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‘Book of Mormon’ at the Academy of Music: Entertaining, dazzling, silly, and unifying

This energetic, irrepressible musical is in Philadelphia on a national tour, and it's not to be missed. It's very silly, completely irreverent, and completely in love with musicals. Singing, lighting, set design, all are enthralling -- when you're not laughing helplessly.

The company of "The Book of Mormon," through June 9 at the Academy of Music.
The company of "The Book of Mormon," through June 9 at the Academy of Music.Read moreJulieta Cervantes

You have only until June 9 to take in the national tour of Broadway’s acclaimed The Book of Mormon (2011) at the Academy of Music. Winner of nine Tony Awards, this beautifully crafted musical comedy features mismatched Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda to save the heathen.

Liam Tobin, a perfectly pitched tenor, stars as Elder Price, who confuses virtue with self as he sings the tune “You and Me (But Mostly Me).” His companion missionary is comically nerdy Elder Cunningham (Jacob Ben-Shmuel), a compulsive liar who, preposterously, leads the way to salvation.

Although writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone (cocreators of South Park) and Robert Lopez (music for Avenue Q) are not known for piety, they do revere the musical genre. Homages to Broadway abound. “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” for example, is both a tribute and unmistakably a send-up of “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King.

Almost every number in Mormon quotes a Broadway showstopper. “Joseph Smith American Moses,” a parody drawn from The King and I, is the effective climax, a hilarious scene in which Ugandans act out the lies of Elder Cunningham that led to their conversion.

While the first act is wittily engaging, the show really gets going with the ensemble number “Man Up” just before intermission. In entertaining counterpoint, Mormon missionaries and Ugandans join in disjointed song and dance. The rest of the show stays on this energetic, absorbing level.

Two dazzling ensemble numbers open Act 2. In “Making Things Up Again,” Elder Cunningham battles conscience as Joseph Smith, Darth Vader, his parents, and Ugandans try to get his attention. “Spooky Mormon Dream” follows, in which Elder Price wrestles demons: Genghis Khan, Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Johnnie Cochran, and Lucifer himself.

Under codirectors Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, the fluid scene changes of designer Scott Pask border on the miraculous, while costume designer Ann Roth keeps the stage awash in color. Invariably, songs reveal neediness, as when Nabulungi (Kayla Pecchioni, a standout all night) yearns for paradise and sings “Sal Tlay Ka Siti” (mangled Salt Lake City).

In this show, Mormons are cartoonish, Ugandans merely the sum of signature African problems: famine, AIDS, warlords, and genital mutilation. Mormonism is a catchall by which to take a jab at a range of officious American idealisms, like “American exceptionalism” or wars “to win hearts and minds.” (How ironic that race-tinged idealism has morphed into present day “America-first” grunge.)

Mormon ends on a rousing unifying note, as young missionaries and Ugandans agree religion is truth by metaphor and a practical way to seek a better life. But even this overreaching idea is an implausibly speedy resolution that injects still another layer of silliness into the show.

Theater

The Book of Mormon

Through June 9 at the Academy of Music, 240 S. Broad St. Tickets: $29-$169. Information: 215-893-1999, kimmelcenter.org.