Syesha Mercado in Book Of Mormon in Chicago

[Younger Brother]

Apparently, according to her tweets she's now in the Chicago company of The Book Of Mormon, playing Nabulungi? Anyone know what happened to Stephanie Umoh?

[LizzieCurry]

What's annoying is she's in the playbill and on the poster, but Stephanie is still on the website.
https://twitter.com/THErob_colletti/status/278221963913199616

They replaced Elder McKinley, too.

[shrekster224]

Very odd- was looking forward to Stephanie Umoh. Perhaps she and Jackson (McKinley) were rehearsing their roles in this company then going into the London cast? In the London cast announcement, they never did announce who were Nabulungi and McKinley.
http://www.playbill.com/news/article/172043-Complete-Casting-Announced-for-Londons-Book-of-Mormon-Gavin-Creel-Will-Star

[somethingwicked]

shrekster, in the West End production, Alexia Khadime is Nabalungi and Stephen Ashfield is Elder McKinley. I'm pretty sure they were in the initial announcements as well.

I'd be more inclined to think Umoh may be going into the Broadway production, although it's also just as likely that she was replaced for creative reasons.

[TheatreKid3]

They have been announced on the London website. Alexia Khadime, a former Elphaba, is playing Nabulungi, and Stephen Ashfield is Elder McKinley.

[ACL2006]

Umoh just might be replacing James as Nabalungi. It'll be 2 years that James has been in the show(with various breaks), so it wouldn't suprise me if she's leaving and Umoh will replace her in February.

[shrekster224]

Oops, sorry. Just after posting, saw that she was back in NYC anyways.

[Tom1071]

Has anyone seen Matt Doyle as Elder Price on Broadway? He's been in for a few weeks now.

[BrdwyThtr]

So Syesha will now be playing Nabulungi in Chicago, correct?

[LizzieCurry]

Yes.

https://twitter.com/Syesha/status/278252766521090048

[BwayBuff2]

I was at the final dress in Chicago last night...I have several friends in the show. Stephanie and Jackson were both fired and bought out of their contracts. Neither one of them will continue on with the show in any of the casts. It was a creative decision made by the creative team. Syesha and the new McKinley (who was on a TheatreWorks tour when he got the news) were hired three days before the cast heard the news of Stephanie and Jackson being fired. Sad, indeed...but, Syesha was amazing last night.

[ACL2006]

wow. I wonder what the heck happened for them to be that bad during rehearsals. chemistry?? Was hoping Umoh was heading into the Broadway production. Based on her tweets over the past two weeks, it seemed like her agents set her up with something. She also tweeted hanging out with a few BOM Broadway cast members.

[LizzieCurry]

Well, she's already friends with some of the B'way cast members.

[RippedMan]

Who's Jackson?

[LizzieCurry]

Jackson Evans.

http://www.bookofmormonbroadway.com/show_cast_chicago.php

Surprise! He and Stephanie are still on the site. Way to be on the ball, BoM.

[BigRed]

The site is now updated with the correct bios.

Even the Chicago Tribune had a short story that was online/in print today saying that Stephanie Umoh was still in the cast...

[DottieD'Luscia]

Wow, that's a shame about the two of them.

[inlovewithjerryherman]

Rumor has it that the reason Ms. Umoh was let go was due to a look, and the visual puzzle of the show (she was too tall next to Ben Platt).

I too, was at the final dress. Mercado was fantastic. (And for the record, Ben Platt is giving, legitimately, one of the best performances I have ever seen.)

[JohnyBroadway]

Congrats to Syesha! She was one of the best parts of the Dreamgirls tour.