‘My experiences, both growing up in Mexico and returning to the United States, help me bring my performance to a place of honesty’
Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page.
Article content
The Broadway musical The Book of Mormon is a phenomenon among modern American musicals.
Created by Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez, it opened in 2011, spawning productions around the world that have helped it amass more than $800 million in ticket sales, making it one of the most successful musicals of all time. Its original productions are still playing in New York and London, and, when it runs at the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton from Nov. 19-24 and in Calgary from Nov. 26 through Dec. 1, it will be the show’s third appearance here in fewer than 10 years.
Advertisement 2
Article content
Parker and Stone are the creators of the long-running animated series South Park, and Lopez is the co-writer of songs for Disney’s Frozen and Frozen II, giving it quite a pedigree. It won nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, and the original cast album won a Grammy.
The Book of Mormon tells the story of a pair of American missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who are sent to a small Ugandan village to preach to the locals. Elder Price is a devout, dedicated young Mormon who is paired with Elder Cunningham, a compulsive liar and pop culture enthusiast, who was hoping to be assigned to Florida so he could try converting the tourists at Walt Disney World. It’s an odd-couple pairing destined to cause havoc, misunderstandings and mayhem.
In the role of Elder Price in this latest touring version is Wisconsin native Sam McLellan, whose parents were Christian missionaries in Mexico. He was just an infant when his parents were given the assignment, and he didn’t return to the U.S. until he was in his early teens.
“I think my experiences, both growing up in Mexico and returning to the United States, help me bring my performance as Elder Price to a place of honesty. Being raised in Mexico, I was definitely out of my element and I felt like an outsider. When we returned to America, it was quite a culture shock, which is what Elder Price experiences when he arrives in Uganda. I understand what he is going through,” says McLellan, who was last seen in Calgary as the young rebel in the Broadway Across Canada tour of Anastasia.
Advertisement 3
Article content
McLellan credits The Book of Mormon with having inspired him to pursue a career in musical theatre.
“I was visiting my sister in Chicago in 2013 and was about 16 years old. My sister knew I liked musicals because I’d starred in my school productions of Les Miserables and Guys And Dolls, so she took me to see The Book of Mormon. I had never envisioned a musical like (that). It was so current and so real. Les Miserables and Guys and Dolls were period and historically driven. I had heard of Broadway but had no idea what it really was. Still, I knew watching The Book of Mormon I wanted to be in musicals.
McLellan concedes The Book of Mormon pokes fun at the religion but insists “it’s not mean-spirited. Through South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone have shown they believe nothing is too serious to make a joke about, and that nothing is off limits. That’s what they’re doing in The Book of Mormon. It’s such incredible fun, and the music is so good that people keep coming back. If the musical was offensive, people wouldn’t keep flocking to it.”
McLellan also believes The Book of Mormon “is a very liberating experience. Initially, it takes people out of their comfort zone, but when they start laughing, and they really do laugh for the whole time, they know they’re just there for a good time.”
McLellan has several Mormon friends, but they haven’t seen the musical. However, this tour will play in Salt Lake City in January and he is eager “to see what kind of reception we get there. It will be a true test for the musical.”
Article content