The Mormon 9 wins represents the culmination of a triumphant first foray into Broadway by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who teamed with Avenue Q composer-lyricist Robert Lopez to write the smash hit. Since opening March 24 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre to rave reviews, Mormon has been playing to capacity houses, grossing more than $1 million per week and totaling roughly $15 million to date. Read The Hollywood Reporter's review here.
Andrew H. Walker/Getty ImagesTrey Parker is still digesting The Book of Mormon‘s sweeping wins at Sunday night’s Tony Awards.
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When asked how it feels to hold one of those trophies, Parker told reporters backstage at Sunday’s show, “I don’t think it’s really hit me yet, but like Matt [Stone] was saying, this whole experience has been such a reward.” The show earned nine Tonys, including best musical.
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“This is a great night and it’s great to see everyone else get recognized for everything that they’ve done because it’s easy for Matt and I to get the recognition. It’s great. It’s awesome,” added Parker, who co-created the show with Stone, with whom he also collaborates on South Park.
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They didn’t expect to win.
“We’ve been around long enough and have been to enough award shows to know that it is easy to lose to Phil Collins at any time. We weren’t really expecting anything, but this is great. It’s been such a great ride before this night that we already felt like a winner,” joked Stone.
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They won’t be bragging about their awards any time soon. “We’ve ripped on people getting awards enough, so we have to walk that line carefully,” said Stone.
What was it like seeing their names in lights for the first time?
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“It was before we started previews and the marquee had gone up. During rehearsals we went out to lunch and we too Trey up there and it was like pretty awesome, but it was also like, get your ass to work,” said Stone. “Like, oh s**t, we’re really doing this?! People are coming. So we ran back to work.”
When asked if they have plans to make the show into a movie, Stone said, “Nothing more than us saying that it would be cool someday to make it into a movie maybe, but that’s the only talk.”
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Added Parker: “On the one hand, we would love to bottle up everyone here and be able to preserve that and shoot it on a film. But on the other hand, it’s cool as a stage thing and we want to let it live that way.”
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One thing they are certain of: The Book of Mormon will not be made into a South Park episode.
“No, because that wouldn’t be cool,” says Parker.
Lindsay.Powers@thr.com
Twitter: LKPE
