The Book of Mormon Reviews

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Average customer review: 2.5 star rating (2.5 Stars)

Number of reviews: 33

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5.0 star rating Beth from London,

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR.

I saw this on broadway with the opening cast and it was fantastic so couldn't wait for it to hit the west end. The lead characters were amazing and as good as the original cast. The ensemble were fantastic and I couldn't criticise any of it. Is it rude? Yes. Is it offensive absolutly not. Infact the story line is so clever and fills you with hope and endearment, the music was expertly written and the dancing was slick, clever and totally entertaining. If you are a fan of musicals this is a MUST see.

5.0 star rating Sara from Gloucestershire, UK

I COULDN'T FAULT IT

I saw this last night and thought it was excellent from the word go. Thankyou so much to every single member of the cast. I really enjoyed watching all of you because you all have your own personalities and passion and you believe in it totally. You've really inspired me. My only comment would be that the £75 price tag means it's quite inaccessible to most people although it's been years since I went to the West End and maybe that is the price now (?) I recommend this show and I'm not a fan of musicals. If you want something edgy and different and the thrill of seeing incredible talent then you will have a really good time :-)

5.0 star rating Theatrelover from London,

NOT YOUR MOTHER'S MUSICAL BUT OH, SO MUCH FUN!

I saw the Book of Mormon with a friend and what can I say, we laughed from start to finish. Sometimes it was that slightly awkward laughter, sometimes the "Oh my gosh, did they just say that?" laughter and other times the belly-filled laughter from songs and scenes that are just plain hilarious. It's rude and offensive and probably something you wouldn't watch with you folks, but its the most fun I've had in a theatre in a looong time!

5.0 star rating Jane from London,

BRILLIANT

Hilarious show, loved every minute.

5.0 star rating Sue from Wales

WEAR YOUR WATERPROOF MASCARA

Clever, funny and brilliantly performed. Best show I've seen for years. Laughed so much I looked like a demented panda at the end of the evening, or so my romantic husband told me.

5.0 star rating Nancy from Fife

FANTASTIC

We had waited a few years to see this show as kept getting cancelled due to the pandemic, but the wait was worth it. The fabulous talented cast are amazing but we did struggle to make out the lyrics of the songs which you need to understand the story fully, what we did catch is shocking, unbelievable but absolutely hilarious. We don't know if it had anything to do with the sound system but speaking & listening to other people they said the same. Anyway we will be going back to catch it again in the future and il make sure I know all the songs by heart. Were from fife so we made a day off it in Edinburgh visiting a few pubs and had a meal at The Auld 100 pub which was very good.

5.0 star rating Nick from Edinburgh,

RIP ROARING SATIRICAL FUN

I really really enjoyed this show. The staging and effects for Book of Mormon are fantastic. The songs are fun and interesting with lots of layers in the lyrics moving through the cast. From other reviews it seems you either love it or hate it, but from my perspective if you think this is racist, bigoted or blasphemous then you've complete missed the point. Everything -everything is done with irony turned up to the max. This show shines a light on the making and acceptance of belief, be it having faith the someone finding gold plates or that you f**k babies to cure aids. The whole point is that people believe essentially whatever they've been told but maybe that's ok if the focus is kind, which is how in the end we finish with the book of Arnold. Like Southpark you have to move past the surface of what looks like a poo joke but is actually a very pertinent allegory.

5.0 star rating Scott from Edinburgh

FANTASTICALLY FUNNY

I'd heard the buzz around the book of Mormon and some controversy but it is completely satirical and points fun against the sometimes ignorant world view of Africans. The songs were brilliant and catchy, great dance numbers, specifically one with a twist... Certain scenes were so funny I made a point to look around the room and literally saw people fall off seats, holding their sides laughing, it was fantastic, they received a 5-10 min standing ovation. Brilliant, would go back and see them elsewhere.

5.0 star rating Dustin McCauley from London, England

HILARIOUS AND EXPERTLY ACTED

Excellent performances and top notch comedy from Parker & Stone. We thought it was brilliant, more than worth the time and money!

5.0 star rating Phil from London, England

MORE MORE MORMON!

Laugh first and reflect afterwards…and you WILL laugh if you need to and let yourself. I feared that satire had been squeezed and stifled but here it is in all its edgy and incisive glory in wonderful songs, tetchy exchanges, facial expressions and nuanced interwoven cultural ‘morality’. If you don’t laugh at satire and see the world through a wokey lens, don’t bother going .. but if you are hungry for wicked humour and savage satire and are not easily offended then you’ll love it! Check your heart health first though, as laughing this hard puts a strain on it. Brilliant cast acting and singing their hearts out. I’m not a big musical fan so am selective, but we selected well with The Book of Mormon well worth the ticket price. Brilliant!

4.5 star rating Jimbo from London

DEFINITELY WORTH A TRIP TO THE PRINCE OF WALES THEATRE

Shocking, funny and a bit twisted but very entertaining - well worth seeing!

3.0 star rating Mike from Edinburgh,

GOES TOO FAR WITH CHILD/BABY ABUSE JOKES

Im not prudish but the jokes about f…….. babies is really not funny. There is never a situation where child/baby sex abuse can be used as a joke. The rest is funny.

2.0 star rating Laetitia from London, England

EXTREMELY OFFENSIVE BUT NOT FUNNY.

Not only humans has managed to crucified Jesus Christ but now they are laughing at him.Even if he wasn't God Jesus Christ was the most beautiful man who had ever walked on this EARTH. This play is an excellent reflection of this miserable,empty,disrespectful,stupid,without any Morality at all.....of the modern world. I wasn't expecting much from the guy who wrote the South Park which i already found vulgar,violent and disturbing. I went because my friend wanted to watch it. Played with my game before it ends. Apart the story being vile,the actors were great dancers and singers. Beautiful lighting and decorating.

2.0 star rating Michael R from Shropshire

DISAPPOINTING

Unnecessary and unfunny blasphemy and crudity. Good performances by the cast. Some good songs but some were just loud and noisy, with little tune. Very overrated musical.

2.0 star rating John Davidson from London, England

DISAPPOINTING AND FORGETTABLE

The Book of Mormon was the hottest ticket in town for a while. I'm really not sure why. The tunes are bland and the humour is frequently infantile. I was expecting something clever and transgressive but instead was treated to some fairly obvious stereotypes and profanity rather than a witty, edgy satire . I've no problem with having a giggle at Mormon beliefs as a heightened reality examination of all faiths, but this is no Life of Brian . Instead this is another white saviour story where poor ,Aids riddled Africans , living in squallor and threatened by a local warlord are encouraged to believe in themselves when the American ugly duckling missionary makes up a bunch of stupid stories . Some of the jokes land. Religion isn't about the details, it's about broad messages of hope and kindness . But it's heart isn't really in the right place. Where life of Brian showed us the absurdity of faith and left us singing "always look on the bright side". Book of Mormon offers us a cycle of diminishing returns where each new religion is dafter than the last. But with an inane smile and jazz hands .

2.0 star rating Helen Adams from London, England

DISTURBING THEMES. OVERSEXUALISED.

Liked the signing and dancing but unlike other versions of this show the images, tropes and themes were very odd and many disturbing. Someone threw a jumble up in the air and made a strange musical out of them. Stereotyping, racism, masturbation, bestiality, paedophilia, FGM, rape. Really? Very peculiar show.

2.0 star rating Alicia from London, England

YIKES

I saw it today. The performance (singing, dancing, costumes, set design) were great. The content? Was so-so...Not sure why they had to say AIDS + Africans 10 billion times and not sure why they had to mention SA'd babies by Africans a million times. The pokes at the Ugandans were WAY more over the top than the ones about the Mormons...which is weird AF... I also am not a fan of the "fat + funny" trope. I also think jokes about groups that are not oppressed hit differently than jokes about people that are. Especially when loads of people still believe them now...Might have been more interesting if the Ugandans outwitted them somehow or taught them something...idk I'm not a playwright 🤷🏾‍♀️

1.0 star rating Ella ET from London, England

THE RACIST AND STEREOTYPICAL PORTRAYAL OF AFRICANS ARE HARMFUL AND DISAPPOINTING. IT HAS NO ON STAGE PLACE IN 2022.

The depiction of Ugandans as AIDS infested people living in mud huts who carry around their AIDS infested babies, whose women have all been subject to FGM is an incredibly harmful stereotype that simply isn’t funny. This isn’t a matter of being “too woke” it’s a matter of changing a disgusting image of Africa that has been perpetuated by white people for centuries. It is this exact mentality that emboldened Darwin to declare that Africans were “savage progenitors”, giving power to theory that Africa was a “dark” continent filled with barbarians who ought to be tamed. So seeing such a rich and vibrant country like Uganda being relegated to huts where wild animals roam free, with unintelligent people where warlords with absurd names like ‘General Butt Fucking Naked’ go around performing Female Genital Mutilation is quite simply racist. Africa is not a continent where people go around carrying chickens, Africans are not imbeciles and this depiction of them in the Book of Morman is not only factually wrong and offensive it simply isn’t satirical. The Book of Mormon producers and screenwriters worked so hard to get the facts about LDS right but failed woefully or couldn’t be bothered to do the same for Uganda. There are many other aspects of Uganda, it’s politics and culture that the writers could have written about that wouldn’t be incredibly racist and inflammatory. In summary, I’m not telling you not to watch the show, but if you do, be aware of how harmful and debilitating such depictions of Africa and Africans can be.

1.0 star rating Dick P from London, England

THE SAD BOOK OF MORMON

This was a very racist and outdated show, that shouldn't be on the stage, especially in a mutli-cultural place like London. The jokes old and reminiscent of less-tolerant times. Maybe on a small cable channel it might work. I felt embarrassed to be a white person watching something so undeniably racist and colonial. A great waste of £55 for each ticket that I stupidly bought. Don't waste your money!!!!! Musical theatre at its very worst.

1.0 star rating Joe Hinton from London, England

TEDIOUS AND COMPLETELY OVERRATED

Went to see this show on the back of recommendations from friends. We were eagerly anticipating a funny satirical show. So very disappointing, one or two funny moments but overall it felt like a two minute Monty Python sketch stretched over two hours. The only time at a west end show I wanted to leave during the interval. Many Americans in the audience seemed to love it but several people we spoke to were as disappointed as we were. Can’t fault the cast, all good performances but the material was woeful.

1.0 star rating Daniela from Liverpool,

AWFUL AND BORING.

Offensive, with racist and distasteful stereotypes used throughout. For example, it’s weaponisation of the AIDS crisis and female genital mutilation, to name a few.

1.0 star rating from Liverpool,

GARBAGE

A complete waste of time and money. We considered leaving at the interval but thought it must improve so stayed to the end. It didn't improve and was just not funny at all despite all those around us laughing loudly at crude and racist jokes. I wish I had read some of the bad reviews before purchasing tickets. The good reviews bear no resemblance to our experience of this show. Describing it as a comedy musical is laughable.

1.0 star rating Anon from Edinburgh,

EXPECTED SATIRE OF MORMON CHURCH, GOT RACIST JOKES ABOUT UGANDANS!

If, like me, you haven’t seen the Book of Mormon before then don’t go expecting a musical satirising the Mormon church - most of the play is a racist depiction of Uganda. I was disappointed and embarrassed to be there.

1.0 star rating Rebecca from Edinburgh,

BORING, UNFUNNY, PREDICTABLE ‘JOKES’

This is really bad, I was so bored that I left halfway through. Not because it was offensive but because it was just lazy writing and genuinely awful jokes. I honestly felt sleepy during this. They’re also clearly trying to appeal to a certain demographic by perpetuating racist and harmful stereotypes but listen, I can take a joke but these just were not funny. A statement just being racist or offensive doesn’t make it automatically funny but these people clearly don’t get that. On another note: trying to get laughs from horrible issues like female genital mutilation and r*ping infants is just too far. Do people actually laugh at that sort of thing? Every joke was so predictable and desperately trying to get a laugh it was just so bad. I’d like a refund honestly.

1.0 star rating Sue K from Edinburgh,

SHOCKINGLY RACIST, AN EMBARRASSMENT TO EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE

Genuinely can not believe the flat out racist rubbish I’ve just experienced. Finding it hard to believe more people didn’t leave at the interval as we did. Nothing funny or edgy about the bigoted depictions of Ugandan characters, just cringingly racist and backward. If you find jokes about raping babies to cure AIDS funny and support the BNP you might enjoy this, but if not don’t waste your money. Really has no place on stage in 2022. An embarrassment to Edinburgh Playhouse that they would host this garbage.

1.0 star rating Janice from London, England

BOOK OF MORMON

I had been longing to see this show having heard such good reviews. To say I was disappointed is an understatement.!! References to rape infants to cure aids!! Female Genital mutilation is not my idea of a joke . I was horrified that people were laughing hysterically when one of the casts lines was I need to fuck an infant to cure aids !!!!! . How on earth is this allowed to be on stage!!! It should come with a warning that their is references to infant child abuse ,racism,FGM, homophobia and constant vile language!! This show should be shut down

1.0 star rating Liz from London, England

IF I COULD GIVE THIS 0 STARS ...... THE MOST OFFENSIVE & BLASPHEMOUS PRODUCTION

I don't understand how in 2022 as a culture we think its okay to still be depicting religion and race in this form of manner. I didn't know what to expect before going in but was going by the positive reviews I heard through word of mouth. Nothing could have ever prepared me for what I would face once the curtains drew. Never in my life have I ever felt so uncomfortable as black woman being surrounded by white middle class audience laughing hysterically at offensive language - I felt out of place and that I didn't belong here, but also felt scared to know in 2022 people are still ignorant. The list is endless but here are a few; blasphemous jokes about God, mockery of Jesus dying on the cross, swearing to God, ignorant and racist comments to other countries, Africans being depicted to having AIDS, an uncomfortable scene on child abuse - sex with a baby, maggots in private areas, gunshots. NO NO NO ! This was all in the first 1hr and 30mins. Once the 20min break was in order my friends and I decided to leave immediately - we were then stopped by the door by a staff member who seemed shocked that we left and asked if everything was okay. However we were all shocked with disbelief that we couldn't even give her a response - In hindsight I wish we had said something then and there. This show can not continue and needs to be boycotted - It really is unnecessary in this day and age.

1.0 star rating Martin from Glasgow,

GARBAGE

I wish I had read some reviews before spending over £100 for two tickets to see this mostly unfunny show. Yes, some people might like it and some of the audience did applaud during the performance but I just wanted to leave at the interval as I felt very uncomfortable with the content. I'm not going to add why as I would only be repeating the other one star reviews but I totally endorse them.

1.0 star rating Raymond from London, England

RAPE AND RACISM ON STAGE, JUST FOR LAUGHS

So many have already said it but I hadnt read the reviews and saw the show. This play is vile trash. Mention of raping babies, female mutilation, racism are all the gags in this play. Horrible trash. Don't support this play. The Book of Mormon should be pulled immediately!

1.0 star rating Joyc from Perth , West Australia

NOT WORTH EVEN 1 STAR

Hated it not funny. Extremely racist, highly offensive. No place for it in todays world

1.0 star rating Katherine Payne from London, England

BOOK OF MORMON CRAP

The Most DREADFUL SHOW I have ever seen! Wanted to leave at half time but this was a birthday gift. Never should raping babies or FGM be humorous subjects. I was shocked.

1.0 star rating Sal from London, England

DISGUSTING, OUTDATED

Do not go. I'm a big musical fan, but this was shocking. Humor is outdated, irrelevant, not funny and racist. I wish I did not see this, can't believe this is still being performed every single day in a cultural city as London.

1.0 star rating Cynthia morrison from London, England

I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I SAW

Although the acting was faultless and the singing superb. I was very disturbed by the content. I think the subject matter was quite inappropriate, crude, and frankly blasphemous. I would not recommed this show to anyone.

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What we thought

Comical MUSICAL loud!

Don't be afraid to be jerked out of your comfort zone for a comedy musical

Don't be afraid to be jerked out of your comfort zone for a comedy musical. Yes, it's rude, it's lewd, even. But that's exactly why we loved it!

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Nicola Quinn

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