OF MORMON Book of Mormon: A sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which
adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the Ameri- can continent from approximately 2200 BC to AD 421. Comedy:Com·e·dy [kämdē]
noun.Any discourse or work generally
intended to be humorous or to amuse by inducing laughter, especially in stand- up comedy, television, film and theatre. Irreverence: Ir·rev·er·ence [ih-rev-er-uh ns] noun. 1: a lack of
respect for people or things that are generally taken seriously. 2: an irreverent act or utterance. Can you see the potential for a musical here? Trey Parker and Matt Stone, cre-
ators ofSouth Park certainly did and along withAvenue Q’s Robert Lopez, the three managed to pull off aBroadwayrarity; a long-running hit, with positive critical re- sponse, nine Tony Awards, a Grammy and an cast recording that hit the No.3 spot on the Billboard charts. And just like the Latter Day Saints, it just keeps producing.
One of the tag lines for the show says, “God Loves Mormons and He Wants Some
More…” Based on the wild popularity of the show, I guess that goes for audiences too. The Rage Monthly had the chance to talk with the two thespians playing the
“elders” on which the show is based, Cunningham [Cody Jamison Strand] and Price [David Larsen] about the show, their perspectives on it and whatThe Book of Mormon means to each of them. We started the conversation by talking about each actor’s journey to The Book
Of
Mormon.Cody’s arrival was pretty quick, though his path since has been a long one. “I moved to New York in July of 2012 and was freelancing with an agent. They sent me into the audition and I got the part—I don’t know how I managed it but I did!” He added, “I was first in the first national tour starting in November of 2012 and then I joined the Broadway company in May of 2013. I then jumped to the other national tour starting in January of 2014.” David Larson is pretty much a veteran at this point so his journey was a little dif-
MAY 2014
MAY 2014 | | RAGE monthly
monthly
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The Book of Mormon second national tour company. photo by joan marcus 2014
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