‘BOOK OF MORMON’ RETURNS TO THE KRAVIS
“The Book of Mormon,” the irreverent, scathingly funny hit that’s been playing on Broadway for more than six years, will check into the Kravis Center Tuesday for the second time. The show’s 2014 stop sold out.
Conner Peirson, who portrays the well-meaning if truth-challenged Mormon missionary Elder Arnold Cunningham, and Kim Exum, who plays Nabulungi, the young Ugandan convert threatened with female circumcision, have reason to be thankful the show has worn so well with audiences.
Landing parts in the musical was a big break.
“It was the biggest job I’d ever gotten,” said Exum, who played the role on Broadway for nearly a year before going on tour.
Peirson has been with the show for nearly three years, first as a standby on Broadway and on tour, then taking over the part on tour in December. At 29, he considers himself “middle-aged” when compared to the majority of the cast.
He’s not fond of the spotlight, even though his parents are actors. In fact, his dream was to become an animator for Disney. That plan was quashed when Disney closed its 2-D animation studio at about the time he graduated from high school. Now he draws cartoons of his castmates on tour.
He’s overcome his reluctance to be on stage by immersing himself in his roles.
“When it’s the character in the spotlight, there’s protection there,” he said.
He even learned to dance, which was his biggest fear in playing Cunningham.
“That was part of the character process,” he said. “If I danced and I did the wrong thing, it was the character, not me. I took baby steps. Now I love it. In fact, the feedback I’ve gotten from people at the stage door is ‘Hey, you’re really moving up there.’”
The multi-Tony Award-winning show features a book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez. Parker and Stone created the adult animated series “South Park.” Lopez is one of the creators of the musical “Avenue Q” and co-writer with his wife, Kristen AndersonLopez, of the hit “Let It Go” from the animated movie “Frozen.”
“The Book of Mormon” follows the adventures of clueless Mormon missionaries Cunningham and Kevin Price, who are sent to Uganda to make converts.
To the elders’ chagrin, the poverty-stricken, diseaseridden Ugandans are more concerned with survival and eluding a vicious warlord than the Mormon message.
Like “South Park,” the show is cheeky and profane. The villagers sum up their miserable existence in a song with a refrain that cheerfully aims a middle finger salute at God. But the show also is about friendship and the value of belief systems in buffering humanity against the perils of existence.
Exum, a black American whose bio affirms “black lives matter,” isn’t offended by the musical’s shock tactics or its portrayal of Africans.
“I understand why they used the language, location and people they did,” she said. “They are making a broader statement about Westernness and Westerners’ ideas of problems versus real problems. We’re upset when our phones don’t work. There are people in the world who don’t have running water or a roof over their heads.”
The show remains popular because of its catchy melodies, funny and off-kilter lyrics, and relatable story, she said.
Peirson agrees. “There isn’t anything in it that doesn’t serve a purpose,” he said.