Review: “The Book of Mormon” involves no reading

By Sara Davidson     1/14/25 10:34pm

Review: ★★★★

“The Book of Mormon”, a flashy musical that is not at all biblically accurate, came to the Houston Hobby Center January 7-12. The musical makes a mockery of the typical mission work expected from Mormons, covering everything from their racism, attempts at forced conversion and inner-religious conflicts, all while tap-dancing and singing away. 

The show is laugh out loud hilarious, at times even shocking with how far the young Mormon men will go to stand by their religion. The show pushes the boundaries of appropriate and political-correctness, but given that it was created by the same guys who came up with “South Park”, that’s not all that surprising. 

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The show opens in Utah, the promised land of the Mormons, as a group of young white men discover all of the places they will go on their mission and jet off around the world. Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, the musical’s leads, find themselves assigned to Uganda, which they naturally don’t know anything about, beyond it existing on the same continent as “The Lion King”. 

Once in Uganda, they find their share of struggles, including discouraged fellow missionaries, a town dealing with AIDS and a warlord threatening female genital mutilation. Through the genius imagination of Elder Cunningham, the town grows to accept and become part of the Mormon faith, though the faith they have been taught by Cunningham might not be what the Book of Mormon really says. 

My favorite number from the show was “Turn It Off,” a piece about ignoring your emotions, especially when they point to actions outside of the Mormon guidelines. Other stand-out numbers included “Spooky Mormon Hell Dream,” which had appearances by actors playing both Hitler and Jeffrey Dahmer, and “Joseph Smith American Moses,” where we finally learn what is said in the Book of Mormon — at least, the version that those in the Ugandan village had been taught. 

During the performance, a technical difficulty led to a ten-minute delay between the last scene and the final number. Cast members discovered that their mics had been cut while beginning to sing, and were quickly rushed off of stage to resolve the issue. Luckily, they were still able to finish out the performance and most people had stayed to watch them do it. 

The Book of Mormon is a must see for anyone seeking to get over religious trauma, to learn about a whitewashed history of Jesus (though my Southern Baptist Church also covered that one for me) or just looking for a good laugh. The musical continuously pokes fun at not just the book but the entirety of the Mormon principles. The singing and dancing was amazing, the theatrics were spot on, and the entire cast was very professional, even through technical difficulties. Though you don’t go home with a free book at the end, I’m sure in a few months a missionary might knock at your door and offer you one. 

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