The Book of Mormon (musical)

For the Broadway cast album, see The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording.

The Book of Mormon
Music	Trey Parker Robert Lopez Matt Stone
Lyrics	Trey Parker Robert Lopez Matt Stone
Book	Trey Parker Robert Lopez Matt Stone
Productions	2011 Broadway 2012 1st US Tour 2012 Chicago 2013 West End 2013 2nd US Tour
Awards	Tony Award for Best Musical Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical Tony Award for Best Original Score New York Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Musical Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album

The Book of Mormon is a religious satire musical with book, lyrics, and music by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. Best known for creating the animated comedy South Park, Parker and Stone co-created the music with Lopez, a co-composer/co-lyricist of Avenue Q. The show lampoons organized religion and traditional musical theatre, reflecting the creators' lifelong fascination with Mormonism and musicals.

The Book of Mormon tells the story of two young The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|Mormon missionaries sent to a remote village in northern Uganda, where a brutal warlord is threatening the local population. Naïve and optimistic, the two missionaries try to share the Book of Mormon, one of their scriptures—which only one of them has read—but have trouble connecting with the locals, who are more worried about war, famine, poverty, and AIDS than about religion.

After nearly seven years of development, the show opened on Broadway in March 2011. The Book of Mormon has garnered overwhelmingly positive critical response and numerous theatre awards including nine Tony Awards, one of which was for Best Musical, and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. An original Broadway cast recording was released in May 2011 and became the highest-charting Broadway cast album in over four decades, reaching No. 3 on the Billboard charts.

History

The Book of Mormon was conceived by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Both Parker and Stone grew up in Colorado, and were somewhat familiar with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) and its members. Parker had an extensive background in music before meeting Stone; in high school, he was in the chorus of a community theater production of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and was piano player for the chorus as well as president of Choir Counsel. He also performed in productions of Grease and Flower Drum Song, and helped build the set for the community theater production of Little Shop of Horrors. The writers became friends at the University of Colorado at Boulder. At the college, they collaborated on a musical film, Cannibal! The Musical (1993), their first experience with movie musicals. In 1997, they created the TV series South Park for Comedy Central and the 1999 musical film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. The two had first thought of a fictionalized Joseph Smith, religious leader and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, while working on an aborted Fox series about historical characters. Their 1998 film, Orgazmo, and the 2003 episode "All About Mormons" of South Park both gave comic treatment to Mormonism.

During the summer of 2003, Parker and Stone flew to New York City to discuss the script of their new film, Team America: World Police, with friend and producer Scott Rudin (who also produced South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut). Rudin advised the duo to see the musical Avenue Q on Broadway, finding the cast of marionettes in Team America similar to the puppets of Avenue Q. Parker and Stone went to see the production during that summer and the writer-composers of Avenue Q, Lopez and Jeff Marx noticed them in the audience and introduced themselves. Lopez revealed that South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut was highly influential in the creation of Avenue Q. The quartet went for drinks afterwards, and soon found that each camp wanted to write something involving Joseph Smith. The four began working out details nearly immediately, with the idea to create a modern story formulated early on. For research purposes, the quartet took a field trip to Salt Lake City where they "interviewed a bunch of missionaries—or ex-missionaries." They had to work around Parker and Stone's South Park schedule. In 2006, Parker and Stone flew to London where they spent three weeks with Lopez, who was working on the West End production of Avenue Q. There, the four wrote "four or five songs" and came up with the basic idea of the story. After fighting between Parker and Marx, who felt like he wasn't getting enough creative control, Marx was separated from the project. For the next few years, the remaining trio met frequently to develop what they initially called The Book of Mormon: The Musical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "There was a lot of hopping back and forth between L.A. and New York," Parker recalled.

Lopez pushed for the stage, and his partners concurred. Lopez prodded them to take the project a step further and "workshop" it, which baffled Parker and Stone, clueless about what he meant. Developmental workshops, directed by Jason Moore, starred Cheyenne Jackson. Other actors in readings included Benjamin Walker and Daniel Reichard. The crew embarked on the first of a half-dozen workshops that would take place during the next four years, ranging from 30-minute mini-performances for family and friends to much larger-scale renderings of the embryonic show. They spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of their own money, still unconvinced they would take it any further. In February 2008, a fully staged reading starred Walker and Josh Gad as Elders Price and Cunningham, respectively. Moore was originally set to direct, but left the production in June 2010. Other directors, including James Lapine, were optioned to join the creative team, but the producers recruited Casey Nicholaw. A final five-week workshop took place in August 2010, when Nicholaw came on board as choreographer and co-director with Parker.

Rudin was named as the producer of the show. Originally, Rudin planned to stage The Book of Mormon off-Broadway at the New York Theater Workshop in Summer 2010, but opted to premiere it directly on Broadway, "[s]ince the guys [Parker and Stone] work best when the stakes are highest." Rudin booked the Eugene O'Neill Theatre and hired key players while sets were designed and built. Rudin expected the production to cost $11 million, but it came in under budget at $9 million. Hundreds of actors auditioned and 28 were cast. When a rehearsal space was found, the work of producing a full-blown musical got under way. Parker and Stone, along with their families, decamped from Los Angeles to New York City shortly after the completion of South Park's fourteenth season in November 2010. The cast and crew then frantically delved into rewrites and rehearsals. The crew did four weeks of rehearsals, with an additional two weeks of technical rehearsals, and then went directly into previews. The producers first heard the musical with a full orchestra six days before the first paying audience.

Productions

Broadway (2011–)

The Book of Mormon premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24, 2011, following previews from February 24. The production is choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and co-directed by Nicholaw and Parker. Set design is by Scott Pask, with costumes by Ann Roth, lighting by Brian MacDevitt, and sound by Brian Ronan. Orchestrations are co-created by Larry Hochman and the show's musical director and vocal arranger Stephen Oremus. The production was originally headlined by Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells in the two leading roles.

On April 25, 2011, the producers confirmed that "counterfeit tickets to the Broadway production had been sold to and presented by theatergoers on at least five different occasions". An article in The New York Times reported, "In each case, the tickets were purchased on Craigslist, and while a single seller is suspected, the ticket purchases have taken place in different locations each time. ... [T]he production’s management and Jujamcyn Theaters, which operates the O’Neill, had notified the New York Police Department".

The New York production of The Book of Mormon employed an innovative pricing strategy, similar to the ones used in the airline and hotel industries. The producers have been able to charge as much as $477 for the best seats for performances with particularly high demand. The strategy paid off handsomely. During its first year, the show was consistently one of the top five best selling shows on Broadway and set 22 new weekly sales records for the Eugene O'Neill Theater. For the week of Thanksgiving 2011, the average paid admission was over $170 even though the highest priced regular seat was listed at $155. High attendance coupled with aggressive pricing allowed the financial backers to recoup their investment of $11.4 million after just nine months of performances.

After Gad's departure in June 2012, standby Jared Gertner played the role, until June 26 when Cale Krise permanently took over. Also in the same month (June 12), original star Rannells was replaced by his standby Nic Rouleau. The same day, Samantha Marie Ware played Nabulungi on Broadway as the start of a 6-week engagement (James was shooting a film) in preparation for her tour performance. Following Rouleau's departure in November 2012, the role of Elder Price will be played by Matt Doyle. In December 2012, Jon Bass joined as Elder Cunningham. Original cast member Rory O'Malley was replaced by Matt Loehr in January 2013.

1st US National Tour (2012–)

The first North American tour began previews on August 14, 2012 at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts in Denver, Colorado, before moving to the Pantages Theatre in Los Angeles beginning September 5, with the official opening night for the tour on September 12. Originally planned to begin in December 2012, production was pushed forward four months. Gavin Creel (Price) and Jared Gertner (Cunningham) led the cast until late December when West End performer Mark Evans (on a six-month contract) and Christopher John O'Neill (making his professional debut) took over, allowing time for Creel and Gertner to begin rehearsals for the UK production.

Chicago (2012–2013)

The first replica sit-down production, separate from the tour, began previews on December 11, 2012, and officially opened on December 19, 2012, at the Bank of America Theatre in Chicago, Illinois as part of Broadway in Chicago. The limited engagement is booking through October 6, 2013. The cast includes Nic Rouleau in the role of Price, along with Ben Platt as Cunningham.

West End (2013–)

A UK production debuted in the West End on February 25, 2013 at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Gavin Creel and Jared Gertner reprised their North American tour performances. The London cast members hosted a gala performance of the new musical on March 13, 2013 to raise money for Red Nose Day; ticket sales from the evening’s performance - attended by members of the public and high profile Comic Relief supporters - were donated to Red Nose Day.

2nd US National Tour (2013-)

After the Chicago production closes on October 6, 2013, the same production will tour the US.

Synopsis

Original Broadway production

Act I

At the LDS Church Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, a devout, handsome, supercilious missionary-to-be, Elder Kevin Price, leads his classmates in a demonstration of the door-to-door attempt to convert people to Mormonism ("Hello!"). One of the missionaries, Elder Arnold Cunningham, is an insecure, overweight, incorrigible nerd and a compulsive liar who is completely hopeless at sticking to the approved dialogue. Price believes if he prays enough, he will be sent to Orlando, Florida for his two-year mission, but to his shock he and Cunningham are sent to Uganda as a pair ("Two By Two"). After saying goodbye to their families, the elders board a plane at the Salt Lake City airport. Price is sure he's destined to do something incredible (on his own), while Cunningham is just happy to have a best friend – one he met just the previous day and who, due to mission rule #72, literally cannot leave him alone except to go to the bathroom ("You And Me (But Mostly Me)").

Immediately upon arrival in northern Uganda, the two are robbed at gunpoint by soldiers of a local warlord, General Butt-Fucking-Naked (an allusion to the real General Butt Naked). They are welcomed to the village by Mafala Hatimbi and a group of villagers share their daily realities of living in appalling conditions of famine, poverty and AIDS, while being ruled by a despotic, murderous chieftain obsessed with female circumcision. To make their lives seem better, the villagers constantly repeat the phrase "hasa diga eebowai" and sing to the tune of a song composed around that phrase ("Hasa Diga Eebowai"). Price and Cunningham join them in the song but are horrified to find out "hasa diga eebowai" translates to "Fuck you, God" in English and the villagers constantly blaspheme to cheer themselves up.

Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, left defeated and mortified, are lead to their living quarters by Nabulungi, Hatimbi's daughter, where they meet the fellow missionaries stationed in the area, who have been unable to convert anyone to Mormonism. Elder McKinley, the district leader, teaches Price and Cunningham a widely accepted method of dealing with the negative and upsetting feelings brought on by the challenges of Mormon life (including McKinley's own repressed homosexual thoughts), inviting them to "turn it off like a light switch" ("Turn It Off"). The others agree their feelings must be hidden at all costs. Though Price is riddled with anxiety, Cunningham reassures him he will succeed in bringing the native Ugandans to the church ("I Am Here for You").

Price is certain he can succeed where the other Mormon elders have failed, teaching the villagers about Joseph Smith, the founder of the LDS Church through a song that begins as a tribute to Smith but eventually descends into a tribute by Price to himself ("All-American Prophet"). The villagers do not show any interest in the slightest as they find religion useless and Price arrogant and annoying. Shortly after Price's attempt to dazzle the villagers, General Butt-Fucking-Naked arrives and announces his demand for the circumcision of all female villagers by week's end (as his paranoia has led him to believe that all of the clitorises in the village will "power up" and destroy him). After a villager protests, the general executes him without warning, splattering Price with blood. Safely hiding back at home, Nabulungi, moved by Price's promise of an earthly paradise, dreams of a better life in a new land ("Sal Tlay Ka Siti").

At the mission headquarters, Elder McKinley flies into a panic after he receives a message saying the Mission President has requested a full progress report on their utterly unsuccessful mission and his anxiety is only worsened after he learns of Price and Cunningham's failure. Shocked by the execution and dark reality of Africa, Price decides to abandon his mission and requests for transfer to Orlando while Cunningham, ever loyal, assures Price he'll follow him anywhere ("I Am Here For You [Reprise]"). However, Price unceremoniously dumps him as mission companion. Cunningham is crushed and alone, but when Nabulungi comes to him, wanting to learn more about the Book of Mormon and having convinced the villagers to listen to him, Cunningham finds the courage to take control of the situation for the first time in his life ("Man Up").

Act II

Cunningham has never actually read the Book of Mormon, so when his audience begins to get frustrated and leave, he quickly makes up stories by combining what he knows of Mormon doctrines with bits and pieces of science fiction. Cunningham's creative stories relate to the problems of living in a war-torn Uganda, which gets the people listening. Cunningham's conscience (personified by his father, Joseph Smith, hobbits, Lt. Uhura, Darth Vader, and Yoda) admonishes him, but he rationalizes that if it is to help people, it surely can't be wrong ("Making Things Up Again").

Price joyfully arrives in Orlando but then realizes that he has no memory of getting there and that he is dreaming. He reflects on the misdemeanors he committed in his childhood, including blaming the theft of a pastry on his brother, Jack. He is reminded of the nightmares of hell he had as a child and he flies into a panic when his nightmare begins once again ("Spooky Mormon Hell Dream"). Price is plunged into hell, where he is tortured by demons, the spirits of Hitler, Jeffrey Dahmer, Genghis Khan and Johnnie Cochran and dancing cups of coffee.

Price awakens from his nightmare and, terror stricken, decides to re-commit to his mission (to the complete lack of surprise of the other elders, who have all had the hell dream too.) Cunningham arrives and announces ten eager Ugandans are interested in the church, but still stung by Price's rejection, he is unwilling to let Price back into his life. McKinley points out that unless the general is dealt with, no one will convert. Price, seeing the chance to prove his worth, is inspired and sets off on the "mission he was born to do". After re-affirming his faith, he confronts the general with the Book of Mormon in hand, determined to convert him ("I Believe"). Price is next seen in a doctor's office, having the Book of Mormon removed from his rectum.

Cunningham concludes his preaching and the villagers are enchanted; they are baptized and accept Mormonism, with Nabulungi and Cunningham sharing a tender moment as they do ("Baptize Me"). The Mormon missionaries feel oneness with the people of Uganda, and celebrate ("I Am Africa"). Meanwhile, the general hears of the villager's conversion, and fearing that the Mormons will "power up their clitorises" to destroy him, he resolves to kill them all.

Price drowns his sorrows in numerous cups of coffee at a café in Kitguli, where Cunningham finds him. He tells the bitter Price they need to – at least – act like mission companions, as the Mission President and other senior Mormon leaders are coming to visit the Ugandan mission team to congratulate them on their progress. After Cunningham leaves, Price bitterly reflects over all the broken promises the Church, his parents, his friends and life in general made to him ("Orlando").

At the celebration, Price and Cunningham are singled out as the most successful missionaries in all Africa. Shortly thereafter, Nabulungi and the villagers burst in, and ask to perform a pageant to "honor [them] with the story of Joseph Smith, the American Moses" ("Joseph Smith American Moses"), which reflects the distortions of standard Mormon doctrine and embellishments put forth by Cunningham which include Joseph Smith having sex with frogs to cure his AIDS and dying of dysentery. The Mission President is appalled, ordering all the missionaries to go home, and telling Nabulungi she and her fellow villagers are not Mormons. Nabulungi, heartbroken at the thought that she will never reach paradise, curses God for forsaking her ("Hasa Diga Eebowai [Reprise]"). Cunningham is distraught at his failure, but Price has had an epiphany and realizes Cunningham was right all along; though scriptures are important, what's more important is ensuring religion helps people. Reconciled, they race off to rescue Nabulungi and the villagers from the general.

Still angry at Cunningham, Nabulungi tells the villagers he was eaten by lions when they ask of his whereabouts. The general arrives, and Nabulungi is ready to submit to him, telling the villagers that the stories Cunningham told them aren't true. To her shock, they respond that they have always known that the stories were metaphors rather than literally true. Cunningham returns, making everyone believe that he had "risen" after being eaten by lions. Price and Cunningham then drive the general away, telling him he can't hurt the "undead"; along with the threat that they would use the power of Christ to turn him into a lesbian (as the general fears the female clitoris). The missionaries are set to depart when Price offers them that since they came to the village to help people, they can still do so even having been excommunicated. Price rallies everyone – the Mormons and the Ugandans — to work together to make this their paradise planet, because, after all, they are all Latter-Day Saints. Later, the newly minted Ugandan elders (including the newly converted general) go door to door (or rather mud hut to mud hut) to evangelize a sequel to the Book of Mormon, "The Book of Arnold." ("Tomorrow Is a Latter Day"/"Hello! (Reprise)"/"Finale").

Musical numbers

Act I

• "Hello" – Price, Cunningham and Mormon Boys
• "Two by Two" – Price, Cunningham and Mormon Boys
• "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" – Price and Cunningham
• "Hasa Diga Eebowai" – Mafala, Price, Cunningham and Ugandans
• "Turn It Off" – McKinley and Missionaries
• "I Am Here for You" – Price and Cunningham
• "All American Prophet" – Price, Cunningham, Joseph Smith, Angel Moroni and Company
• "Sal Tlay Ka Siti" – Nabulungi
• "I Am Here for You" (Reprise)† – Cunningham
• "Man Up" – Cunningham, Nabulungi, Price and Company

Act II

• "Making Things Up Again" – Cunningham, Cunningham’s Dad, Joseph Smith, Mormon, Moroni, Uhura, Hobbits and Ugandans
• "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream" – Price and Company
• "I Believe" – Price
• "Baptize Me" – Cunningham and Nabulungi
• "I Am Africa" – McKinley, Cunningham and Missionaries
• "Orlando"† – Price
• "Joseph Smith American Moses" – Nabulungi, Mafala and Ugandans
• "Hasa Diga Eebowai" (Reprise)† – Nabulungi
• "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" (Reprise)†† – Price and Cunningham
• "Tomorrow Is a Latter Day" – Price, Cunningham, McKinley, Nabulungi and Company
• "Hello" (Reprise)††† – Company
• "Finale"††† – Company

† Not on Broadway cast album
†† Cut from Broadway production after previews.
††† Listed as part of "Tomorrow Is a Latter Day" on the cast album.

Instrumentation

The Book of Mormon uses a nine-member orchestra:

• Reeds (Flute, Piccolo, Alto, Tenor Saxophones, Clarinet, Oboe, Bansuri, Soprano and Alto Recorders)
• Brass 1 (Trumpet, Piccolo Trumpet and Flugelhorn)
• Brass 2 (Trombone and Bass Trombone)
• Drums/Percussion/Electronic percussion
• Keyboard I
• Keyboard II
• Violin/Viola
• Guitars (Electric, Acoustic, Classical and Archtop)
• Basses (Electric, Fretless and Upright)

Characters and cast members

The principal cast members of all major productions of The Book of Mormon.

Character	Description	Original Broadway Cast	Current Broadway Cast	Original 1st US Tour Cast	Current 1st US Tour Cast	Original Chicago/2nd US Tour Cast	Original West End Cast
Elder Kevin Price	A Mormon missionary sent to Uganda, though he wishes to go to Orlando instead.	Andrew Rannells	Matt Doyle	Gavin Creel	Mark Evans	Nic Rouleau	Gavin Creel
Elder Arnold Cunningham	Missionary paired with Price also sent to Uganda. He often weaves characters from Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings into his teachings.	Josh Gad	Jon Bass	Jared Gertner	Christopher John O'Neill	Ben Platt	Jared Gertner
Nabulungi	Mafala Hatimbi's daughter, who dreams of moving to Sal Tlay Ka Siti.	Nikki M. James		Samantha Marie Ware		Syesha Mercado	Alexia Khadime
Elder McKinley	One of the lead Mormon elders and the Church's current District Leader in Uganda, he is secretly gay but in denial of his feelings. This actor also plays Elder Green and Angel Moroni.	Rory O'Malley	Matt Loehr	Grey Henson		Pierce Cassedy	Stephen Ashfield
Mafala Hatimbi	A member of the Ugandan tribe and Cunningham and Price's tour guide. Nabulungi's father.	Michael Potts	Stanley Wayne Mathis	Kevin Mambo		James Vincent Meredith	Giles Terera
Mission President	The leader of the Mormon missionaries. This actor also plays Mission Training Center Voice, Price's Dad, Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ. The latter role is dubbed by Trey Parker in the prologues of Act I and Act II.	Lewis Cleale		Mike McGowan		Christopher Shyer	Haydn Oakley
General	The murderous despot of the village Price and Cunningham are sent to.	Brian Tyree Henry		Derrick Williams		David Aron Damane	Chris Jarman

Themes and references

The Book of Mormon contains many religious themes, most notably those of faith and doubt. Although the musical satirizes organized religion and the literal credibility of the LDS Church, the Mormons in The Book of Mormon are portrayed as well-meaning and optimistic, if a little naïve and un-worldly. In addition, the central theme that many religious stories are rigid, out of touch, and silly comes to the conclusion that, essentially, religion itself can do enormous good as long as it is taken metaphorically and not literally. Matt Stone, one of the show's creators, described The Book of Mormon as "an atheist's love letter to religion."

A critic said "The songs, often inspired lampoons of contemporary Broadway styles, are as catchy as they are clever". In the Broadway cast recording's liner notes, Frank Rich wrote that "The Book of Mormon scrupulously follows the old testament of Broadway circa 1945–1965, A.D., even while fondly spoofing it", as when the "Hello!" (the opening number) and "Turn It Off" evoke, respectively, "The Telephone Hour" in Bye Bye Birdie and "I’ll Never Be Jealous Again" from The Pajama Game. Other songs, Rich writes, owe much to the parodies of Tom Lehrer. The reprise of "Orlando" harkens back to "Tomorrow" from Annie, while "You And Me (But Mostly Me)", uses very similar chord progressions to "The Wizard and I" and "Defying Gravity" from Wicked, and "Sal Tlay Ka Siti" is strongly reminiscent of Alan Menken's "I wish..." ballads like "Somewhere That's Green" and "Part of Your World". "Hasa Diga Eebowai," meanwhile, starts as a gentle parody of The Lion King's "I Just Can't Wait to Be King" and mentions the song "Hakuna Matata" before taking a radical turn. In a series of interview segments for Broadway.com, Casey Nicholaw describes the scene of the Africans performing the "Joseph Smith American Moses" pageant before the Mission President as a "total riff" of the Siamese performance of "Uncle Tom's Cabin" for the British envoy in The King and I. (Both Rich and Kristin Rawls see roots for "I Believe" in The Sound of Music—he in "Climb Ev'ry Mountain", and she in "I Have Confidence".)

The opening scenes of Act I and II of the musical parody the Hill Cumorah Pageant.

Reception

The Book of Mormon received broad critical praise, mostly for the plot, score, and choreography. Vogue Magazine called the show "the filthiest, most offensive, and—surprise—sweetest thing you’ll see on Broadway this year, and quite possibly the funniest musical ever." The New York Post reported that audience members were "sore from laughing so hard". It praised the score, calling it "tuneful and very funny," and added that "the show has heart. It makes fun of organized religion, but the two Mormons are real people, not caricatures."

Ben Brantley of The New York Times, compared the show favorably to Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and Sound of Music but "rather than dealing with tyrannical, charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes... must confront a one-eyed, genocidal warlord with an unprintable name... That's enough to test the faith of even the most optimistic gospel spreaders (not to mention songwriters). Yet in setting these dark elements to sunny melodies, The Book of Mormon achieves something like a miracle. It both makes fun of and ardently embraces the all-American art form of the inspirational book musical. No Broadway show has so successfully had it both ways since Mel Brooks adapted his film The Producers for the stage a decade ago." Jon Stewart, host of The Daily Show, devoted almost his entire interview with Parker and Stone on the March 10, 2011 episode to delivering heaps of praise about the musical.

Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times praised the music, and stated: "The songs, often inspired lampoons of contemporary Broadway styles, are as catchy as they are clever." McNulty concluded by stating "Sure it’s crass, but the show is not without good intentions and, in any case, vindicates itself with musical panache." Peter Marks of the Washington Post wrote: "The marvel of The Book of Mormon is that even as it profanes some serious articles of faith, its spirit is anything but mean. The ardently devout and comedically challenged are sure to disagree. Anyone else should excitedly approach the altar of Parker, Stone and Lopez and expect to drink from a cup of some of the sweetest poison ever poured." Marks further describes the musical as "one of the most joyously acidic bundles Broadway has unwrapped in years."

However, The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout called the show "slick and smutty: The Book of Mormon is the first musical to open on Broadway since La Cage aux Folles that has the smell of a send-in-the-tourists hit. ... The amateurish part relates mostly to the score, which is jointly credited to the three co-creators and is no better than what you might hear at a junior-varsity college show. The tunes are jingly-jangly, the lyrics embarrassingly ill-crafted."

LDS Church response

The response of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the musical has been described as "measured". The church released an official response to inquiries regarding the musical, stating, "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ." Michael Otterson, the head of Public Affairs for the church, followed in April 2011 with measured criticism. "Of course, parody isn't reality, and it's the very distortion that makes it appealing and often funny. The danger is not when people laugh but when they take it seriously—if they leave a theater believing that Mormons really do live in some kind of a surreal world of self-deception and illusion", Otterson wrote, outlining various humanitarian efforts achieved by Mormon missionaries in Africa in recent years.

Stone and Parker were unsurprised by this response:

"The official church response was something along the lines of 'The Book of Mormon the musical might entertain you for a night, but the Book of Mormon,'—the book as scripture—'will change your life through Jesus.' Which we actually completely agree with. The Mormon church's response to this musical is almost like our Q.E.D. at the end of it. That's a cool, American response to a ribbing—a big musical that's done in their name. Before the church responded, a lot of people would ask us, 'Are you afraid of what the church would say?' And Trey and I were like, 'They're going to be cool.' And they were like, 'No, they're not. There are going to be protests.' And we were like, 'Nope, they're going to be cool.' We weren't that surprised by the church's response. We had faith in them."

The LDS Church took advertising out in the playbills at many of the musical's venues (including Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Portland, Seattle, St. Louis, Toronto and Des Moines) to encourage attendees to learn more about The Book of Mormon, with phrases like "the book is always better."

Mormons themselves have had varying responses to the musical. Richard Bushman, professor of Mormon studies, said of the musical, "Mormons experience the show like looking at themselves in a fun-house mirror. The reflection is hilarious but not really you. The nose is yours but swollen out of proportion." Bushman said that the musical was not meant to explain Mormon belief, and that many of the ideas in Elder Price's "I Believe" (like God living on a planet called Kolob), though having some roots in Mormon belief, are not doctrinally accurate.

The Church highlighted one conversion story by the musical in its semi-offical Deseret News.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee	Result	Ref
2011	Tony Award	Best Musical		Won
		Best Book of a Musical	Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone	Won
		Best Original Score		Won
		Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical	Josh Gad	Nominated
			Andrew Rannells	Nominated
		Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Musical	Rory O'Malley	Nominated
		Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical	Nikki M. James	Won
		Best Direction of a Musical	Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker	Won
		Best Choreography	Casey Nicholaw	Nominated
		Best Orchestrations	Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus	Won
		Best Scenic Design	Scott Pask	Won
		Best Costume Design	Ann Roth	Nominated
		Best Lighting Design	Brian MacDevitt	Won
		Best Sound Design	Brian Ronan	Won
	Drama Desk Award	Outstanding Musical		Won
		Outstanding Lyrics	Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone	Won
		Outstanding Music		Won
		Outstanding Book of a Musical		Nominated
		Outstanding Actor in a Musical	Andrew Rannells	Nominated
		Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical	Rory O'Malley	Nominated
		Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical	Nikki M. James	Nominated
		Outstanding Choreography	Casey Nicholaw	Nominated
		Outstanding Director of a Musical	Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker	Won
		Outstanding Costume Design	Ann Roth	Nominated
		Outstanding Sound Design of a Musical	Brian Ronan	Nominated
		Outstanding Orchestrations	Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus	Won
2012	Grammy Award	Best Musical Theater Album	Andrew Rannells & Josh Gad, artists. Matt Stone, Robert Lopez & Trey Parker, composers/lyricists. Anne Garefino, Matt Stone, Robert Lopez, Scott Rudin, Stephen Oremus & Trey Parker, producers. Frank Filipetti, engineer/mixer.	Won

Original Broadway cast recording

For more information, see The Book of Mormon: Original Broadway Cast Recording.

A cast recording of the original Broadway production was released on May 17, 2011, by Ghostlight Records. All of the songs featured on stage are present on the recording with the exception of "Orlando" and "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" (Reprise). "Hello" (Reprise) is attached to the ending of "Tomorrow Is a Latter Day". A free preview of the entire recording was released on NPR starting on May 9, 2011. Excerpts from the cast recording are featured in an extended Fresh Air interview.

During its first week of its iTunes Store release, the recording "has become the fastest-selling Broadway cast album in iTunes history," according to representatives for the production, ranking No. 2 on its day of release on the iTunes Top 10 Chart. According to Playbill, "It's a rare occurrence for a Broadway cast album to place among the iTunes best sellers." The record has received positive reviews, with Rolling Stone calling the recording an "outstanding album that highlights the wit of the lyrics and the incredible tunefulness of the songs while leaving you desperate to score tickets to see the actual show." Although the cast album had a respectable debut on the US Billboard 200 chart in its initial week of release, after the show's success at the 2011 Tony Awards, the record skyrocketed back up the chart to number three, making it the highest-charting Broadway cast album in over four decades.

Radio special

"The Book of Mormon Radio" was broadcast on Sirius XM Radio on April 2, 2011. The radio special features interviews from creators Parker, Stone, Lopez, and Nicholaw, and cast members Gad, Rannells, James, O'Malley, and Potts. The special was re-broadcast on the same channel April 3, 2011.

See also

• Portrayals of Mormons in popular media

External links

• Official North American website
• Official West End website
• ​The Book of Mormon​ at the Internet Broadway Database
• "The Book of Mormon" at Playbill Vault
• "The Book of Mormon Musical Tour Update"
• "Trey Parker & Matt Stone Talk Book Of Mormon on The Daily Show", Huffington Post, March 11, 2011
• Charlie Rose – "Trey Parker & Matt Stone"
• Cast Recording for The Book of Mormon from NPR's First Listen