Booking set to open for The Book of Mormon in West End
Preview by Lizzie Guilfoyle
ON SEPTEMBER 23, 2012, tickets will go on public sale for the West End production of The Book of Mormon, which begins preview performances at the Prince of Wales Theatre on February 25, 2013.
Created by South Park‘s Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q‘s Robert Lopez, The Book of Mormon won nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, as well as the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
A huge hit on Broadway, The Book of Mormon follows two Mormons, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, who are sent to Africa to convert the natives.
Directed by Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon has choreography by Casey Nicholaw, set design by Scott Pask, costumes by Ann Roth, lighting by Brian MacDevitt, sound by Brian Ronan, orchestrations by Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus and music supervision and vocal arrangements by Stephen Oremus. Casting will be announced shortly.
The West End production of The Book of Mormon will offer a limited number of top price stalls tickets at £20 for each performance. These seats will be available through The Book of Mormon lottery. Entries to the lottery will be accepted in person at the Box Office two and a half hours prior to each performance. Names will be drawn at random two hours before each performance.
Trey Parker (co-director, book, music, lyrics) is best known for co-creating the hit animated series South Park with his college friend Matt Stone. Debuting on Comedy Central in 1997 and currently in its sixteenth season, South Park has won four Emmy Awards. In 1999, Parker and Stone released the critically-acclaimed feature film, South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut. The film, which Parker directed and co-wrote, earned an Oscar nomination for best song and a NY Film Critics Award.
In 2004, the pair released Team America: World Police, an all-action movie that starred a cast of marionettes. For his involvement in The Book of Mormon, Parker won Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical.
Robert Lopez (book, music, lyrics) is a Tony, Grammy and Emmy award-winning composer and lyricist for stage and screen. As well as The Book of Mormon, Lopez co-created the award-winning musical Avenue Q. With Kristen Anderson-Lopez, he co-wrote songs for Finding Nemo: The Musical, which has played at Walt Disney World since 2006, as well as the 2009 film of Winnie the Pooh. They are currently writing the songs for the upcoming Disney animated feature Frozen and a forthcoming original stage musical called Up Here.
For his involvement in The Book of Mormon, Lopez won the Tony award for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical.
Matt Stone (book, music, lyrics) met Trey Parker at the University of Colorado and they first worked together on a short animated piece called The Spirit of Christmas. This launched their most recognised work, the critically-acclaimed and award-winning television show South Park. The animated series is in its sixteenth season on Comedy Central and has won four Emmy Awards. Stone produced and co-wrote South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, which earned an Oscar nomination and was the first animated film to win a New York Film Critics Award.
In addition to South Park, Stone has partnered with Parker on the low budget Cannibal! The Musical, the superhero comedy Orgazmo and the all-action marionette thriller Team America: World Police. Stone’s involvement in The Book of Mormon saw him win Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical at the 2011 Tony Awards.
Tony Award-winning theatre director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw (co-director and choreographer) has previously directed The Drowsy Chaperone and choreographed Spamalot, both of which were seen in the West End as well as on Broadway. His other New York credits include Anyone Can Whistle, Follies, Bye Bye Birdie and Can-Can for City Center Encores!, Candide and South Pacific for the New York Philharmonic and Sinatra: His Voice, His World, His Way at Radio City Music Hall.
For his involvement in The Book of Mormon Nicholaw won a Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical.
The Book of Mormon is produced in the West End by Anne Garefino, Scott Rudin, Important Musicals and Sonia Friedman Productions.
The Broadway production of The Book of Mormon continues at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre in New York. Last month the first national US tour began at the Denver Center Attractions’ Ellie Caulkins Opera House and in December a new company of The Book of Mormon will begin an engagement at the Bank of America Theatre, Chicago.