Adorkable: Elder Kevin Price. There's something rather endearing about his utter adoration of Orlando and how devoutly he believes in the Book of Mormon.
Aluminum Christmas Trees: General Butt Fucking Naked is another example of Parker and Stone's infamous brand of vulgar absurdism, right? Wrong.He's a real person. Though he’s actually from Liberia rather than Uganda, he converted to Evangelical Protestantism rather than Mormonism and while he was nicknamed General Butt Naked, calling him General Butt Fucking Naked with the F-bomb was an invention of this play.
Award Snub: Despite the musical sweeping the Tonys, neither Andrew Rannells or Josh Gad won, with many believing the split the vote.
"Man Up" (which closes Act I), Elder Cunningham getting his first real bit of character development by choosing to stay in Uganda and help people. Besides being empowering, the excessive yarling and heart that Cunningham puts into it makes the song awesome and funny at the same time.
"Tomorrow is a Latter Day", which closes the show, contains call backs to "Hello" and "Hasa Diga Eebowai", in addition to being a huge ending number.
"Spooky Mormon Hell Dream," an Opinion-Changing Dream for Price and the closest the musical gets to a Villain Song. There's even a sick guitar solo in the middle of the song worthy of a heavy metal band, played by The Devil.
Crosses the Line Twice: When "Hasa Diga Eebowai" isn't being terrifying, it does this by showing how bad things really are in Africa for the Ugandans.
Fandom-Specific Plot: So much of the fan fiction pairing Elder Price and Elder McKinley together follows the same general formula (one of them not being able to sleep and going to a communal space in the middle of the night, finding the other already there, sharing an emotional conversation, confessing feelings for one another, and falling asleep together) that it’s become a running joke among fans. To some, the formula is prolific enough to be seen as all but canon, and as such, is expected in stories about the pairing - it would be easier to list all of the fics that don’t incorporate it in some way.
Elder McKinley is almost always referred to by the fan-created first name 'Connor'. Elders Church and Thomas are typically called 'James' and 'Chris', respectively. However, there's never been any official word on what the characters' first names are.
While Elder McKinley's first name is never stated In-Universe, he's almost universally referred to as 'Connor' by the fandom. Elders Church and Thomas are generally referred to as 'James' and 'Chris', respectively.
While his adoration of Disney is well established in canon, for absolutely no discernible reason it is widely agreed that Elder Price’s specific favourite Disney movie is The Little Mermaid.
You'll notice that there's no cursing for the first twenty minutes or so of the play until they finally arrive in Africa during "Hasa Diga Eebowai." That's to lull the viewer into forgetting that they're watching a show written by the creators of South Park, and then club you over the head with as much cursing as humanly possible.
Hatimbi mentions during the song that "80% of us have AIDS; Hasa Diga Eebowai!" He later rattles off a list of people he knows that have AIDS, including the butcher, the teacher, the doctor, and himself, except for his daughter who has "a wonderful disposition." If you're keeping track, that's four out of five people, or 80%.
"Joseph Smith: American Moses" Crosses the Line Twice in every act of the play, but almost every message is something directly applicable to the Ugandans: stopping rape, preventing genital mutilation, and promoting clean water. The only thing that stands out is their literal interpretation of Go Forth and Multiply, which is probably the most grotesque part of the play. Except we never see Elder Cunningham talk about that aspect of the scripture (and his own anxiety in "Baptize Me" makes it seem unlikely he'd give a sermon on orgies with Jesus). The person who does talk about that part of scripture? Elder Price, in "All-American Prophet," as a lead-in to talking about himself. It seems like Arnold isn't the only one to blame for that racy number.
Elder Price coming around to Elder Cunningham's loose interpretation of their holy text makes more sense when you remember that he'd always been fairly light on actual faith despite his encyclopedic knowledge of the Book of Mormon. Note his professed desire to "blow God's freaking mind", his assurance that God would tell him "you've done an awesome job, Kevin", and later him outright telling God he's made a mistake by placing him in Uganda instead of Orlando. His final line is basically him admitting what had already been on his mind prior.
Fridge Horror: Elder McKinley's situation, when you remember the Ugandan government's general attitude towards homosexuality.
Genius Bonus: Cunningham being heavily into science fiction (Star Wars, Star Trek, etc.) and fantasy (Lord of the Rings) may seem like stock nerd traits at first, but it is also a subtle reference to the disproportionate influence Mormon writers had on those genres.
Harsher in Hindsight: Elder Price's Dark Reprise of the "Orlando" refrain can hit a little too close to home for some after the June 2016 mass shooting.
At one point, Elder Cunningham calls Nabulungi "Nala"; in a later Los Angeles show, Nabulungi's actress played Nala and General Butt-Fucking Naked played Mufasa.
The shoutout to Les Misérables becomes hilarious at the news of Nikki M. James (Nabulungi) going on to play Eponine in that very show on Broadway.
If you have a very dark sense of humour, all the AIDS jokes are this when you remember what one of Andrew Rannells’s next big stage roles was.
Jerkass Woobie: Elder Price during his Crisis of Faith. He's still a self-centered jerk, but it's hard not to feel bad for him when everything keeps going wrong for him.
LGBT Fanbase: The overly-friendly, mostly male cast and especially "Turn It Off"'s satire of the Transparent Closet (complete with glittery tap dance) has attracted a lot of gay fans.
It also helps that the musical never portrays Mormons or even Mormonism itself as bad. The whole point of the musical is that religion can be used to bring people together, and that's what the Mormons ultimately do.
During the touring production, not only has the LDS church bought multiple ads in the Playbill, but they station missionaries at the entrance to hand out cards. Members of the church knew that protesting wasn't going to work, so why not use it to their advantage?
Playbill ad: Our version is sliiiightly different.
Portmanteau Couple Name: McPriceley (Price/McKinley), Arnaba (Cunningham/Nabulungi), and Pricingham (Price/Cunningham). Also 'Churchtarts' (Church/"Poptarts" Thomas) and 'Schravis' (Schrader/Davis).
Ships That Pass in the Night: 'Churchtarts', the pairing of Elder Church and Elder 'Poptarts' Thomas, who each have a verse in "Turn It Off". They have about ten lines between them, and never speak to each other. Even more random is 'Schravis' - Elders Schrader and Davis. The former isn't even named outside of the script.
Signature Song: Depending on who you ask, it’s either “Hello”, “Hasa Diga Ebowai”, or “I Believe”.
Squick: The running gag about the doctor having maggots in his scrotum, as well as a later point where Elder Price gets his copy of the title book (very painfully) shoved up his ass by General Butt-Fucking Naked.
Elder Cunningham. He may be kind of a self-centered Wide-Eyed Idealist, but it's hard not to feel bad for him when he keeps failing to do what he earnestly set out to do.
A good majority of the Mormon missionaries seem to be woobies, actually, if "Turn It Off" is anything to go by.
With the horrors the Ugandans go through, their lack of faith is unsurprising.
He's a real person. Though he’s actually from Liberia rather than Uganda, he converted to Evangelical Protestantism rather than Mormonism and while he was nicknamed General Butt Naked, calling him General Butt Fucking Naked with the F-bomb was an invention of this play.