Beyond the Punchlines: A Conversation About The Book of Mormon
- Cathy Campo
- 9 hours ago
- 3 min read
If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Broadway, organized religion, and South Park had a chaotic three-way collaboration,The Book of Mormon is your answer. The Kellogg Arts & Theater Society (KATS) took a trip to “Salt Lake Uh City” to find out firsthand, and somehow, both the play and its creators remain uncanceled.
The Book of Mormon is a Tony-Award winning musical comedy by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone—the same trio behind famed animated TV series South Park and Tony-Award winning musical Avenue Q. It follows two missionaries: Elder Price, the overachieving golden boy with dreams of converting the world (starting, preferably, in Orlando Florida), and Elder Cunningham, his well-meaning and wildly imaginative partner whose storytelling tends to spiral out of control. Together, they’re sent to a remote Ugandan village (not exactly Orlando, huh?), where their faith and optimism are challenged, with quips poking fun at their beliefs along the way. It’s equal parts clever, crude, and surprisingly heartfelt—the kind of musical that leaves you laughing, cringing, and humming all at once. After the show, I couldn’t help but wonder what exactly did The Book of Mormon get right (and very wrong) about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints? So, I went straight to the source: Cameron Greenwalt, who also came to the show and is, unironically, actually Mormon.
Like Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, Cameron grew up in Utah and served his own mission—spending two years in Charlotte, North Carolina, where The Book of Mormon musical happened to be touring at the time. He didn’t actually see it until after returning home, but the coincidence stuck with him. When I asked what made him want to see the show later on, Cameron laughed and said, “Part of it was that I knew I could handle it and not get offended, but the other part was that I thought it would be a good opportunity to go and kind of demonstrate to people that not all Mormons are kooky and weird, like they’re shown in the play.”
Despite its reputation for crossing lines, Cameron admitted the production itself was “really, really good.” He continued, “The music is good, it’s funny in a lot of spots, but since I’ve been on a mission now, I can kind of empathize with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. I think they’re pretty bitter about their mission experience, and this was their way to blow off steam and vent about it.”
Still, he wasn’t entirely sold on the story’s resolution. “I don’t think the play has a great ending morale,” he said. “It kind of suggests you can do whatever you want and still be a Latter-day Saint, even if you don’t follow the rules. I think you should hold a set of values and try to stick with them the best you can.”
That said, Cameron didn’t view the show as purely negative. “As long as people who attend the play are able to keep an open mind about things,” he explained, “I think the play is a good channel for discussion about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and religion in America in general. That’s really where the most high-impact communication with people happens.”
And while the actual Book of Mormon has faced its share of criticism over the years, Cameron sees something deeply meaningful in it. “It gets a lot of hate and there’s a lot of drama around it,” he said, “but if you actually read it, I don’t think the source it came from was evil—through and through, it’s a good book.” (You can check out a copy for free from the Evanston Public Library.)
Talking with Cameron made me realize that The Book of Mormon walks a tricky line. - Iit pushes buttons, but it also sparks conversations you wouldn’t expect to have after a night at the theater. Whether you go for the laughs, the music, or the sheer audacity of it all, it’s worth seeing at least once. And if you’re tempted to experience it (or whatever Broadway hit comes next) with fellow Kellogg students, join the #kats Slack channel to grab tickets for the next show.
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