The Book of Mormon

If you are not offended by the foul-mouthed South Park and like the music of Avenue Q, you should definitely see The Book of Mormon, a ridiculously hilarious religion satire musical comedy that is packed with surprises and laughter.

The plot itself is both simple and complicated: two fresh Mormon missionaries were sent from Salt Lake City to Uganda. Their ambition were quickly smashed by the dark reality: poverty, AIDS, a one-eyed cold-blooded warlord, and villagers singing "hasa diga eebowai" (meaning "fuck you God") whenever they felt upset and hopeless... As this blog post is not intended to be a spoiler, I will stop right here: how they dealt with the situation was absurd; if you dig deeper, however, you might learn quite a bit.

The musical seamlessly blends traditional all-American musical style with African folk songs. The music language is fluent. For me, the most memorable songs are Hasa Diga Eebowai, Turn It Off, and Salta Laka City. Nyk Bielak's Elder Cunningham remained quirky and funny throughout the show and Nikki Renee Daniel portrayed the dewy eager village girl Nabulungi beautifully with her flawless and powerful voice. The choreography is witty, ridiculous and impeccably executed.

It's really no surprise that this musical has been acclaimed by musical critics on both sides of the pond: nine Tony awards and four Olivier. Just make sure that you don't bring your kids to this show, or anyone who frowns at "F U God" or "China is the source of all problems". If you indeed step into the theater, just sit back and take a deep breath -- remember: it's all satire.

Eugene O'Neill Theatre
Address: 230 W 49 St., New York, NY 10019
Ticket Office: 800 447 7400 or 212 239 6200