Fifteen years after The Book of Mormon made its Broadway debut, original cast members Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad once again took the stage as Mormon missionaries — this time at the 2026 Tony Awards.
Created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the duo behind South Park), along with veteran Broadway composer Robert Lopez, The Book of Mormon follows two young missionaries sent to try and bring Mormonism to a Ugandan village that's struggling with the AIDS epidemic, war and famine. The musical is a satirical — sometimes affectionate, sometimes offensive — look at Mormonism and youthful naïveté. It was clear from the very first number — "Hello!" — that the show would cause a stir when it debuted in 2011.
Gad, who played Elder Cunningham in the original Broadway cast, remembers "laugh[ing] my butt off" when he first heard "Hello!" Then Gad listened to "Hasa Diga Eebowai," a song in which the Ugandan villagers curse God, and he called his agent.
"I said, 'I don't think I can do this show,'" Gad recalls. "And he said, 'Why?' And I said, 'Because I don't want to get killed.'"
Meanwhile, Rannells, who played Elder Price, wasn't phased by the material: "I heard the humor in it and I felt very confident that people were going to think it was funny," Rannells says. "I certainly didn't think it would be still running on Broadway after 15 years and would have toured to Salt Lake City. I didn't think that they would have done that, but it did."
The Book of Mormon received nine Tony Awards in 2011, including best musical and best score. To celebrate its Broadway anniversary, Gad and Rannells will be making cameo appearances in every show this week — along with the show's creators and several other original cast members. Gad says that behind the satire, The Book of Mormon is actually a "very pro-faith show."
"If you stick with the craziness and chaos ... the end is very uplifting," he says. "It's actually quite emotional and soaring. And so you get this sense that there is something positive to come out of this hellscape that the show depicts."
Interview highlights
On connecting with Mormon missionaries in New York City while in rehearsal for The Book of Mormon
Rannells: When we were in rehearsals for the workshop, I decided that I should be a good little actor, and I should go to the Mormon temple and I should meet with some Mormon missionaries. So I got myself ensnared in a very strange relationship with these two young men, who I met with a handful of times and they were so excited that someone wanted to talk to them and that I solicited them. We met twice, like out near Lincoln Center where there is the big Mormon church. And then they said, "Can we come to your home?" ...
So these two Mormon missionaries came over and immediately there's a picture of my boyfriend and I like on the mantel and so I had to explain to them that I was like, I'm actually in a musical about the Mormon church and they were sort of shocked. But then they really ... opened up to me about how scary and disappointing it was to be a missionary at times, and especially being a missionary in New York City. They were like, "No one will speak to us. People are very mean to us." And then I was like, "Well, where are you hanging out?" And they're like, "They send us to Times Square," and I was like, "You've got to get out of Times Square. You cannot be hanging out in Times Square, boys. You should go someplace else. Don't try to talk to people there. It's not safe for you."
On how their voices have changed in the past 15 years
Gad: I was insulted yesterday when our producer came up to me and said "You sound so much better than you did back when you first did it." I was like what did I really not sound good when I first did it?
Rannells: No you sounded great. … I think you sound the same. I mean, look, our voices are different. Fifteen years, there's a lot of wear and tear. But some of it is muscle memory, I would say, some of it comes back. I got to perform this number, "I Believe," on Stephen Colbert's show. That was the number that I sang on the Tony Awards… It was still somewhere like lodged in my voice.
Gad: When I found out I was doing this I played the album in the car, and I started to sing along, and some of those high notes, I just was like, "Oh my god I can't! How am I gonna hit these?" And I actually asked them to lower it, and they laughed and said no, and then I started to sort of do it on my feet. And just like you said, something clicks. It's like riding a bike. It's just sort of in there somewhere
Rannells: Now the physical side of it, Terry, is a little different. Physically doing some of these numbers, that's where the aging process really catches up to you. … I can't dance as much as I used to. The singing part is a little easier to control. The physical, the knees, the getting up and down off the ground, that's all a little bit different.
On losing his voice during a show
Rannells: That happened many times.. … Over the course of my career, that's something that happens, not just in The Book of Mormon, but in other shows. You learn to sing through sickness. I think there are nights where there are certain notes missing in your voice all of a sudden, and you don't find out until you're on stage in front of 1,200 people, and you're like, "Oh boy." And you just have to figure out a way to sing around it. After previews, after opening, after the Tony Awards, I hadn't missed any performances. And I started my career as a replacement, as an understudy. I was not accustomed to the idea that I could call out of a show. I probably shouldn't have done the show that night, but I remember it was like a couple weeks after the Tony Awards and I sang this duet that that Josh and I sing called "You and Me (But Mostly Me)" and it was kind of a disaster, but I just continue with the show and I was like, I'm gonna try to make this work.
Gad: It was actually remarkable to watch.
Rannells: I got through "I Believe," somehow and sang the whole thing and I amazed myself that I could do it. And then I got to another song that's called "Orlando," I'm not sure if you remember this Josh, and it's supposed to end with a little falsetto thing … and instead I went [low] … and the curtain flew up and all the missionaries come out and everyone was laughing and it was not great. But after the bows that night, I walked off stage and I remember Karen Moore, our stage manager, was standing there and I burst into tears, and I said, "I have to miss a show." And she said, "You're allowed to miss a show." And I just cried and cried about it. It had never occurred to me.
On the songs in The Book of Mormon being a tribute to musical theater, influenced by Wicked, The King and I, The Lion King and The Music Man
Gad: The influences of each of these songs [come] from a place of absolute weird devotion to musical theater on the part of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Obviously Bobby Lopez comes from that world. But when you look at Trey and Matt, the first thing you think of is not necessarily, like, musical theater acumen. And these are two guys that people forget when they wrote South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the feature film adaptation of the Comedy Central show, they got a letter from Stephen Sondheim, who's probably the most acclaimed composer and lyricist of the 20th century. And he basically said this is one of the top 10 most brilliantly realized musicals he's ever seen.
And I really do think that part of the reason this show endures is because each one of these songs is instantaneously hummable. … Each one of these songs reminds you of something, but it's never pastiche. It's never sort of making fun of a genre. It is fully embracing it and earning its space. So you have an 11 o'clock number in "I Believe" that is as powerful, potent, and as mesmerizing and memorable as an 11 o'clock number from Guys and Dolls.
Rannells: Well, I think, and a lot of people would come to see The Book of Mormon and say, "Ah, I don't really like musicals, but I do like this one." Which is always funny to me, because every number was — I don't wanna say a ripoff — but was a tribute.
On making the decision to leave the show and later regretting it
Rannells: We did leave at the same time. Josh and I both had this very unique experience where we opened The Book of Mormon, we were both nominated for Tony Awards, we both lost those Tony Awards. … We then went out to Los Angeles. … We had a bunch of meetings in LA. We were very popular. These two guys from the biggest Broadway hit, everyone wanted to meet with us. We both got TV shows for NBC. Josh's was called 1600 Penn. Mine was called The New Normal. They both aired the same week. We went to the up fronts together. They were both canceled.
Gad: Same week. ... I was definitely, I think, more done than Andrew was by that point. ... I had checked out at that point, and I felt like I was doing a disservice to myself and the audience.
Rannells: You didn't seem like you were checked out.
Gad: No, but I started forgetting lines on stage. I wasn't present. ... I had also been doing it for so long, from its origin. I wanted to try new things. When I sort of do the same thing again and again, I start to get bored. … I look back at that now with a lot of regret. Because I don't think I appreciated this incredible moment until I was able to reflect on it, actually, years later. Because when you're in it, when you are in the eye of the hurricane there's a lot going on that you can't stop and settle yourself and go, oh my God, this is a moment that I'll never have again. This is so unbelievably unique. ...
Rannells: I wish that I had stayed longer.
Gad: I wish we had done another year.
Susan Nyakundi and John Sheehan produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey adapted it for the web.
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