The Book of Mormon is coming to Regina.
Grab your white shirts and black tags
So many musicals throughout the years [alert type=”e.g. warning, danger, success, info” title=””][/alert]have had the ability to engage audiences with their wonderful sound and structure. Les’ Misérables, Phantom of the Opera, Hamilton – all beautifully told musicals that leave such a substantial mark on the industry. Even jukebox musicals, such as Rock of Ages and Mamma Mia! have a charm that allows the crowd to get on another level that film or television just wouldn’t bring. However, we’re not talking about those musicals today. No, today we’re discussing the comedy musical, namely The Book of Mormon.
The winner of nine Tony Awards including, Best Musical, Best Original Score, and Best Lighting/Sound Design, The Book of Mormon has brought laughter and tears to the face of many theatre attendee. Created by the minds who developed South Park and Avenue Q; (Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez respectively), this musical is based around two Mormon missionaries spreading the word of the Mormon religion to the people of a small Ugandan town. Their words fall on hollow ears however as the people are more concerned with the far more real issues that happen within their village. I’d keep going, but I feel that would take away from what to expect if you did decided to give it a watch.
Alyah Chanelle Scott, who plays Nabulungi in The Book of Mormon, is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and joins the cast completely fresh as this is her national tour debut.
“Oh my goodness, I’m so honoured to be apart of this! It’s an absolutely unreal experience to be in this show.”
We discussed how she felt portraying the character of Nabulungi:
“Playing Nabulungi, there’s a lot of different aspects that bring this character to life; she has innocence, hope, light, and heart. She has a lot of it. She’s sort of like a Disney Princess in a way [laughter]. And we certainly see that over the course of the show. And she grows throughout. She grows into a woman. She has this voice and it’s so powerful.”
Nabulungi also helped Alyah connect with herself as much as she connected with the character on the stage:
“Her bravery and willingness to do this helped me find myself in doing this. If she can do something as crazy as this, then why can’t I, you know? It’s very exciting and very daunting to take on this character.”
Moving away from the character, we talked a bit about the music that would be featured in the musical:
“One of my favourite songs to perform is ‘Sal Tlay Ka Siti’, which is ‘Salt Lake City’ in an African accent. It’s definitely a turning point in the show for Nabulungi personally, she takes real steps towards changing herself and preparing herself to go on this journey to Salt Lake City. She really begins to find herself, for sure.”
Alyah talked about what people could expect from a show such as The Book of Mormon. “Well the show takes you on a wild ride, it’s so humorous and crazy, but the message is so true. In the end, it’s about love and that’s what we want people to come away with. Ultimately, I feel there’s no way you can’t enjoy the show.”
Finally, considering that The Book of Mormon has a not-so-great view from The Church of Jesus Christ and Latter-day Saints, I asked Alyah what the cast’s reaction to those individuals leaving the show.
“Well, we say enough times that it’s by the people that made South Park, but I hope those people stay. I hope they stay because that’s kind of who the show is for. Also, if you bought a ticket to see what the show is all about, you should take in the full experience!”
The Book of Mormon runs Sept. 25-29 at Conexus Arts Centre.
