'The Book Of Mormon' at The Prince of Wales Theatre

I went to see 'The Book Of Mormon' last week and was both shocked and disgusted and laughed and laughed and bought the cast recording and was terribly ashamed of myself but, hey ho, that can't be helped. I first tried to see it in March 2011 on Broadway but it was sold out and I ended up seeing 'The Addams Family' instead. Two years later and I've finally seen it.

The show is doing great business and is virtually sold out until July so it's been extended for a further six months. I suspect it'll be a hot ticket for the rest of the year so you'd better book now.

It stars Gavin Creel (from 'Hair' and 'Mary Poppins' in the West End and 'Hair' on Broadway) who perfected the role on the American tour and Jared Gertner (who played the role on Broadway) as the naive "elders'  sent to Uganda along with Alexia Khadime from the Ugandan village, Giles Terera (last seen in 'Avenue Q') as her dad and Stephen Ashfield as the not-gay elder with his pink suitcase.

As you'd expect, it's full of great songs, great scenes and dance routines and, of course, lots of swearing and damning of organised religion (of all sorts). There are some great scenes such as the elders singing about sinful moments when they erupt into a tap dancing line in glittery waistcoats that would do any 1930s musical proud. There is also the 'man up' scene that ends the first half in which Jared sings that he'll 'man up all over himself'. Then there's the 'Spooky Mormon Hell Dream' sequence with the camp Hitler, the demons and skeletons dancing round the stage and Jesus coming on stage to call Gavin a dick. O dear, he's had it now...

As you might expect from the writers of 'South Park', the language is quite ripe and you might want to be wary of General Butt-Fucking-Naked. He turns out ok in the end though. I like the robe with the light trimming that Jesus wore (not quite disco-Jesus).

It's all quite fun, with some great song and dance scenes, some great comedy lines and it's always great fun to see Gavin Creel. I think I'll book to see it again!