Book of Mormon the musical is coming to Eccles Theater in Salt Lake City from August 13 – 25. This award-winning show about missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called to Africa is coming to Salt Lake City for the third time, back by popular demand. Get ready to come enjoy the show by learning a few behind-the-scenes facts first:
- Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who helped write the book, music and lyrics for Book of Mormon, also joined forces to create South Park, the popular TV series on Comedy Central. This duo both grew up in Colorado and met at the University of Colorado-Boulder. Although Parker originally studied music and Stone studied math, they found that the had a similar se
nse of “provocative, anti-authoritarian humor.”
- Robert Lopez, who also helped with the book, music and lyrics is known for Avenue Q, Frozen, “Remember Me” from Coco, and various other songs for Wonder Pets, Phineas and Ferb, Finding Nemo musical, and Winnie the Pooh. He is the youngest person to receive an Emmy, Oscar, Grammy and Tony award.
- Josh Gad, originally played Elder Cunningham, one of the main characters in the original cast in New York. He is best known for other roles such as Olaf in Frozen, LeFou in Disney’s recent live-action Beauty and the Beast and McQueen in Murder on the Orient Express.
- Book of Mormon Musical won 9 Tony awards in 2011 including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. It also won the 2011 Drama Desk Outstanding Musical and 2012 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. The original Broadway cast recording also became the highest-charting Broadway cast album in over four decades, reaching number three on the Billboard charts.
- Most original new musicals start off-broadway, then gain popularity and transfer to Broadway. However, the producer thought that the creators, Parker and Stone “work best when the stakes are highest,” and therefore decided the multimillion-dollar musical should go straight to Broadway without a tryout. (Spoiler alert: this bold move paid off since the Book of Mormon is one of the most popular and profitable musicals today.)
- Salt Lake City is referenced and sung about many times through the show. The creators of the show came to Salt Lake City on a research trip as they were writing to explore the area. You may also notice iconic buildings in the background such as the Salt Lake Temple and Crown Burger.
