Over the last month, I’ve seen a lot of amazing things. In New York, I stood at the remains of the World Trade Center, looked over the city from the top spire of the Empire State Building, visited 30 Rock, and saw some of history’s greatest treasures in two massive museums. In Africa, I saw lush rainforests through rope bridges strung through the canopies. I saw vibrant markets and bustling streets, and then traveled north to the mud-hut villages, where I pet wild crocodiles, met a herd of elephants, and lived in the middle of the jungle, meeting some of the most amazing people in the world. From there, it was off to Amsterdam and London, where I visited the Red-Light District, the house where Anne Frank and her family hid from the Nazis while she wrote her diary, Big Ben, and Central London. It would take hours to even begin to tell you of the things I saw. It was an indescribably amazing experience. But ironically, the most life-changing part of the trip happened in a small theatre before I’d even left the US.
Going in, I knew I’d love The Book of Mormon. I’ve seen everything Trey Parker and Matt Stone have ever done, including every episode of South Park at least 4 times (every year or so, I go through the entire series). So I had high hopes. But I never could have imagined that this much brilliance could be contained in a 2-hour musical. I don’t think I’ve ever laughed – or cried – this much at anything in my life. As expected, it was hilarious; half the play, I was laughing so hard I couldn’t breathe. But what really caught me off guard is how much heart the play had. Trey and Matt have always been great about “sneaking” heartfelt truth and sincere emotion into their work. But they never want to be preachy or self-righteous, so they wrap that sincerity in a foul-mouthed, hilarious package. And because they don’t ever care about being PC, they really do put things on an equal playing field. In our country, it’s not socially acceptable to make jokes about race, religion, gender, etc, because there’s a sensitivity to our troubled history. But Trey and Matt have wiped that slate clean. Their work is never hateful, but it’s full of jokes only they could get away with. For uptight conservatives who refuse to give South Park a chance, this is seen as controversial and disgusting. But if you start to watch the series, you’ll see that the world of South Park is our first glimpse into a world without bigotry. Trey and Matt are so far beyond racism/sexism/religious discrimination that they don’t have any problems making fun of anyone, including themselves. They tear away the taboos of society, and they do it with a lot of hilarity and an equal amount of heart. South Park may be the most important television show ever made. It’s taught an entire generation of young people (including myself) to be open-minded and realistic.
I expected The Book of Mormon to have that same blend of humor and depth, and of course it did. But here, Trey and Matt have reached a level of creative warmth unlike anything I’ve ever seen. It’s been almost a month since I’ve seen it, and my heart is still so full. I’ve never seen so much love for humanity. In an interview with Trey and Matt, Jon Stewart said that if our species died out and left only one thing behind, he’d want it to be this. And I have to agree. This play brilliantly shows us everything that’s right (and wrong) with the human race, and ends with a message so full of love that you just want to share it with the entire world.
I should admit that I have a major bias here, in the form of one of the show’s main characters, Elder Price. I was taken aback to hear him say things that I’ve never heard outside my own mind. I learned a lot about myself through Elder Price, and that emotional link made everything in the play so real and important to me. When I was a young man, I was about as Mormon as you could get. By the time I was a teenager, I’d memorized the Articles of Faith, the sacrament prayers, and more than 100 scriptural passages. I dreamed of converting people to the church and making God proud. I was so naively optimistic about everything in the church, because everyone I associated with was Mormon. And that’s exactly where Elder Price is at the opening of the story.
*SPOILERS*
The play opens with a brilliant narration by Trey, explaining the origins of the Book of Mormon. This leads directly into the opening song, Hello!, where we meet our cast of future missionaries at the training center in Utah. Elder Price dreams of being sent to Orlando (his favorite place on Earth), but instead he’s sent to Uganda with Elder Cunningham, a socially awkward, nervous, lovable loudmouth who’s never even read the Book of Mormon. They’re determined to get to work and help the people - Elder Price wants to change the world so he can be the next prophet. But as soon as they reach Africa, everything falls apart. The Elders quickly learn that “Africa is NOTHING like The Lion King – I think that movie took a lot of artistic license”. Immediately upon arrival, they’re robbed by armed thugs, before making their way into the local village. Here, the people live in constant fear of disease, famine, and the local warlord General. They resent God for their misery, and they resent the missionaries for suggesting that these problems can be fixed with old stories and rituals. They’ve heard all about the church, but stories of gold plates and pioneers don’t put food on the table or cure AIDS. And before long, the Elders witness a horrifying execution at the hands of the General, and realize just how bad the world can really be.
Within short time, the characters begin to branch off, as each of them handle their new lives differently. Elder Price is deeply shaken by God’s indifference, but he’s still just thinking of himself. “Heavenly Father, why do you let bad things happen? More to the point, why do you let bad things happen to me?” But as selfish as that sounds, that’s the first step toward wisdom. Growing up, we hear about the bad things in the world; but we still believe that God’s watching out for us, because our own lives are so great. It’s no coincidence that we’re so lucky – we’re just being "blessed for our obedience". I’ve been skeptical about religion since I was a teenager; but I didn’t really get angry at God until later in my life, when I lost certain things that were very important to me. It wasn’t fair that I’d been a good person my whole life, and now I wasn’t getting what I wanted. I’d been promised that my prayers would be answered, and they hadn’t been. And as I came to realize that God wasn’t there for me, I started to see that he wasn’t there for anyone. And then, I began to be filled with true compassion for the first time. As long as our own lives are good, then "life is good" - it usually takes personal suffering to begin to understand the suffering of others. So when Elder Price sees what’s happening to Africa, only to think “Why is this happening to me?”, I didn’t see it as arrogance or conceit. I saw it as brutally tragic. I know that feeling all too well – the feeling that your Heavenly Father has abandoned you. In his bitterness, Elder Price abandons his mission, heading back to the airport to go home and demand a transfer to Orlando.
But Elder Cunningham won’t give up. The next day, he goes out alone to teach – he’s so driven by his training, he doesn’t know what else to do. The only problem is that Elder Cunningham only knows the gospel through the tidbits he’s heard in Sunday School. He’s in no position to teach, and as he randomly reads the Book of Mormon to the people, he sees that the stories inside don’t help them at all. Desperate to keep their attention, he begins to alter the stories to fit their needs, filling in the gaps with his adoration of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. And for the first time, the scriptures make sense to the Ugandans. Finally, God has answers for them. Elder Cunningham enthralls them with tales of Joseph Smith defeating AIDS and fighting dysentery, and he tells the story of Boba Fett's vengeance for those who practice female circumcision. And even though we know they’re just fictional stories, we can see that they're making a difference. Elder Cunningham may be making it all up - but with his stories, he’s able to convert rapists and put an end to violence, while bringing hope to dozens of people.
In particular, he’s able to inspire Nabulungi, a sweet young African woman who dreams of escaping the General to Salt Lake City. One of the show’s most emotional moments comes when she sings about what Utah must be like; where the warlords are friendly, and where goat meat and flour are plentiful. It makes you appreciate how lucky we are, when her highest hopes don’t even come close to how great it really is; with grocery stores, elected leaders, real health care, and so much more than she can imagine. But then, Nabulungi reaches the climax of the song, and your heart sinks – “And I’ll bet the people are open-minded, and don’t care who you’ve been; and all I hope is that when I find it, I’m able to fit in.” Those lines just crushed me, because that’s the one thing in her dreams they don’t have in Utah – tolerance. There are virtually no black people in Utah. The Mormons aren’t racist, but they’re so aware of their past that they’re awkwardly, almost artificially friendly with non-white people. They’re so desperate to let everyone know that they’re not racist, that it makes black people feel like they’re being treated differently, which is hard to trust. It’s embarrassing to witness. Nabulungi is a sweetheart, but she’s got a fiery spirit and she curses a lot. In the most conservative state in the nation, the Mormons wouldn’t know what to do with her. They’d try to be nice, but I can tell you from experience that she’d never feel truly welcome. The Mormons aren't very good at handling outsiders.
Meanwhile, Elder Price has a vision of hell, and comes to the same conclusion that every Christian makes at one point in their lives – “If my religion is failing me, it must be my own fault”. If the church is true, then all he needs to do is have more faith, and God will return. He bears his testimony to himself, and his trust in God inspires him to face the impossible. Backed by a choir of angels, he storms the General’s camp to convert him to the church. It’s the emotional highlight of the show, and seeing it in person was so powerful.
But as expected, the General isn’t so moved, and Elder Price is lucky to escape with his life. And here, the reality of the world finally sinks in. Elder Price finally understands that he really is alone. He’s bitter, he’s humiliated, and he’s angry at being lied to his entire life. In short, he’s exactly where I’ve been for the past two years. Up to this point, Elder Price's emotional state had mirrored my own almost exactly - the initial naive optimism, the sting when life didn't work out like it was supposed to, the desperate promise to be even more loyal, and the final, bitter defeat. But Elder Price still has more to learn, and that’s where the play changed me the most.
Broken and alone, Elder Price finally makes his way back to the camp, to find that Elder Cunningham has converted many of the people. He’s done so well that the Mission President has come to visit and see this progress. In gratitude, the Ugandans put on their own play, featuring the story of Joseph Smith. I absolutely must not spoil this scene, because you have to see it for yourself. All I can say is that it’s the funniest, filthiest, craziest thing that has ever hit Broadway, and you will laugh so hard it hurts. It’s just brilliant - and the sincerity of the Ugandans makes it sweet and endearing, despite its zaniness. It’s simply one of the best things you will ever see in your life.
Needless to say, the Mission President isn’t pleased. He voids every baptism, and tells the missionaries that they’re being sent home. As the missionaries worry about their futures, Elder Price steps in. “You know what? FUCK him. We are still Latter-Day Saints. All of us. Even if we change some things, or we break the rules… or we have complete doubt that God exists. We can still all work together to make this our paradise”. The missionaries agree - you don't need religion to help other people, you just need to care about them.
The show ends with the most upbeat, joyful song in the show, as the characters thank God for their lives and their families. And for the first time, I reconciled my anger at religion. The ultimate point of the story is that all religions are fictional, yet it ended with more respect for the faithful than it did in the beginning. Elder Price – now a non-believer – concludes the story with the words “I believe”. And I realized that I believe, too. I’ve spent my last two years attacking religion, but in that play, I saw that just because they’re not true, it doesn’t mean that they’re not important. I may not take any stock in the Christian faith, but my life has been changed by stories – including this play. Elder Price is a fictional character, but he changed my life, and I love him. How is that any different from someone being grateful to Jesus Christ for his atonement? Sitting in that theatre, I felt the same “spirit” that Mormons feel in their temples. And I understood that even though I’d been right, I’d also been wrong all along. Trey Parker once said, “I really do see Jesus and Luke Skywalker and Santa Claus in the same category. And I believe in all three.” I understood what he meant before, but now I can feel it, too.
Of course, there is a key difference – I don’t actually think that Elder Price, Frodo, or Harry Potter are real, or that they can tell me how to think. Religion is still a very dangerous thing in this world, and the play doesn’t hesitate to make that clear. But in my life, I’ve never met a religious extremist. I’ve met some intolerant people, and I’ve faced heartbreaking rejections for my skepticism. But these people aren’t dangerous or hateful. And Trey and Matt genuinely love Mormonism. They don’t have an ounce of faith in it, but they love it. And that love is infectious. I actually think Mormons are cool, for the first time in over a decade. Yes, they wear strange underwear – but I have a Star Trek costume in my closet. And yes, they have blind devotion to their leaders – but I waited outside afterward just so I could shake Andrew Rannells’ hand and personally thank him for playing Elder Price. In the end, none of us are immune to the power of stories, and we’re all just looking for some kind of meaning in life. We find that meaning in many different ways, but that’s a good thing. It makes life unique and interesting.
The Book of Mormon isn’t just a great Broadway show – it’s one of the best things our species has ever created. It’s a shot of pure joy in a cold world, and it’s a reminder of the importance of stories in our lives. I cannot recommend it enough. I’ve already bought tickets to go see it again. The original cast is only contracted through the end of next February, and tickets are already almost sold out through then. Trust me, you do not want to miss this cast. But if you absolutely can’t afford a trip to New York, the show is going on tour over the next year, so watch for it. Everyone should see this at least once in their lives.