‘I Am a Mormon and a Mormon Just Believes…’ – The Book of Mormon, Prince of Wales Theatre, London. 24.04.2017

With a bunch of Theatre Tokens to use from a birthday present and the amazing deal you with SeatPlan, it was clear which production I was going to use them on. I had this show on my Radar since it came out, the comedy Musical The Book of Mormon. Lucky also my tokens covered two seats, so my partner in crime tonight was Graham!

I had passed this theatre many times, but have never been inside. Based in the middle of Piccadilly, and Leicester Square, I wasn’t sure what to expect in the inside, but reviewing seats on Seat Plan I had a feeling that the Circle would be a fine. We were seated tonight in Row E seat 36, and 37 and as you can see from the photo on the left the view was great, no restrictions, faces visible and priced at £37.50 I would highly recommend.

The Book of Mormon is the masterpiece of writers Trey Parker, and Matt Stone with music and lyrics created by Robert Lopez. Trey, Matt are the creators of comedy show South Park and Robert is the writer of Avenue Q and Frozen, and with that in mind you know you’re in for something good. The Book of Mormon is the story of two recently recruited Mormon missionaries, whose first mission is in Uganda, Africa where they are sent to preach about their lord God, and son Jesus. When they arrive, things don’t go exactly to plan. The thing with this show, similar to South Park, is its risky comedy moments, such as Hitler enjoying oral sex with the devil, a blown up x-ray of a rectal blockage caused by a religious text, Maggots in a scrotum, Darth Vader showing up in religious text to prevent the Mormons from having sex with a baby, and its central song involves characters literally sticking up their middle fingers to God, are exactly the comedy your in for.  To some it will have them laughing in their seats, but I can understand that this show is not for all.

I had come to this show purposely not knowing much about it,  I didn’t know the story. and I’d only heard a few songs ‘Hello’ ‘I Believe’ and “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” I didn’t know what I was in for, but I was sure I took this approach and finally seeing those songs in context was much better. Also if you don’t have a musical loving boyfriend, then this is a show to break him in, as Graham actually enjoyed this, but then it suited his humour!

The cast tonight was:

Elder Price – KJ Hippensteel

Elder Cunningham – Cody Jamison Strand

Moroni / Elder McKinley – Steven Webb

Price’s Dad / Joseph Smith / Mission President – Dean Maynard

Cunningham’s Dad – Stephen Rolley

Mrs Brown – Ngozi Ugoh

Guards – Sackie Osokonor and Rodney Vubya

Mafala Hatimbi -Richard Lloyd-King

Nabulungi – Alexandra Ncube

General – Michael Moulton

Doctor – Nichoas Mclean

Ensemble – Chanice Alexander-Burnett, Philip Catchpole, Nicholas Collier, Brendan Cull, Joshua Da Costa, Nicole Dennis, Nicholas McLean, Sackie Osokonor, Stephen Rolley, Scott Sutcliffe, Anna Van Ruiten, Tommy Wade-Smith, Harry Wright.

Swings – Kelly Agbowu, Christopher Copeland, Joseph Davenport, Jonathan Dudley, Myles Hart, Alex Lodge, Joshua Lovell, Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky, David McMullan.

The one thing you notice about this show is how male driven it is, with all female parts (sisters, mothers of the Mormons) played by the men. The whole ensemble though were great, and throughout you could tell they work hard to get the laughs each right making sure each comic moment is delivered perfectly. The Mormons were  led by Steven Webb as Elder McKinley, a in the closet gentleman who ‘switches off the light’ to any unfaithful thoughts, Steven played the role well, with great personality and energy in each dance number.

Nubulungi played by Alexandra Ncube has a beautiful singing voice in each of the numbers she sang, her character shone through and you were hoping she has her happy ending. How she keeps a straight face with each of the different names Cunningham creates -as he can’t pronounce her real one, is beyond me. But then how can anyone keep a straight face with Cody  Jamison Strand as Elder Cunningham, his take on the role was brilliant, having played the same role in the US national tour, it was clear why the West End wanted him. it was Josh Gad (voice of Olaf in Frozen, and Lefou in Beauty and the Beast) who originated the role on Broadway and you could tell that he influenced Cody, he was such a loveable character, with the best comedy moments that he took in his stride. You just wanted to cuddle him!

The main Mormon tonight was KJ Hippensteel, again coming over the pond from playing the role on Broadway he makes his West End Debut in the same role of Elder Price, the dream driven Mormon who gets more than what he bargained for when sent to Uganda rather than Orlando, the land of Sea World, and Mickey. He was great in the role, however at times I felt his singing wasn’t brilliant, and it looked like he struggled with some notes during some of his songs. That being said, his development in his character was greatly portrayed, from the squeakily clean Mormon to the why do it, give up break down. In the end however it all works out in the end, and his partnership with Cody is a delight to watch that had the audience laughing throughout.

I was so happy to have finally seen The Book of Mormon and I can now understand as to why it has been running for so long. Its a great night now, with brilliant entertainment to many, It was a great date night for Graham and I, which I can see would be the case for many of you couples also. Playing at the Prince of Wales Theatre for further Ticket information go Here.  Currently it is booking up until June 2017, however with no rumours of closing, and ticket sales still sky rocketing so hopefully further tickets are available soon also.