Tag: Broadway Across Canada

The Book of Mormon: Excellent performances but the combination of satire and sappiness is both ridiculous and incongruous.

The Book of Mormon: Excellent performances but the combination of satire and sappiness is both ridiculous and incongruous.

 

The Book of Mormon

Photo. Joan Marcus

It is commendable, but not surprising that the Mormon Church took the high road when reacting to this satirical musical about their religion. The potty-mouthed satire of The Book of Mormon by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (co-creators of South Park) and Robert Lopez (co-creator with Jeff Marx of Avenue Q) is too ridiculous to cause any harm to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Often fun, more often obscene, the combination of satire and sappiness is too incongruous to be classed as great. It is loud. It does poke fun at such other musicals and singers as The Lion King and Bono. But it could hardly be called incisive or consistently witty, except for those who find monstrous parodies of erect penises and loud repetition of “I have maggots in my scrotum” knee-slappingly funny.

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Mamma Mia, popular showcase of ABBA songs is still making the rounds to enthusiastic audiences.

Mamma Mia, popular showcase of ABBA songs is still making the rounds to enthusiastic audiences.

One of the most popular musicals ever, audiences around the world have been enjoying Mamma Mia since it first hit London’s West End in the spring of 1999.

By this time, it is doubtful if anyone does not know the story of how the musical came into being or the details of its cleverly contrived storyline.

Built around the songs that the super popular Swedish group ABBA made famous in the 1970s, Catherine Johnson’s book winds the light-hearted plot into a showcase for the songs and nostalgia for the period.

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