Musical Mondays: Book of Mormon

Earlier this month my two lifelong best friends visited me from Atlanta. For the decades we’ve known each other, we have a ton of common interests but also some really varying ones. They never really developed a love for theater in the way I did, but this visit was the chance for them to see their first Broadway show. What was the correct choice? Book of Mormon. Obviously.

This was actually my first time seeing Book of Mormon on Broadway. I’d seen it on tour, and I regularly listen to the cast album. The show is painfully funny, though obviously incredibly crude, but it is also weirdly optimistic. It is a show that I think could come off incredibly mean to everyone in the show, but it ends on such a hopeful optimistic note that shows we are all just trying to be better versions of ourselves.

Also, can we talk about how talented Bobby Lopez is? Wrote Book of Mormon and Avenue Q and also Frozen? The man is the youngest ever winner of an EGOT and wrote the songs Spooky Mormon Hell Dream, The Internet is for Porn, and Let It Go. That’s so freaking weird and so freaking awesome. And obviously an incredible shout out to his writing partner and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez who co-wrote Frozen. That family is insanely talented and—from people I know who’ve met them—they’re also insanely nice. I love when people with talent aren’t assholes. Major win for everyone.

The thing that works for Book of Mormon for me besides the optimistic note and painfully funny moments is how it’s actually really relatable. The overarching themes are trying to prove your place in life, dealing with your emotions, pleasing your parents, doubting religion, facing consequences of lying, and just dipping your toe into the shallow waters of new love. I would wager that most (all?) of the people who see this show are not in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, but the struggles of youth are something we all deal with.

The show would be really funny regardless of the message, but it’s this emotional depth that makes Book of Mormon one of my favorites. It has a lasting humor that sticks with you. More importantly than how I feel about it is that I am incredibly happy to say both of my friends loved it.