GOSSIP: The BOOK OF MORMON TO TRANSFER TO WEST END?
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London Theatre Direct
The hit US Broadway musical The Book of Morman by South Park creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker is looking set to come to the West End and show us just why they won 9 Tony Awards including Best Musical.
It has been playing on Broadway to sold out houses since it opened on 24th March 2011 and was the big winner at the Tony Awards with more nominations at this weekend's Grammy Awards on 12th February.
The Tony-winning musical scored a nomination for Best Musical Theater Cast Album, and for the first time, the Grammys are including "principal soloists" among those credited to the nomination.
“I never really saw this in the cards for myself,” Gad recently told Broadway.com of scoring a nod for music’s top honor. “My first reaction was ‘Woah, woah, woah…have they really heard my voice?'” he joked. “The [success of the] show has been one surprise after another and it never ceases to amaze me. It’s a huge thrill and this is probably the only chance I’ll have to win a Grammy…until I release my solo album of Justin Bieber covers.”
Rannells echoed Gad’s excitement saying, “We’re all very proud of the cast album, so it’s a nice honor to be nominated and to be included by name. It’s been a crazy year and it keeps getting crazier.”
Although, if the production does make it to the West End this year, it is likely to be with a new cast. The principal cast of Trey Parker and Matt Stone's Tony-winning hit musical The Book of Mormon have extended their contracts to appear in the show through February 2013. Returning cast members include Josh Gad, Nikki M. James, Andrew Rannells, Rory O'Malley, Michael Potts, Lewis Cleale and Brian Tyree Henry.
New York Times reviewed the production as "the best musical of this century" and called it "heaven on Broadway".
Stone and Parker co-wrote the musical with Robert Lopez who was a co-writer for Avenue Q another production that transferred to the West End to excellent reviews.
The Book of Mormon tells the story of two young Mormon missionaries sent to a remote village in northern Uganda, where a brutal warlord is threatening the local population. Naive and optimistic, the two missionaries try to share the Book of Mormon, one of their scriptures—which only one of them knows very well—but have trouble connecting with the locals, who are worried about famine, poverty, and AIDS.
How it will translate for British audiences remains to be seen but it looks the producers expect it be a hit on our side of the Atlantic! Keep checking our news page for further updates.
[posted by Louise, 10/02/2012]