the book of mormon

When it was announced that South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone were writing a stage musical with the one of the talented minds behind the Broadway and West End smash Avenue Q it seemed like a match made in Heaven.

The Book of Mormon debuted on Broadway in late March of 2011 and the swelling chorus of positive opinion carried the show to phenomenal success. Now the trio are bringing the good word to London and we couldn’t be happier.

Ripping up the collective hypocrisy and absurdism around which many supposedly religious groups base themselves, satire of this kind is nothing new to the duo. Religion has already proved fertile ground for the South Park team, and their success (and populatrity) is so great that The Church of Scientology had its feathers ruffled by the infamous episode Trapped in the Closet and, of course, the genesis of South Park came from two crudely animated shorts, one entitled Jesus Vs. Frosty and Jesus Vs. Santa.

We have three videos below, each explaining the show from its beginnings through its influences and to its production. Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez all contribute and tell a fine story.

The Book of Mormon – Genesis.

The Book of Mormon – Happy Go Lucky Mormons.

The Book of Mormon – Mormon Field Trips.

 

In an interview with The Guardian the pair summed up their comedic vision, Matt Stone proclaimed,

Comedy for me has to be either completely absurdist, or it has to be meaty and dark, I just can’t do with romantic comedy. Really, you’re going to do another joke about going on a date? I’m like, ‘How do you go to work and do that?’ You’re not touching anything real, anything dangerous.

The Book of Mormon opens its pages at the Prince of Wales theatre in London tonight. Expect dangerous things.