“The Book of Mormon” creators Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez stopped by “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” to celebrate the hit musical’s 15th anniversary and reflect on the Mormon Church’s “super nice” reaction to it.
Colbert asked the trio if any of them felt any trepidation about the musical’s most satirical, boundary-pushing moments, to which Stone, who co-created “South Park” with Parker, said, “It’s just what we do.” The “Late Show” host then asked if any of the show’s first live audiences took issue with the musical’s content.
“Theater is cool. Trey and I haven’t had as much experience as Bobby, but you get to put these workshops up and see people respond to it over and over before you get to Broadway, and people liked it,” Stone responded. “That’s what kept us going. It was cool.” Continuing his line of questioning, Colbert inquired if there were ever any audience members who walked out of the musical.
“We had one lady walk out. We still remember her,” Stone said. Parker added, “She did it very dramatically. We were all standing back watching, and one lady just looked around at everyone, took her playbill and threw it down and was like, ‘Come on, everybody! Let’s go!’ And nobody followed her.”
You can watch part of the trio’s “Late Show” interview yourself below.
Reflecting on the musical’s opening 15 years ago, Colbert asked if any members of the original “Book of Mormon” production were nervous about the reactions it would provoke, particularly from the Mormon community. “Everybody but me and Trey. Me and Trey were like, ‘We got this. We know these people. We’re from Colorado,’” Stone replied.
Parker and Stone subsequently revealed that there was an official response from the Church of Mormon after the musical opened. When Colbert asked what it was, Parker said, “They did what Mormons do. They were super nice about it.” Stone then added, “They kill you with kindness.”
“They actually took out an ad in the playbill after we had opened and it was really big, and the ad was super nice!” Parker continued. “It was like, ‘Hey, you’ve seen the musical. Now, read the book!’”
“I think there’s more Mormons [now],” Stone concluded.
