The Book of Mormon (theatre): Difference between revisions

** Likewise, some liberties are taken with Mormon history and beliefs -- at least 11 other people claimed to have seen the Golden Plates, and Mormons don't actually believe in a literal Hell as portrayed in "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream".

** Granted, if the musical did follow all the rules of missionary life and stuck completely to Mormon doctrine, it [[Pragmatic Adaptation|would have had a completely different plot]].

{{quote| '''Hitler''': I started a war, and killed millions of Jews.<br />

'''Ghengis Khan''': I slaughtered the Chinese.<br />

'''Jeffrey Dahmer''': I stabbed a guy and fucked his corpse!<br />

'''Johnny Cochran''': I got OJ freed. }}

* [[As the Good Book Says]]: Subverted - Elder Cunningham can't find appropriate verses that condemn things like raping babies or genital mutilation, so he resorts to [[Ass Pull|making it up]].

* [[Ass Pull]]: Elder Cunningham does this repeatedly, [[In Universe]]. {{spoiler|When the Africans perform a stage play of the events of the Book of Mormon as described by Cunningham to the President of the Mormon Church, he decommissions the mission.}}

* [[Break the Cutie]]: Cunningham.

* [[Break the Haughty]]: Elder Price.

* [[Cool and Unusual Punishment]]: Elder Price's idea of torture during "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" involves being force-fed coffee

* [[Country Matters]]: The Ugandans enjoy this swear almost as much as the F bomb.

* [[Dialogue Reversal]]: When Elder Price and Elder Cunningham reprise "But Mostly Me", the titular line of dialogue is spoken by Cunningham instead.

* [[Disney Acid Sequence]]: Spooky Mormon Hell Dream

** "Baptize Me" includes a multitude of [[Double Entendre|Double Entendres]]. Yes, a song about ''baptism'' turns it into a double entendre.

** The moment when General Butt Fucking Naked and his guards close in on {{spoiler|Elder Price}} is reminiscent of a scene from the story of Abinadi in ''[[The Book of Mormon (Literature)|The Book of Mormon]]''. In fact, {{spoiler|Elder Price}} quotes Abinadi directly by saying "Touch me not!"

* [[Geeky Analogy]]: Elder Cunningham rationalizes concepts of [[The Book of Mormon (Literature)|The Book of Mormon]] to himself and explains them to the Africans using ''[[Star Wars]]'' and ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' references.

{{quote| '''Cunningham:''' You mean [[The Bible]] is a trilogy and the Book of Mormon is ''[[Return of the Jedi]]''? }}

* [[Hakuna Matata]]: Played with twice. Most noticeably in 'Hasa Diga Eebowai' where the true meaning of the phrase subverts the normal optimism of the trope. The trope is then deconstructed in 'Turn It Off' where the missionaries sing about forgetting their problems, but instead of this being a sign of how care-free they are, it hints at [[Stepford Smiler]] tendencies as the Elders suppress their emotions through tap-dance.

* [[Heel Faith Turn]]: [[Double Subversion]]. When {{spoiler|Elder Price prances in during "I Believe"}}, General Butt Fucking Naked is... unimpressed. At the end, though, when {{spoiler|he's confronted by Elders Cunningham, Price, and the Ugandans}}, he relents and joins the missionaries in the final number.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Price and Cunningham by the end of the show.

* [[Large Ham]]: "Have you heard the story of our prophet, {{spoiler|Arnold Cunningham, Arnold Cunningham, Arnold Cunning...HAAAA-AAALLLOOOO!!!}}

* [[Last Second Word Swap]]:

* [[Oh Crap]]: You can tell the music is doing this when we learn Elder Price and Elder Cunningham are going to Uganda. Yes, ''that'' Uganda.

* [[Ominous Latin Chanting]]: {{spoiler|During Spooky Mormon Hell Dream ("Rectus! Dominus! Spookytus! Deus! Creepytus!").}}

** Yes, even in a musical filled with the word, there's a precision strike during "Joseph Smith American Moses": "Compassion! Courtesy! Let's be really fucking polite to everyone!" (Also, arguably, "Take these fucking golden plates!")

** Also, in the middle of "I Believe", when Elder Price comes prancing into Butt Fucking Naked's headquarters, his response is "...The fuck is this?"

** "I Believe" has an opening that parodies "I Have Confidence" from ''[[The Sound of Music]]''.

** A chunk of "All American Prophet" has Elder Price imitating Robert Preston's sing-talking from ''[[The Music Man]]'', while the rest of it is a shout-out to [[Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]].

** "Hasa Diga Eebowai" parodies "[[The Lion King|Hakuna Matata]]". Elder Cunningham asks the Ugandans, "Does it mean no worries for the rest of our days?"

** During "Hasa Diga Eebowai", when Hatimbi reaches the "aaaaaaaa ... Wonderful disposition" part of the song, both the text and his vocal timbre become a shout-out to ''[[Les Misérables (Theatre)|Les Misérables]]''.

** The already upbeat "I Believe" is briefly reprised as part of the even more optimistic "Tomorrow Is a Latter Day".

* [[Unfortunate Implications]]: In-universe: "And if I want to get [to Paradise], I just have to follow that white boy!"

{{quote| "Together, we're gonna bring lots of Africans to the church! And then my dad will finally feel proud of me, instead of just feeling stuck with me."}}

* [[Wide Eyed Idealist]]: Elder Price and Nabulungi.