Outrageous musical satire The Book Of Mormon strides into the region next month for a festive run at Birmingham theatre The Alexandra. Hailed ‘the funniest musical of all time’ and a massive hit wherever it lands, the show features a clever script written by three exceptional talents: South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez...

First staged in 2011 on New York’s Broadway, The Book Of Mormon was an instant success. Written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone with Avenue Q co-creator Robert Lopez, the musical takes a firmly tongue-in-cheek look at what happens when two young Mormon men go on a mission to Uganda.

Leaving behind the familiarity and security of their homes in Salt Lake City, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham discover life doesn’t always meet expectations when they land in Africa and meet the locals.

Trey, Matt and Robert created the book, music and lyrics for The Book Of Mormon, and with all three having a proven background in off-the-wall comedy, there’s little wonder the show is packed with humour and great songs.

Winning nine Tony Awards on Broadway, it opened in London in 2013, set the record for the highest single day of sales in West End history, and went on to win four Olivier Awards, including Best New Musical.

The Book Of Mormon has since been performed across three continents, picking up more than 30 awards and breaking box office records in the US, UK and Australia.

So how does a show about a couple of Church of Latter-day Saints members embarking on a mission become such a hit?

Somewhat bizarrely, the musical was born from a fascination with the Mormon church which the trio discovered they shared when they met in 2003. Trey and Matt had been to see Avenue Q, and over drinks afterwards they asked Robert about his future projects. They were surprised to hear him say he’d like to create something linked to Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormons - not least because it was a subject they were already considering.

“I remember reading about Smith in an American history textbook in eighth grade and just having to read it twice because I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” says Robert. “When Trey and Matt asked me what I would like to do next, I said ‘I want to do something on Joseph Smith’. And they said ‘What? That’s what we wanna do, too!’”

The Book Of Mormon is just one of a string of hit shows Robert has worked on. Together with his wife and collaborator, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, he wrote songs for Disney films Frozen and Coco - including the international sensation Let It Go. He and Kristen also adapted Frozen into the stage spectacular. 

Robert’s talents have been recognised so many times that, to date, he is the only double ‘EGOT’ winner, meaning he’s won all four major US entertainment awards - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony - twice. 

He says that while it was important for The Book Of Mormon to be funny, it also needed to convey the humanity of its characters. 

“We were trying to make a show that was about the way we felt about the best parts of religion. We were writing a show about it that was sort of for atheists and believers at the same time, because it summed up how we felt about it - that whether or not the stories are true, they do something that’s good. Believing in something impossible makes you do impossible things.

“People are so quick to laugh at Mormons - and we wanted, in the end, to be able to turn it around on them. Because, really, any belief in anything impossible is sort of funny - but also, it’s very inspiring and empowering. And I think that’s why the show sings so much.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, given that it’s from the creators of anarchic television series South Park, The Book Of Mormon does skate close to the edge where its comedy is concerned. But, says Trey, this is their way of exploring subjects.

“It’s what a lot of not-funny people don’t understand. They don’t get that funny isn’t a tool to attack - it’s a tool to process a thing and to communicate. I think the most profound things I’ve ever heard about life have come out of a comedian’s mouth.”

Despite being the butt of many of the jokes, the Church of Latter-day Saints didn’t protest about the musical. Instead, the Mormons chose to embrace it, even placing adverts in programmes for the actual Book Of Mormon, their tenet of faith.

“Everyone beforehand was like, ‘are you worried?’” Trey recalls. “And we were like ‘no’, because we know Mormons. Mormons are nice people and they’re smart people.” 

That said, he hadn’t expected the response they did get. “We didn’t think they’d go so far as to take out ads in our programme. They trumped us, really.” 

Trey also stresses the plot of the musical is more about the culture clash between the Mormons and the supposed beneficiaries of their mission than about poking fun at the beliefs of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

“It’s specifically a Mormon thing that when you’re 18 you get paired with someone who’s your sudden ‘best friend’ and sent somewhere crazy in the world,” Trey explains.

“So this show is really two kids coming out of high school, basically going out into the world, and thinking they’ve kind of got it and they know it all. And getting their asses handed to them. And I think anyone around the world can relate to that a little bit.”

Trey and Matt met when they were students at the University of Colorado. Together they wrote and directed the film Cannibal! The Musical before creating South Park. Debuting on Comedy Central in 1997, South Park was rapidly an international phenomenon, picking up five Emmys and the Peabody Award. 

The duo’s films include South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, the superhero comedy Orgazmo, and the marionette action thriller Team America: World Police. 

For Matt, jokes are an essential element in their storytelling.

“Humour is how we deconstruct the world. There is an element to comedy that is ‘laugh at these people’.

The Book Of Mormon uses that mockability of the Mormons - and then tries to tell you a larger story, and rope you in and open it up. Laughter breaks down your defences, you know? And then you’re open to a different story.” 

Feature by Diane Parkes

The Book Of Mormon shows at The Alexandra, Birmingham, from Tuesday 3 to Saturday 28 December