The Book of Mormon Tickets - 'South Park' Creators Take the Great White Way with 'The Book of Mormon

by Stub Hub⁽¹⁵⁾
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When the news that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were making a new Broadway musical with Avenue Q's Robert Lopez first broke, it was clear the result wouldn't be without controversy. Broadway.com reports that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has issued an official statement regarding the musical, Parker and Stone's first Broadway production, saying, "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."

This isn't the first time Parker and Stone, who grew up in Colorado among a large Mormon community, have taken on the religion. The pair's 1997 film Orgazamo chronicled the journey of a young Mormon missionary into the pornographic film industry, and the religion has been spoofed more than once on their four-time Emmy Award-winning Comedy Central series South Park. "It's a young religion and an America religion so it's such a perfect laboratory specimen to use to talk about religion in a show," Stone recently told Broadway.com. "Most Mormons I know are well adjusted, clean cut, happy people which in itself is funny. All that happiness and optimism is ripe for song," Lopez added.

As for what religion Parker, Stone and Lopez subscribe to, Parker recently told the New York Times, "In a way ... Star Wars was our religion, and Spider-Man's a religion. That affected our lives way more than Jesus, but they were still stories." Lopez described his approach to the musical saying, "[I'm fascinated by] the idea of the Bible as literature - a story that can change the world, but in the end it's a story."

Performances for The Book of Mormon began on Feb. 24, while the musical will open at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre on March 24. The Book of Mormon tickets are sure to be in high demand. Following in the footsteps of Orgazamo, The Book of Mormon will follow young Mormon missionaries, but this time they are spreading the good word in Africa. The musical features music, lyrics and a book by Parker, Stone and Lopez, choreography by three-time Tony Award-nominee Casey Nicholaw (Monty Python's Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone) and direction by Nicholaw and Parker.

Parker and Stone recently spoke about The Book of Mormon with GQ magazine. When asked about why they chose Mormons instead of Scientologists, Parker said, "That would be more hateful. It'd be more 'F*** these people.' This show isn't 'F*** Mormons.' It really is this fascination." Also in the GQ interview, Stone said about the Mormon culture, "It's so their m.o. to be nice to people. 'We're going to be so nice that you're going to want to be a part of this.'" The duo also revealed that they have plans to travel to Uganda to meet with Mormon missionaries!

The Book of Mormon features Josh Gad as Elder Cunningham, Andrew Rannells as Elder Price, Nikki M. James as Nabalungi, Rory O'Malley as Elder McKinley and Michael Potts as Mafala Hatimbi. The musical also features Lewis Cleale, Scott Barnhardt, Justin Bohon, Darlesia Cearcy, Kevin Duda, Asmeret Chebremichael, Brian Tyree Henry, Clark Johnsen, John Eric Parker, Benjamin Schrader, Michael James Scott, Brian Sears, Nick Spangler, Jason Michael Snow, Lawrence Stallings, Rema Webb, Maia Nkenge Wilson and Tommar Wilson.

This article is sponsored by StubHub. StubHub.com is a leader in the business of selling The Book of Mormon tickets, sports tickets, concert tickets, theater tickets and special events tickets.

Article submitted Thursday, March 31, 2011 & read 25 times.

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