By Marlee Breakstone

The Book of Mormon is one of the most popular shows on Broadway. Although it is a relatively new show, it has received a lot of awards, including the Tony Award for Best Musical. Because of this, tickets are extremely difficult to come by.

During the infamous power outage that occurred as a result of our recent snowstorm, my mother and I fled from Southbury and spent the weekend in New York City. We decided to be spontaneous and test our luck by trying to get standing-room tickets to see this new show.

After waiting in line outside in the frigid weather for a total of nearly three hours, my mom and I finally made our way to the front of the line and reached the ticket window. There had been a lot of people on line in front of us and only a limited number of tickets were available, so we were not sure as to whether or not we would be able to see the show. To our dismay, the teller at the window informed us that there was only one ticket left. Being the best mother ever, my mom purchased the ticket and quickly sent me into the theater to see the show without her.

The theater that this show is performed in is fairly small, so the fact that I was standing in the back of the theater was no bother at all. I spent a large portion of the show dancing to the music anyway, so it didn’t matter much. I had no idea what to expect as the curtain rose and the show began. I had not taken the time to research the show, listen to the soundtrack or learn about the plot before coming to see it. I was simply excited to take it as it came.

Everything about this show was funny. Because it is so popular and there is such a large chance that a lot of you will see it at some point in the future, I will try my best not to give away too much about the plot. Basically, it is about two Mormon missionaries that are sent to the third-world nation of Uganda with the task of converting the Africans to Mormonism. A lot of references are made to the roots of the Mormon religion and what their key beliefs are. All of what they say in this show about Mormonism is true, but they present the information in a very comical way.

The songs, although very catchy and clever, do contain a lot of profanity and vulgar language. For this reason, I would not advise that anyone under the age of fifteen see this show. The costumes are very impressive and the plot line is unexpectedly captivating. The writers of this show are the same two men that are best known for creating the hit television show South Park. Both of these men are homosexual and were raised in Mormon households.

I must say that, although this show was very good and I thoroughly enjoyed it, it was rather racy. I am a little surprised that it was not criticized more for being controversial and somewhat offensive for several groups of people. After observing the facial expressions after the show was over, I came to realize that many people were, in fact, offended by the content of this musical. People were either overwhelmed by their love for it or were disgusted and appalled.

Overall, I would say that this show is all that it is chocked up to be. It contains all of the components of a stellar Broadway musical. The music is great, the costumes are wonderful, the plot is creative and unique and the cast is flawless. I would recommend that anyone lucky enough to get tickets should see this fantastic new musical.