Broadway in Orlando review: Scatological satire ‘The Book of Mormon’ hasn’t lost its bite

It’s been seven years since Broadway’s The Book of Mormon last toured to Orlando, and prior to walking into the Dr. Phillips Center on Tuesday night I was uncertain how the award-winning scatological satire from the creators of South Park (Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and Avenue Q (Robert Lopez) would be received by a modern audience. After all, countless cranky comedians have been complaining that anything edgy or outrageous is now outlawed, so how would today’s supposedly woke theater patrons react to an R-rated musical romp about teenage Utahn missionaries proselytizing to impoverished Ugandans?

The answer, it turns out, is with gales nearly nonstop laughter and repeated showstopping cheers — from the first doorbell ring to the final scrotum gag — proving that even after Black Lives Matter, The Book of Mormon still hasn’t lost its bite.

The reason The Book of Mormon is still celebrated instead of canceled lies partly in its still-relevant script, which was subtly tweaked during COVID to eliminate a few cringe-worthy quips and grant slightly more sophistication and agency to the Africans, especially Nabulungi (Keke Nesbitt). Likewise, co-director/choreographer Casey Nicholaw’s cinematic staging has always been propulsive, with barely a still moment to get bored; but new modifications to his tap-happy choreography and fluid blocking now make the Black characters better centered, as they throw side-eye at their absurdly exuberant wannabe white saviors. These gentle adjustments don’t ruin any good jokes (or even bad ones about baby rape) and may go unnoticed by most, but they clarify that the authors’ intent is to ridicule religious hypocrisy, not punch down at afflicted villagers.

Racially sensitive reimagining aside, The Book of Mormon also continues to bring crowds to their feet because beneath the barrage of four-letter words, it’s actually a carefully crafted gem of musical theater that’s jam-packed with genuine heart and hummable tunes, with musical hat tips to everything from Wicked and Lion King to Fela and Forbidden Zone.

Thankfully, this non-Equity ensemble, led by Sam McLellan as the arrogant Elder Price, largely lives up to their union predecessors, exuding enough infectious energy to reach the Walt Disney Theater’s rear rafters. The cast’s MVP is without a doubt Diego Enrico, who had already won the audience’s affections as the irrepressible Elder Cunningham even before his big Act 1 finale was halted midway on opening night for an emergency, and then restarted from the beginning. By giving an all-out performance of this physically demanding solo not once but twice, Enrico more than earned the evening’s second-loudest ovation.

Of course, if you’ve ever seen The Book of Mormon here before, you know that the loudest shouts of the night were saved for the City Beautiful itself, whose repeated references provoked rapturous responses. The communal roar that greeted the giant backdrop of local landmarks near the start of Act 2 gave my AppleWatch tinnitus, and might just make seeing this show in Orlando an even better experience than on Broadway.

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This article appears in Oct 23-29, 2024.