When the comic minds behind ‘South Park,’ Trey Parker and Matt Stone, met the composer for modern stage and screen classics ‘Avenue Q’ and ‘Frozen’, the result could only have been ‘The Book of Mormon’.
This Tony-winning musical made stars of its first Broadway cast (Andrew Rannells, Josh Gad) and produced successful road tours across the nation. Now, the ‘The Book of Mormon’ hits the stage at the Academy of Music.
Actor-singer Lamont J. Whitaker has been through the pages of ‘The Book of Mormon’ in the past with several stage tours of duty since 2022 as northern Ugandan chieftain Mafala Hatimbi — a wise character that Whitaker says is a father with a highly susceptible coming-of-age daughter.
“Like any father, he wants her to have everything that he didn’t have in life, and to be free of any injustices and poverty, and to see things differently,” he says. “Mafala also pushes the visiting Mormon missionaries to see things in a different light.”
Whitaker, a Conservatory of the Performing Arts in Los Angeles-trained performer had appeared in classic Broadway fare such as ‘Grease’, and recent shows ‘Summer: The Donna Summer Musical’, ‘A Bronx Tale’, ‘The Color Purple’ and ‘Legally Blonde.’ All that, and “as an actor and a co-worker,” he says the best memories of being on stage come from being a part of ‘The Book of Mormon.’
“The feeling of being in something so-much-bigger than you and your career has been amazing since my start,” says Whitaker. “From that first show, seeing the audience react was like nothing I’ve ever witnessed before.”
That audience reaction stems from the fact that Book of Mormon’s writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone — as they do throughout every South Park episode — poke fun at sacred cows and willingly court controversy.
“A lot of newer musicals are jukebox musicals that connect with a particular artist and a story, wherein ‘The Book of Mormon’ allows the artists on stage to sing truly original material… that can be sarcastic, but does call back to other musicals of the past,” says Whitaker. “It’s an intelligent musical.”
Without giving away the story, ‘The Book of Mormon’ spends much of its time tearing down organized religion; that is, when it isn’t busy tackling usually-non-musical topics such as famine, HIV/AIDS, genital mutilation and oppression. If you’ve witnessed ‘The Book of Mormon’ more than once, you know that the real fun of hearing its lyrics sung aloud is seeing the reaction of those in the audience who haven’t been hit with such risky, mainstream material.
“I have one opportunity to see beyond the footlights and that’s during “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” says Whitaker, laughing. “I can’t give anything away… save to say that that number is very spiritual…”
Until it’s not.
“That’s when you realize exactly what you’ve come to see. And I LOVE seeing the audiences’ reaction. That song? That’s how you can tell if the audience is truly down for the ride. I actually think that the audience is one of our main characters, whether they’re thoroughly enjoying themselves, laughing their faces off or feeling uncomfortable.”
Or all of the above at the same time.
‘The Book of Mormon’ is on stage at The Academy of Music now through Oct. 6. For information and tickets, visit ensembleartsphilly.org
