The Book of Mormon – Palace Theatre, Manchester and Touring

Conner Peirson in The Book of Mormon at the Palace Theatre, Manchester and Touring. Picture: Paul Coltas

The Book of Mormon continues at the Palace Theatre, Manchester until 1 January 2022 and then tours the UK until 13 September 2022.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

When it first exploded onto Broadway in 2011, The Book of Mormon was – and still is – that rarest of things: a big, joyous, feel-good stage musical that came complete with an uncompromisingly satirical wit and a vocabulary that would make a sailor blush.

Not since Avenue Q (which, in Robert Lopez, it shares a co-creator) had a musical become a hit without compromising its near-the-knuckle humour. But, like Avenue Q, Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Lopez’s gleefully sacrilegious roasting of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (also known as Mormonism) came laced with a joyful positivity and inclusive optimism that (mostly) smoothed over its more outrageous moments.

Those familiar with Parker and Stone’s previous work might not have been as surprised, however. South Park – both the TV series and 1999 movie – had more than its share of toe-tapping musical numbers and song parodies. And who could forget their follow-up, Team America: World Police, with its scabrous Rent parody (sample song: ‘Everyone Has Aids!’)?

Ten years on from its debut at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, The Book of Mormon has lost none of its power to shock. But what also hasn’t diminished is the palpable love and affection its creators clearly have for the musical theatre form, even while mercilessly skewering it, with pin-sharp parodies of everything from Wicked to The Music Man, cleverly orchestrated by Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus, and smoothly delivered by a nine-piece band. Brian Ronan’s sound design, and the Palace’s impressive sound system, also ensure that every word of Parker, Lopez and Stone’s expletive-filled lyrics are heard perfectly.

As it embarks on its second large-scale UK tour, what shines through most is its big heart and sweet centre. For every jaw-dropping aside (the still shocking, Lion King-riffing ‘Hasa Diga Eebowai’ is full of them) there is a clownishly goofy moment to take the sting away.

Personifying this is Conner Peirson as Elder Cunningham, who manages to escape the long shadow of Josh Gad with an endearingly buffoonish roly-poly comic persona all of his own. He is well matched by Aviva Tulley as the innocent villager Nabulungi. Her plaintive version of the straightforwardly touching ‘Sal Tlay Ka Siti’ is one of the highlights of Act I, and whenever they are together, Tulley and Peirson provide the beating heart of the show.

Elsewhere in this touring cast, Jordan Lee Davies brings an infectious camp energy, and the required singing and dancing skills, to Elder McKinley, the closeted leader of the Ugandan mission, ensuring that the two biggest and funniest ensemble numbers, ‘Turn It Off’ and ‘I Am Africa’, really hit the mark and showcase Casey Nicholaw’s witty choreography.

A decade on, some of the show’s (minor) flaws are now a bit more apparent. The second half is slightly less consistently funny than the first and one Act II song – the rather-too-eager-to-shock ‘Spooky Mormon Hell Dream’ – now feels surplus to requirements. You also wonder, in 2021, if we should really be being asked to find Elder Cunningham’s continued mispronunciation of Nabulungi’s name (calling her Nutella or Necrophilia) quite so funny.

Robert Colvin certainly looks the part as the show’s nominal lead character Elder Price and plays the role with suitable self-aggrandising swagger. But his Act II storyline and rendition of the show’s normally stand-out number, ‘I Believe’, don’t quite punch through.

Minor niggles aside, however, pound-for-pound, this is still probably the funniest American musical of the 21st Century, and this production certainly does it justice. Unlike the claims of a certain religious book, this show won’t change your life but – if you’re not easily offended – it will brighten it up considerably for the two and a half hours you are in its company.

Chris Bartlett