It is the hottest musical on Broadway, and the national tour of “The Book of Mormon” will kick off in Denver on Tuesday night.
The creators of South Park are behind this Tony Award winning show. Both Matt Stone and Trey Parker are from Colorado, so they felt this was the perfect place to launch their road show.
Trey and Matt told FOX31 Denver’s Deborah Takahara, “When someone first mentioned where do we kick off? We’re like kick off what? We just didn’t know… we said what about Denver? That would be awesome! It’s all just weird for us. I definitely have a couple of friend’s parents who didn’t really like me much growing up. Now they’re like, ‘can you get me tickets?’ And really religious parents too… that’s the really funny part.”
“The Book of Mormon” opened on Broadway in March of 2011. It is an edgy and provocative story of two young missionaries who are sent to Uganda to share their religion. They quickly find out they are in over their heads.
Samantha Marie Ware is one of the cast members. She said, “South Park bought a musical and you first hear that and you’re like really? This might be a little edgy.. but it’s such .. the story touches my heart every time when you finally find what it’s really about.”
Gavin Creel plays the lead role. He tells Fox 31 Denver, “The Book of Mormon may or may not offend some people, but indifference is the worst. If you go see a play and say, eh.. then I as an actor why was I sweating and running all over that stage? I as an actor want you to think… I want a reaction… I want you to laugh and cry. I want you get get angry. That’s the best kind of theater to me.”
The show instantly developed a huge following. In fact, Denver performances at The Ellie Caulkins Opera House sold out in just 5 hours.
Trey said, “The fact of the matter is if at the heart of it didn’t have a story about two kids coming of age, and a sweetness and happiness to it, it would never work as a Broadway musical … that’s what we all want to see. That’s what I love about Broadway musicals, I want to see dancing and happy and not some big two-hour long bash on some religion.”
The cast has no idea how to explain the immense popularity of the show, except to say word of mouth has spread the word about “The Book of Mormon.”
Co-director Bobby Lopez said, “There was not a great run up of ticket sales before the Broadway show… it was after the first preview that I saw people lining up for more tickets, telling their friends. None of that was expected… that was a huge huge surprise.”
The show has already announced it will be back in October of 2013.
