‘The Book of Mormon’ strives to stay sassy in latest national tour

“The Book of Mormon” still shocks and surprises 13 years after its trashily triumphant Broadway debut.

The unabashed and uncompromising satire of Broadway musicals, coming to the Waterbury Palace Theater April 26-28, has become one of the genre’s major mainstream successes.

The show was written by “South Park” creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker with Robert Lopez of “Avenue Q” and “Frozen” fame. Still running in New York, “The Book of Mormon” is currently the 12th longest-running Broadway show of all time and one of the most profitable.

These days, a “Book of Mormon” tour is greeted by audience members who come in costume, hold up signs and know every line by heart. That throng of devout fans has to co-exist with theatergoers who may be seeing this outrageous show for the first time. “The Book of Mormon” continues to do impressive business at theaters that have already booked it previously.

Neither Thomas Ed Purvis, who plays Mutumbo and is also the tour’s co-dance captain, nor Lamont J. Whitaker, who plays Mafala Hatimbi (the father of the show’s heroine Nabalungi) are old enough to have experienced that wave of amazement that met “The Book of Mormon” when this bad-taste-based musical spectacle exploded upon Broadway in 2011.

“I knew of the show, but it wasn’t one of the ones they taught at school,” said Purvis who attended the Boston Conservatory, a breeding ground for musical theater performers. “I first saw it when it reopened on Broadway after COVID.”

“I didn’t see it until we started rehearsals for this tour in 2022,” said Whitaker. “When I was in college, people would sing ‘I Believe,’ so I always knew what kind of show it was.”

That song, in which the show’s hero, a Mormon missionary named Elder Price, reaffirms his faith in his religion, includes lyrics like “I believe! That God lives on a planet called Kolob! I believe! That Jesus has his own planet as well. And I believe that the Garden of Eden was in Jackson County, Missouri. If you believe, the Lord will reveal it. And you’ll know it’s all true — You’ll just feel it. You’ll be a Mormon!!! And by gosh — Mormon just belieeeeeeeeves!!!!”

Elder Price (played on this tour by Sam McLellan) and his pesky fellow missionary Elder Cunningham (Sam Nackman) attempt to interest Ugandan natives in the Mormon faith and become involved in village disputes with a local warlord.

Purvis is a Norwalk resident who previously sang and danced on tour in Connecticut in the long-running tour of “Rent”. “The Book of Mormon” has visited the same big theaters that “Rent” did, namely The Bushnell, the Shubert and the Waterbury Palace, some of them more than once.

”I dreamed of going to some of these theaters around the country,” Purvis said. He looks forward to playing the Waterbury Palace, partly because family members from Connecticut will be coming to see it. His grandmother has seen the musical 10 times.

Whitaker’s grandmother has been an influence as well. “She was a chief in Ghana. She got crowned. I pay homage to her in the way I carry my character.”

Whitaker’s mother, stepfather and brothers have all seen him play Mafala Hatimbi. He sees some cultural relevance in the show. “There’s been a lot going on in Uganda recently. We’re putting certain things out there.”

When he began with the tour, Purvis was a “swing” (the company member who understudies multiple small roles in the show) and assistant dance captain. His current job as co-dance captain requires him to “set up the show and maintain it on the road.”

Whitaker has performed the role of Mafala Hatimbi around 500 times at this point. He said the character is “very special. He’s a single father who wants his daughter to have the life he’s never had. He really changes by the end of the story.”

That is a sweet, sentimental way of describing a show that is also a riotous, foul-mouthed and violent tale of culture clashes and religious dogma.

“You do try to find the humanity,” Whitaker said.

As for the raucous comedy, “Someone is still feeling that impact for the first time,” Purvis said. “We have to keep it fresh.”

Whitaker notes that the show has been around so long, and this particular tour has lasted so long, that it’s bringing “The Book of Mormon” to areas that haven’t experienced it before.

“We’re reaching cities that have never seen it, that would never get this type of musical. We’re pushing the barriers,” he said.

“The Book of Mormon” runs April 26-28 at the Palace Theater, 100 East Main St., Waterbury. Performances are Friday at 8 p.m., Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m. and Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m. $44-$148. palacetheaterct.org/shows-and-events/main-stage/book-mormon.