Review: BOOK OF MORMON at Kansas City Music Hall

The national non-Equity tour of The Book of Mormon has landed in Kansas City and if the roar of laughter on opening night is any indication, Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez’s irreverent musical comedy hasn’t lost its bite. It is only a gentle elbow at the LDS church. If you can get past the coarse language, this is funny stuff.

Evidently  the LDS Church got over the initial shock.  It is said they set up a recruiting booth outside the theater and distributed the real Book of Mormon.

Now more than a decade since its Broadway debut, the show continues to sell out houses across the country, promising audiences a raucous blend of catchy songs, satirical skewering of religion, and unfiltered humor.

These guys are super. The quality (especially in the production numbers) shows how competitive auditions for these shows have become.  The production values are every bit what you could expect on the great White Way.

This tour’s cast delivers with gusto. As Elder Price, Sam McLellan cuts the perfect figure of a bright-eyed missionary undone by doubt, while Diego Enrico’s Elder Cunningham emerges as the crowd favorite. Enrico’s manic energy and impeccable comic timing brought waves of laughter, and his physical performance earned one of the evening’s biggest ovations. The supporting ensemble leaned fully into Parker and Stone’s trademark absurdity, keeping the pace brisk and the energy high.

Production values remain surprisingly robust. Scenic design echoes the Broadway original with bright, cartoonish flair — a Ugandan village that looks both handmade and heightened, and Mormon missionary numbers staged with cheerful precision.

The orchestra and sound team keeps the score sharp, from the show-stopping “I Believe” to the deliriously cheeky “Hasa Diga Eebowai.”

Audiences laugh heartily at the outrageous set-pieces, the show’s treatment of its Ugandan characters continues to spark unease. Critics have noted for years that the villagers are often portrayed as one-dimensional foils for the missionaries’ journey, and this tour has not softened that depiction. In 2025, some gags land as dated stereotypes rather than equal-opportunity satire. That may just be an artifacts of a long running show.

The cast impressed. The show was excellent vocally, but the Music Hall sound tends to get muddled on full on belting numbers.   The show is easy to follow, but I suspect we missed some of the best jokes.  This is not a criticism of this company as much as this particular venue.

For example, members of the LDS church are forbidden caffeine.  A dream sequence in Hell is a lot funnier if you know that when two huge Starbucks cups dance across the stage.  Special underwear (known as Garmies by members of the church) are funnier if you know they are worn by all the elders.

The Book of Mormon remains what it has always been: a high-energy, wildly irreverent night of theater that both shocks and entertains. This non-Equity tour delivers much of the joy and spectacle of the Broadway version.

Audiences who come prepared for off-color humor and unrelenting irreverence will likely leave humming — and laughing.

The Book of Mormon runs through September 21, at the Kansas City Music Hall. It is part of the 2025–26 PNC Broadway in Kansas City series.

Performance dates and times are:

• Tuesday, September 16, 2025 – 7:30 PM
• Wednesday, September 17 – 7:30 PM
• Thursday, September 18 – 7:30 PM
• Friday, September 19 – 7:30 PM
• Saturday, September 20 – 2:00 PM & 7:30 PM
• Sunday, September 21 – 1:00 PM & 6:30 PM

Cast for the Kansas City Tour

The local tour cast performing from September 16–21 at Music Hall includes the following principal actors:

• Sam McLellan as Elder Price
• Diego Enrico as Elder Cunningham
• Charity Arianna as Nabulungi
• Shariq Hicks as the General (whose full name we will not repeat)

Tickets are available at the Music Hall Box Office, online through Ticketmaster, at the www.americanthreatreguild.com or by telephone at 816-421-7500.