THE BOOK OF MORMON Reviews!

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 1:16am

THE BOOK OF MORMON opens tonight! Best of luck to the cast, crew and creative team! They deserve nothing but glowing reviews.

Saw the show in it's first week of previews, and it was the funniest, most original musical I have ever seen, yet it still follows/laughs at the stereotypical musical-comedy structure.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 1:22am

I'm rooting for them! One of the best new musical comedies I have seen in a very long time. I've seen it twice so far and plan to see it again.

[goldenboy]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 2:02am

Saw it tonight. The night before opening.
If I have anything to say about it... it will be a big fat hit.

The funniest show I've seen since the Producers. The most original show since Avenue Q! Perfect in every way. For all its silliness and irreverence... it even had a message.

The songs were tuneful charming and funny. The choreography
wonderfully inventive in that Casey Nicholow way. The book irreverent and funny. The actors were having a blast. The audience loved it.

A big fat hit.

[billyboyA]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 3:28am

I was there tonight too, and the cast was ON FIRE and having a BALL... They're SO ready... And deserve rocking great notices!!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 7:41am

Surprised it's up already, but Hollywood Reporter is a Rave.

Anyone who saw South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut shouldn't be surprised to learn that Trey Parker and Matt Stone genuinely appear to love musicals even as they subvert them. What's perhaps less expected is that while The Book of Mormon packs in plenty of blissful profanity, sacrilege and politically incorrect mischief, the defining quality of this hugely entertaining show is its sweetness. Teaming with Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the music and lyrics for Avenue Q, Parker and Stone have created one of the freshest original musicals in recent memory. It has tuneful songs, clever lyrics, winning characters, explosive laughs and disarmingly intimate moments. Religious zealots are not going to roll up, but the show has a comic field day with Mormonism while simultaneously acknowledging - maybe even respecting - the right of everyone to follow any faith they choose. Or invent.

Co-directed by Parker and Casey Nicholaw - who also did the choreography - the show's delightful contradictions extend to its craftsmanship. It manages to mock and celebrate musical-theater conventions in staging that is both tongue-in-cheek cheesy and polished, with storytelling that is blunt yet sly as a fox.

The cast is terrific, and Gad and Rannells make a dynamite pair, exchanging leader and follower roles with equal conviction. Gad (a correspondent on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart) may be giving the single funniest, most endearing performance on Broadway. But Rannells is not far behind, his character's righteousness at war with his inflated ego.

Number after number hits a bull's eye ...

The designers merit loud applause. Framed by a proscenium that conjures the Mormon Tabernacle, Scott Pask's sets make droll use of old-fashioned backcloths and painted flats, particularly in the hilariously vivid village. Costumes by Ann Roth are full of witty touches, and Brian MacDevitt's lighting is equally descriptive in hellfire and celestial modes.

In choosing Lopez and Nicholaw as key collaborators, Broadway neophytes Parker and Stone have shown enormous savvy. The result is a show that's slick where it needs to be while retaining the rough-and-ready quality that put the South Park duo on the pop-cultural map. What makes the musical irresistible, however, is its panache in making naughty mockery of a whole string of untouchable subjects, without an ounce of spite.

Hollywood Reporter review

Updated On: 3/24/11 at 07:41 AM

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 8:04am

So is Roger Friedman (lol)

http://www.showbiz411.com/2011/03/24/first-review-book-of-mormon-from-south-park-creators

Positive, with qualifiers and a hint of ax-grinding.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 8:34am

^That is so poorly written. It jumps all over the place.

"You will not remember one song. They are more like comic cotton candy. Some are very funny just because they’re outrageous upon delivery. You won’t be singing them."

Speak for yourself! I've been singing it all week. Quietly, in my head, where no one can hear them and be offended, but still. Currently, it's I Believe. Yesterday was I Am Africa. All weekend, it was F*** You, God.

[massofmen]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 8:37am

i think they will all be raves. save for 1-2 really negative ones.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 8:40am

It's a good thing women and people over 60 aren't allowed to review theater! Close call for BOM!

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 8:56am

Well, a few things about that Roger Friedman review. He's a columnist, not a reviewer. And his piece is clearly a spite column for not getting free tickets. So, I'd take that one with a pillar of salt.

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 9:20am

Oh, of course. Of course.

[once a month]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 9:28am

MMMMM....eh, sorry!

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 9:30am

So glad this show exists. So glad Matt and Trey are on Broadway. And so glad I've had the opportunity to see it as many times as I have. Best to all the incredible people involved.

[JillianSch]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 9:36am

I saw the show Monday and the audience roared with laughter the entire time. The cast was on fire and they were sooo excited and charming! Loved it!!!

[taylorPHENOMENON2]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:26am

That Showbiz411 review is a mess.

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:27am

I actually agree with much of Roger Friedman's review. Although I probably would have giving the show a slightly more positive review. Like him I wasn’t that impressed by Act 1 and at intermission was feeling pretty down about the show. I had been hearing such amazing reviews from everywhere and to me it wasn’t really matching up. Mainly because I didn’t find it very funny. I think if you don’t find the shock comedy found on South Park to be funny, like someone having maggots in their scrotum, then Act 1 kinda falls a little flat. I will say that from the reaction by the crowd, my feelings on Act 1 are definitely in the minority. But Act 2 more than makes up for it. I thought Act 2 was brilliant, entertaining, and hilarious. I thought all the actors were great. The songs were really fun but yeah I probably wont be singing along to them anytime soon. I think overall the musical is great and I’d really like to see it again. I just think that if you aren't a South Park fan just don’t have too high expectations for some of the humor.

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:29am

Here's hoping the raves keep rolling in.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:42am

I don't know, my roommate has been humming "Hello, my name is Elder Price..." since he saw it on Saturday, and I've found myself humming any number of the other songs. I hate when reviewers decide whether or not a score is memorable.

The show is brilliant and I couldn't help feeling when I saw it that I was fortunate to be seeing it when I was- before it was a massive smash.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:47am

I've been humming "Baptize You" since I've seen the show almost three weeks ago, and my friends and I quite often use the phrase "Turn it off"

[Smaxie]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 10:54am

The "not memorable" pejoratives will fall away as soon as the cast recording comes out. Some critics have tin ears. It's a very good musical comedy score.

[ACL2006]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 12:12pm

Hoping for nothing but great reviews for this show!!! And when is that damn cast recording coming out!?!?!

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 12:18pm

They're recording it on Monday and apparently it will be at the theater mid-late April.

[bryan]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 2:49pm

i have been looking for the songs for this show anybody no the list of songs.

[Kad]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 2:55pm

There is no songlist in the Playbill. You won't have an official one until the tracklist of the cast recording.

[egghumor]

Posted: 3/24/11 at 2:58pm

Sondheim was trounced for decades over the "hummable" complaints from critics when his scores were first heard. Remember the score for "A Funny Thing on the Way to the Forum" was barely mentioned in the reviews of the original Broadway production, and while the show was giant hit at the time (winning the Tony for Best Musical), Sondheim's work failed to garner a Tony nomination. Keep that in mind when reading such initial reactions to the score for "The Book of Mormon."