BOOK OF MORMON Creators on Show's Utah Debut: 'Feels Like It's Coming Home'

The National Tour of The Book of Mormon will begin its sold-out, two-week run tonight in Salt Lake City, Utah, just a hop, skip and a jump from the Mormon Church's flagship temple and headquarters. The performance will mark the first time that the Tony Award-winning musical, which follows two naive missionaries on their quest to convert the people of a remote African village to Mormonism, has come to Utah.

In a new interview with The Associated Press, the show's creators, Trey Parker and Matt Stone shared that tonight's opening has brought the show full circle. "It feels like a really cool thing that it finally gets to play Salt Lake City," Stone said. "It just feels very much like it's coming home."

Jokes Parker, "It's like playing 'Fiddler on the Roof' to a bunch of Jews."

While many of the lines in the show lightly poke fun at Mormon beliefs, the creators are not expecting it to cause any major protests among church members. "I think it legitimizes them," Stone said. "You're not really real until somebody makes fun of you and makes a big Broadway show about you. Then you're really, really part of the American fabric."

Read the interview in full here

The Book of Mormon, winner of nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, is currently playing at Broadway's Eugene O'Neill Theatre (230 West 49th Street). The show features book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. The production is choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and is directed by Nicholaw and Parker.

The Book of Mormon is the winner of nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Score (Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, Matt Stone), Best Book (Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, Matt Stone), Best Direction (Casey Nicholaw, Trey Parker), Best Featured Actress (Nikki M. James), Best Scenic Design (Scott Pask), Best Lighting Design (Brian MacDevitt), Best Sound Design (Brian Ronan) and Best Orchestrations (Larry Hochman, Stephen Oremus); the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; five Drama Desk Awards including Best Musical; the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album; four Outer Critics Circle Awards, including Best Musical, and the Drama League Award for Best Musical.

The Book of Mormon features set design by Scott Pask, costume design by Ann Roth, lighting design by Brian MacDevitt and sound design by Brian Ronan. Orchestrations are by Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus. Music direction and vocal arrangements are by Stephen Oremus.