Review by GRAHAM HICKS

I never watched much South Park on TV, but I read enough about the animated comedy to know it broke all the rules of pleasantry and politeness, was one of the first shows on widely-watched TV in the early ’90s to break the profanity barrier, and was screamingly funny through humourous commentary that made fun of just about every American icon, be it human or otherwise.

South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were natural heirs to the irreverent, damn the social torpedoes school of American satirical humour that broke through with George Carlin, gestated in Saturday Night Live, spawned The Simpsons and John Belushi.

So it wasn’t surprising that Parker, Stone and third collaborator Robert Lopez again broke all the rules when they wrote Book of Mormon, certainly the most successful Broadway show of the 2010s which is now in the middle of its second extended tour since debuting on Broadway in 2011.

On the surface, Book of Mormon is not only screamingly funny, but screamingly rude and offensive.

It points its middle finger at those fine, outstanding, free-of-all-vices Mormon folks and can’t stop laughing at their ultra-conservative, white-bread, repressed, naïve and forced congeniality.

But lest we think Parker, Stone and Lopez are not equality opportunity social skewerists, they turn their jaundiced pens toward that most sacred of cows on the sensitivity scale – possibly the most oppressed people in the world, primitive African villagers battered by AIDs and famine, scourged into submission by brutal tribal warlords. 

And they don’t stop laughing at both!  At the ignorance and backwardness of the Ugandans, at the Mormons’ ultra-conformity.

The problem is the whole show is really, really funny, has a bunch of great Broadway tunes, is full of amusing references to pop culture and never, ever, slows down. In its energy, attention span, snappiness and pacing, it’s about as perfect a Broadway show you could get.

The acting is superb, the singing even better. Nobody misses a beat as the show whizzes along through its Marx Brothers’ rapid-fire dialogue, as the scenes keep switching between the Ugandan “black” humour in all senses of the word, and the ultra-white Mormon boys.  

Just a small example of the humour. Co-star Elder Cunningham strikes up a friendship with the cute daughter of the Ugandan village leader, named Nabulungi. During the show, never remembering her name, he refers to her as Jon Bon Jovi, Neosporin, Necrophilia, Nacolepsy and Nelly Furtado. 

So how does a show that on the surface is sarcastic and cruel and blunt end up being so popular? Book of Mormon is already knocking on the door of the Top 10  most-attended Broadway shows ever. 

Because, in their hearts, Messrs. Parker Stone and Lopez truly like their characters. When all the skewering is done, if they were real people, the authors would clap them on the back, put their arms around their characters’ shoulders and take them out for a beer.

It’s such a fun show. As long as you don’t mind humour that doesn’t know where to stop and an enormous amount of profanity, you’re gonna love this show.  

P.S. Broadway Across Canada, the promoter of the touring Book of Mormon, has announced its 2015/16 season  to be staged at the Jubilee Auditorium:    Once, Nov. 10 to 15, 2015;  Dirty Dancing Jan. 5 to 10, 2016 and  The Wizard of Oz Feb. 23 to 28, 2016. The Lion King is being offered as an additional purchase season option, from July 14 to Aug. 9, 2015. 

Season's tickets for the three shows range from $124 to $289, not including Lion King. BroadwayAcrossCanada.ca or order by phone  1 866 532 7469.