Hey Sydney, the Mormons are back. The mischievous musical theatre sensation The Book of Mormon is returning to the Land Down Under, with a brand new production set to premiere at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre from July 2025.
This somewhat unconventional musical comedy cleaned up at the Tony Awards after it debuted on Broadway in 2011, going on to break box office records and garner near-unanimous critical acclaim when it opened on London’s West End. When tickets for the show’s Australian debut in Melbourne were released in 2015 – nearly a year in advance of opening night – the Princess Theatre recorded its highest pre-sale period of any production in its 159-year history, also going on to win the Helpmann Award for Best Musical.
For the uninitiated, The Book of Mormon follows two inept Mormon missionaries from Salt Lake City on their journey to save mortal souls in a corner of Uganda ruled by a one-eyed warlord. It’s the brainchild of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone – hence, you can expect a lot of explicit language – along with Avenue Q and Frozen co-creator Robert Lopez.
So what’s the secret of the show’s success? As Time Out London’s Theatre and Dance Editor Andrzej Lukowski wrote, Mormon was always going to be a hit, but what made it into the Mormania phenomenon is the fact that non-South Park fans love it too. The songs are excellent. Filthy, witty and outrageous, but also sumptuous and note-perfect, they nod to the golden age of the American musical.
“The Book of Mormon is cool enough for the stoner crowd, sure; but it probably won’t upset your mum too much – despite the swear words,” said Lukowski. As for how the show has aged, its post-Lion King depiction of the luckless Ugandan tribesfolk is largely accepted as an ironic comment on Western perceptions of Africa. (And apparently the Mormon community responded to the whole thing with slightly forced good humour, even taking out some rather optimistic recruitment adverts in the program for the US tour.)
We are pretty pumped to see this outrageous musical come back to town. Sydney is the only city announced so far, so you probably don’t wanna sleep on this (just in case it pulls a Groundhog Day the Musical, which really meant it when they said it was a Melbourne exclusive). Who knows, maybe this time Aussie audiences will get to see the full uncut version of ‘Spooky Mormon Hell Dream’!?
The Book of Mormon is produced in Australia by Anne Garefino, Important Musicals and Suzanne Jones for Jones Theatrical Group with support from Destination NSW. We're light on details for this production at the moment, but auditions are open. Tickets are not yet on sale but you can sign up for the waitlist at thebookofmormonmusical.com.au and follow @bookofmormonaunz on Instagram and Facebook for updates.
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