The hit musical The Book of Mormon could have looked very different. On a recent appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s Dinner on Me podcast, Josh Gad revealed that the Broadway show was initially planned as an animated movie. Co-writers Trey Parker and Matt Stone already had film experience with South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and Team America World: Police.
“At the time, Trey and Matt thought that they were going to do it as an animated film. It was going to be their follow-up to ‘Team America.’ And we ended it,” Gad shared on the podcast. “The response was effusive. I’ll be it, people were definitely taken aback and shocked. And they had a huddle and they decided in that moment, let’s try this as a live theatrical thing.”
After three years of development, The Book of Mormon finally opened as a Broadway musical on March 24, 2011. It has become one of the most successful shows in Broadway history, breaking the Eugene O’Neill Theatre house record more than 50 times. The show won five Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical, the NY Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, the Drama League Award for Best Musical and four Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical.
The Book of Mormon features book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. The production is choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and is directed by Nicholaw and Parker. The original production included Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad as Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, respectively, in addition to Nikki M. James, Rory O’Malley, Michael Potts, Brian Tyree Henry, and Lewis Cleale. Listen to the podcast episode below.
Photo Credit: Julieta Cervantes
