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Hello, it’s The Book of Mormon at Keller Auditorium May 27–June 1. The famed production—which snagged nine Tony Awards for its 2011 debut, including Best Musical—is back for its fifth staging here in town, but judging by the nearly sold-out run, Portlanders are already hungry for a sixth.
Opening night was cheery from the first doorbell rung by Elder Price (Sam McLellan), a buoyant “hello” multiplying into a swarm of chipper ensemble voices, The Book of Mormon in eager grips. The story follows Price and fellow missionary Elder Cunningham (Diego Enrico) as they embark on a two-year mission in a rural, poverty stricken village in Uganda. The story hovers primarily around examining the Mormon faith, perhaps belief in general, but no one escapes scrutiny or stereotypes laced into piercing jokes that have mostly held crowds for over a decade, including the Keller audience.
While the shock and absurdity is part of the highly clever, big-laugh package, there’s a joke here and there that swings to a different shade of cringe—the Ugandan villager’s talk of raping a baby slips over the line, the one creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have ridden for the last three decades since they launched South Park. But on the whole, this is sharp satire. It pokes, it cuts and it points toward a particular kind of Westerner’s scrambled sense of culture (see “I Am Africa”). It’s a coming-of-age story, too, one that kept the crowd laughing and cheering throughout the night.
There was a technical difficulty or two (a faulty mic in the opening number, a brief show-stop in the second act), but opening night persevered. McLellan played Elder Price with a more ah-shucks ’50s TV dad energy. but it worked well, while Enrico on his debut tour as Cunningham brought a playful and physical quality to the sidekick (but there’s a twist there, you see). One of the strongest voices of the evening came from a substitute, Charity Arianna as Nabulungi, her vocal tone pristine and rich.
Maybe you snag one of those final tickets for this run, but if you can’t—worth it to line up for the sixth visit, when and if it comes? Ding dong!
SEE IT: The Book of Mormon at Keller Auditorium, 222 SW Clay St., portland5.com/keller-auditorium. 7:30 pm Saturday, 2 and 6:30 pm Sunday, May 31 and June 1. $74+.