The Book of Mormon, New Musical from South Park Team, Headed for Broadway

The Book of Mormon, a new musical collaboration between South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez, will premiere on Broadway in March 2011, produced by Scott Rudin and Anne Garefino. Theater, casting and additional creative team members will be announced at a later date.

The press announcement of the new show gave no details about its storyline, but the New York Post reports that The Book of Mormon centers on two young Mormon missionaries sent off to spread the word in a dangerous part of Uganda. Their tale is told alongside the story of Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Latter-day Saints.

“Growing up in Colorado, a lot of our friends were Mormons and we always thought their book would make a great musical,” Parker and Stone said in a statement. “We loved Avenue Q and are having a blast working with Bobby Lopez. Having a show on Broadway is a dream come true for us.”

In a statement, Lopez noted that Parker and Stone’s movie musical South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut “is beloved within the Broadway community—it was certainly one of my biggest influences writing Avenue Q.” Of their new collaboration, he added, “It really is in many senses a big traditional musical comedy, with, as you might expect, untraditional subject matter.”

Previous reports had indicated that Parker, Stone and Lopez’s new musical would be presented in August 2010 at New York Theater Workshop, but a press spokesperson said that the show will, in fact, open directly on Broadway next year.

Parker and Stone’s South Park series has just reached its 200th episode after premiering on Comedy Central in 1997 and is the winner of four Emmy Awards. Parker and Hairspray composer Marc Shaiman were nominated for a 2000 Academy Award for Best Original Song for “Blame Canada” from the South Park feature film.

Lopez is co-creator, composer and lyricist of Avenue Q, which won 2004 Tony Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. After a six-year Broadway run, the show is currmently playing at off-Broadway’s New World Stages.