Richard Yu

Prof. Colette Searls

05/18/2017

Final Performance Reflection

The performance I watched for my Final reflection is The Book of Mormon written by

Robert Lopez, Trey Parker, Matt Stone. This performance was held at Eugene O’Neil Theatre at

Friday, May 12, 2017 8:00 PM - 10:30 PM. This Play was directed by Casey Nicholas and Trey

Parker.

The Person I choose to do my reflection on is Brian Sears and his character is Elder

Cunningham. In the Book of Mormon Elder Cunningham is first looked on as a failure. Being the

worst Mormon in his class, He gets paired up with Elder Price (The top Mormon in their class) to

go on a missionary trip to Uganda. When they reach their other Missionary brothers on Uganda

they realized that no one has ever brought and African to the church. Elder Price eventually

gave up leaving Elder Cunningham to work on his own. Unfortunately, since Elder Cunningham

didn’t know the book of Mormon, so he compromised by making up the stories to relate to the

situation in Africa. For example, when Matumba tries to rape a baby to cure his Aids, Elder

Cunningham stepped in to create a story of Joseph Smith telling his followers to have sexy with

a frog instead. These stories eventually gave the Africans hope to join the Mormon church.

Unfortunately, When the Mormon leader found out that the Africans didn’t know the proper

Mormon faith, they were banished. But instead of giving up, Elder Cunningham continued the

proper teachings to actually bring good to the Africans.

 Brian Sears did an excellent job portraying Elder Cunningham by acting the most

pathetic he could. One great example I saw is whenever he talked he shouted in a high pitch.

This made Cunningham seem very “Uncool”. This made the contrast of elder Cunningham

efforts even greater. Another Example I see of Elder Cunningham being Uncool is when he first

baptizes Nabulungi. The directors and the actors portrayed it like they were losing their virginity,

which made it hilarious. Sear’s Tactic goal for this play was not to disappoint his parents who

thought of him as a failure and to help the people of Africa. The biggest example of this is when

Elder Price left Cunningham, instead of running away he stayed to help the Africans even

though his perception of the Mormon faith was wrong. Eventually creating a 4 testament of the

bible.

Overall this Musical was Amazing. It was Hilarious, Caring, and a bit messed up. But

overall the emotions you get goes to both extreme. Thank You Colette for a wonderful Semester.