped promote the storyline. The costumes were also amazing.

The one thing I was not expecting that really wowed me was the dancing. Based on the score, I was not expecting the level of dance that was portrayed on stage and Casey Nicholaw did an above and beyond job choreographing this show.

While all of the actors were amazing, Andrew Rannells just really wowed and shone through all the amazing performances. Rory O'Malley and Nikki M. James were great too, but Rannells just blew the show out of the water, hitting every note and moment perfectly. Ben Schrader did a respectable job in his first weekend understudy-ing Josh Gad as Cunningham, and while overshadowed by the rest of the cast (I think because he was just not as comfortable with the role yet), he was a good Cunningham.

All I can say is...GO SEE THIS SHOW!!

No comments:

Post a Comment