MORMAN, through March 13, Off Broadway Theatre, 272 S. Main, 355-4628. Running time: 90 minutes.
If you're uptight about the local LDS culture or just plain can't take a joke, don't go to Off Broadway Theatre's production of local playwrights Paul and Patrick Gibbs' "MorMAN."
It's chock-full of dead-on one-liners that bring belly laughs at the expense of those who sing hymns to ward off evil and those who might pray on stage for the toy prop gun to fire.
On the other hand, if you can take it, you'll love it.
This original production, starring the ever insane Eric Jensen as Utah's superhero, MorMAN, is hilarious and, frankly, outrageous.
For instance, in one scene, he plucks the scriptures from his superbelt and announces, "If the gun had gone off, the bullet would've been stopped dead in the Isaiah chapters, like most of you!"
"I can do whatever the fetch I want," he declares later after the evil Mr. Coffee (played by Russell Peacock) and his partners in crime, The Smoker and Cute Woman (Jon Baty and Holly Braithwaite), have persuaded MorMAN to skip church, drink Mountain Dew and perhaps even rent videos without shame from "Dirty Flicks."
MorMAN is a dedicated seminary teacher by day who waves hello and goodbye to his sweetheart Chaste Benevolent (Jen Brady Petersen), rather than touch, hug or shake hands before marriage.
When the trumpets sound, he's off to battle evil in a blue-and-gold lame outfit that rivals Batman's wardrobe.
He's given Chaste his precious, bendable CTR ring, but he's torn between saving the souls of Salt Lake City from sin, smoking and coffee and confessing his secret life to Ms. Benevolent — who has a secret life of her own.
On his mission to stop the smog, smut and smoke from enveloping Salt Lake, he confronts characters who systematically destroy simple Primary songs and take them as mantras for themselves.
"Kill! said the little voice, kill, oh, kill!" (instead of "Give, said the little stream") and "I'd like to smash his head against a rock. I'd like to smash his head against a rock" (instead of "The wise man built his house upon a rock") are examples.
Peacock is a great villain, rolling out elaborate and wicked tongue-twisters, making constant fun of his dimwitted molls (Cream and Sugar), and ad-libbing on demand.
As usual, the ad-libs at Off Broadway are more fun than sticking to the script, and the comedy never stops.
There are only a couple of drawbacks here.
The hecklers broke into the flow several times. At one point Jensen invited one to leave and not come back.
There's also an enjoyment delay on some of the bits because it's hard to tell just how far they're going to go.
When they start quoting the 12th Article of Faith and reading from the scriptures, for instance, they skate pretty close to the edge of acceptability.
To the writers' credit, it's mostly OK.
Remember, this is a parody. It's meant to be funny. It's good-natured and — above all — good does, in the end, triumph over the bad guys.
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com