Star Tribune - Highly Recommended
"..."Mormon" is full of pop and theater cultural jokes, with snippets that skewer "The Lion King," "Wicked," "The Sound of Music." The send-ups come so fast that they can fly right over our heads. But this exuberantly funny show is more than a cultural pastiche. The acting company is sterling. O'Neill's Elder Cunningham follows the moves of a character created on Broadway by Josh Gad. O'Neill invests him with insecurity and charm, winning our sympathy."
Read Full Review
Twin Cities Daily Planet - Recommended
"...I wouldn't recommend this play to everyone. Some people don't like bathroom humor. Some people won't like laughing at religion. While at times it feels insensitive to be laughing in the context of a warlord who wants to mutilate girls and a man who believes he can cure his AIDS by raping babies-and we shouldn't be laughing just because they say a funny swear word-I don't think it's the intention of the show to make light of those circumstances. There's a fine line in a satire like this. And because it's a satire done well, there's a message in the joke."
Read Full Review
Twin Cities Pioneer Press - Highly Recommended
"...Behind the wicked humor of "Mormon," there is obvious affection -- for people of faith, people who struggle to do the right thing while being true to themselves, people whose problems are so monumental that they're willing to listen to anyone who says he has an answer and also for the people in the audience who believe, as Parker, Stone and Lopez so obviously do, that watching characters explain their predicaments by breaking into showtunes is a "super-fun" way to spend an evening."
Read Full Review
How Was The Show - Highly Recommended
"...Performances are uniformly terrific. Christopher John O'Neill as Elder Cunningham - short, portly and cuddly - plays the juiciest role in the play with gleeful and inspiring comic frenzy. His partner, Elder Price is played with a pasted-on grin and towering ego by Mark Evans. His "You And Me (But Mostly Me)" thrills. As Nabulungi, Samantha Marie Ware threads a needle; she has to make stupidity compelling and this she does with aplomb. It's lovely work. Mike McGowan plays Elder McKinley with zest and gusto. "You had the Hell Dream, didn't you. Was I in it?" I adored him. All the performers are excellent."
Read Full Review
Aisle Say Twin Cities - Highly Recommended
"...Unlike most musicals, the world of The Book of Mormon isn't as much of a fantasy as we might wish - but the truth in it is what makes the caricatures so incisive and the absurd humor more than just cheap laughs. Sorry if you were looking for an excuse not to spend the money, but this show is just as fun and clever as everyone else has been saying it is."
Read Full Review
|