Rude, clever, offensive and vulgar. Everything one would expect from the creators and writers of the Comedy Central animated show “South Park.” The off-color comedy, and jokes that would easily be described as insensitive of the Tony Award winning musical, “The Book of Mormon,” had the audience in fits of laughter throughout.
“The Book of Mormon” has quickly become a successful Broadway production, and fame and infamy alike have surrounded it. The comedy musical follows the lives of two freshly minted Mormon missionaries as they venture to Uganda to try to spread their religion.
The show satirizes religion, stereotypes, racism and more as it follows the journey of Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, the problems they face and the ultimate failure they find their mission to be.
The show’s crude humor, tacky jokes, and vulgarity had the audience laughing while simultaneously wondering if laughing at the jokes made them a bad person. The show, though a comedy, does make some very serious points about stereotypes, hardships and religion.
This musical in particular was an interesting choice for a Manhattan College sponsored activity as, though it focuses on Mormonism as the main target for jokes, all religions are put on the chopping block in the songs and message of the show.
“I think that it was cool that Student Activities would send us to a musical that makes fun of religion because of the fact that our school does identify as a Catholic school,” said Aoife Mahood, who attended the show said. “I am surprised at the fact that a show like this has stayed on Broadway for over three years because I could see how some more conservative people would find the humor offensive.”
Student Activities released the tickets for this show through a raffle system they implemented this year. This raffle system has somewhat become a point of controversy, as many students feel they are losing a chance to get tickets to events they really care about.
In reference to “The Book of Mormon” tickets, Student Activities tweeted on Feb. 24, “When we know the demand is a million times greater than the group sales sold us, its [the raffle] the only fair way so u dont hafta sleep in hallway.”
Still many students have a problem with the raffle. First, if it was an event they really wanted to attend they cant better their odds in any way. Second, winning the raffle only provides a student with one ticket meaning that they have to hope their friends win, or they go alone.
Still, Student Activities continues to provide the MC student body with interesting and diverse options to stay entertained and experience a little bit of the culture that New York City has to offer. With “The Book of Mormon,” they made tickets to a highly desirable musical available to students. Student Activities chose a musical that might stick out as a risqué choice for a Lasallian college, however they chose one that did not disappoint.