Andrew Rannells performs I Believe to celebrate The Book of Mormon’s upcoming 15 year anniversary. He will be returning to the Broadway production along with other original cast members Josh Gad, Rory O’Malley, and Nikki M. James the week after the Tonys for Magical Mystery Mormon Week. They will perform select scenes and songs alongside the current Broadway cast, with no show exactly the same. These mystery performances will be the first of their kind on Broadway.
Andrew Rannells said that when he auditioned for The Book of Mormon, they flew him to Los Angeles for a callback with South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, future EGOT winner Robert Lopez, and Josh Gad. When Andrew arrived, there were two other actors in the waiting room who were there for the callback. One of them was Nick Lachey from 98 Degrees so Andrew was convinced that Nick would be cast. Although Andrew had performed on Broadway before, The Book of Mormon was the first original show that he was a part of so the writers were giving them new pages and making changes throughout the process even through previews. When he performed I Believe at the Tony Awards, Stephen was the one who introduced him but Stephen just found out that he was the not the first choice.
interview with Book of Mormon creators Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez:
Matt, Trey, and Robert talk about their musical influences growing up (Elton John, Rush, the Police, Billy Joel, Stephen Sondheim, Spinal Tap). Trey said one of the first songs he wrote was called You Suck which he performed at his school talent show. The school called him into the office and said they were going to call his dad. Trey said his dad is like Randy on South Park, so his response was “You’re going to expel my son for being talented? Fuck you!” Robert said when he was 6 years old, he wrote a song called Oy Vey, What a Day.
Matt and Trey said when they were working on Team America, someone told them that there was a Broadway musical with puppets so they went to see Avenue Q and loved it. When they opened the program, they saw that Robert had thanked them even though they had never met. Robert said that Avenue Q never would have happened without South Park.
Trey shares the letter that Stephen Sondheim wrote to him that said he loved Team America and asked if he would be interested in writing a musical with him. Trey said that Sondheim also sent him a letter that said the South Park movie was the greatest musical he had seen in a long time. They finally met in person when Sondheim came to a workshop for The Book of Mormon. Matt and Trey talk about a woman who walked out of the show very dramatically. Robert talks about casting Josh Gad. Trey reveals which part of The Sound of Music they copied when writing I Believe.
Stephen: Were you guys nervous at all about how the Mormon church would feel?
Matt: No.
Trey: No.
And in case you are feeling nostalgic:
