‘We can come together as a community’: Diego Enrico finds common thread in ‘Book of Mormon,’ coming to Spokane this week

Performer Diego Enrico couldn’t have asked for a better graduation present upon finishing the CAP 21 Musical Theatre Conservatory at Molloy University in New York.

While preparing for his college showcase, the final part of many musical theater programs which require seniors to perform in front of an audience of agents and managers, Enrico was also auditioning for the national tour of “The Book of Mormon.”

Enrico found out he booked the role of Elder Arnold Cunningham, an insecure but enthusiastic missionary, the same day he had a meeting with an agency.

“What’s your five-year plan?” they asked Enrico.

Enrico said before he found out he booked the tour, he would have said something about auditioning as much as he could and seeing where that led him. With a job already secured, Enrico was forthcoming and told the agency he would soon take over the role as Elder Cunningham.

Impressed that he booked the job without representation, the agency told Enrico not to sign with any agency just yet and to keep his money.

Enrico graduated in May and started the current season with “The Book of Mormon” in September. The musical brings Enrico and the rest of the cast and crew to the First Interstate Center for the Arts from Tuesday through June 7.

The musical follows Elder Kevin Price (Sam McLellan) and Elder Arnold Cunningham (Enrico), two missionaries with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who are sent to Uganda for their two-year mission.

As the pair attempts to preach to those in the Ugandan village, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham become, respectively, less and more dedicated to their faith as they are faced with disinterest from the villagers, who are more concerned with HIV/AIDS, famine, threats of genital mutilation and the warlord (Dewight Braxton Jr.) who rules the village.

The cast also includes Keke Nesbitt (Nabulungi), Craig Franke (Elder McKinley), Lamont J. Whitaker (Mafala Hatimbi), Trevor Dorner (Price’s dad/missionary voice/Joseph Smith/mission president), Charity Arianna, Dylan Bivings, DeVon Buchanan, Andrew Burke, Justin Forward, Lars Hafell, Alesha Jeter, Kisakye, Evan Lennon, Clayton Lukens, Jay Martin, Joey Myers, Jewell Noel, Alexis Ijeoma Nwokoji, Connor Olney, Thomas Ed Purvis, Noah Silverman, Loren Stone, BhriannaCQ Veillard, Dylan Knight Weaver and Brigham Williams.

“The Book of Mormon” features music, lyrics and a book by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone.

Enrico sees Elder Cunningham as an outsider trying to find acceptance in a world he’s unfamiliar with, an experience Enrico knows well himself.

“He is sort of an alien to the Mormon world,” Enrico said. “He doesn’t fit in at all. His social barrier is completely gone. That’s something that really resonated with me.”

Enrico was born in Houston but spent much of his childhood living with his family in Lima, Peru. While in Lima, Enrico started playing the violin, with theater not at all on his radar. He saw a production of “Annie” put on by his school but doesn’t remember much about it other than he was there.

After moving back to the United States, Enrico developed social anxiety because of the unfamiliar culture and became quite introverted, more content to play video games than anything else. But while looking to fill a hole in his school schedule, Enrico’s older brother suggested the theater class he had recently completed, saying he thought Enrico would like the teacher.

“I have to give him credit for it, because if it wasn’t for him telling me that, I wouldn’t have actually done it,” he said. “I played violin when I lived in Peru, so I was thinking of joining the orchestra in school, then I ended up doing theater, and I’m so glad I decided to go down that path.”

Enrico took theater class for a year before joining the theater group at school and auditioning for a production. His first role onstage was as the king in “Cinderella” followed by Scar in “The Lion King.”

With these productions under his belt, Enrico realized theater was something he actually really enjoyed. He wasn’t aware at the time that you could take lessons for musical theater outside of school, so he would simply sing when he could at home, often in the shower, as a way to “brute force his abilities.”

“It wasn’t until college that I really hunkered down and honed the skills in a more professional sense,” he said.

That work, professional or otherwise, led Enrico to “The Book of Mormon” and Elder Cunningham, a show and character he fell in love with as a freshman in high school.

When Enrico was auditioning for Elder Cunningham, the audition material described him as “a total screw up, but not for lack of trying.” Cunningham loves people and wants to be around them, Enrico said, but doesn’t always understand how to make that happen.

“That’s when I draw on my old self of not knowing how to fit in and throwing things at the wall, seeing who’s going to laugh at my joke,” he said. “That puts you on the path of ‘Somebody’s going to laugh at this at some point and that will be my best friend.’ ”

Since its premiere in 2011, “The Book of Mormon” has received an overall positive though initially mixed reception from audiences and critics. While some praised the Mormon characters, others noted that the show didn’t seem to put the same focus on bringing authentic Ugandan culture to the stage.

In July 2020, shortly after the murder of George Floyd, Black actors from the show, which closed during the pandemic, wrote to the creative team saying the show would be viewed differently upon its reopening. The creative team then worked with the cast to rework problematic scenes and give the Ugandan characters more agency in the story.

In what may come as a surprise to some, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been fairly neutral about the musical since its premiere, saying simply that those who see the musical should consider reading “The Book of Mormon.”

Bringing the tour to Salt Lake City might sound risky, Enrico said, but he received nothing but positive feedback from practicing Mormons who he met at stage door after the show during its time in town in January.

“They were explaining ‘Sometimes I feel like I was the Cunningham, and sometimes I felt like I was the Price,’ ” he said. “They really find themselves in the show because it, overall, has a gorgeous message … This message of ‘Wherever you are, we can come together as a community.’ ”