Lewis Cleale Joins Cast of BOOK OF MORMON

Stage veteran Lewis Cleale has joined the cast of THE BOOK OF MORMON, the first Broadway musical from the creators of "South Park". The production opens on Broadway on Thursday, March 24, 2011 at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre (230 West 49th Street). Previews begin on February 24, 2011.

Cleale made his Broadway debut in the 1995 Johnny Burke revue Swinging on a Star, for which he received a Drama Desk Award nomination as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical. Additional Broadway credits include the 1996 revival of Once Upon a Mattress with Sarah Jessica Parker, the  Michel Legrand musical Amour, and the 2005 hit Spamalot. Cleale also appeared in the popular revue "I Love New York" which was done at the Rainbows and Stars room along with Bryan Batt, Janet Metz and Heather MacRae.Off-Broadway, he has appeared in Call Me Madam opposite Tyne Daly and A New Brain with Malcolm Gets and Kristin Chenoweth for Lincoln Center Theater.

Cleale recently played El Gallo in the Off-Broadway revival of The Fantasticks at the Jerry Orbach Theater. Cleale left that show to be an understudy for Sondheim on Sondheim.

THE BOOK OF MORMON features book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Parker and Stone are the four-time Emmy Award-winning creators of Comedy Central's landmark animated series, "South Park". Tony Award-winner Lopez is composer and co-creator of the long-running hit musical comedy, Avenue Q. The world premiere musical is choreographed by three-time Tony Award-nominee Casey Nicholaw (Monty Python's Spamalot, The Drowsy Chaperone) and directed by Nicholaw and Parker.

THE BOOK OF MORMON, which follows a pair of mismatched Mormon boys sent on a mission to a place that's about as far from Salt Lake City as you can get, features Josh Gad as Elder Cunningham, Andrew Rannells as Elder Price, Nikki M. James as Nabalungi, Rory O'Malley as Elder McKinley and Michael Potts as Mafala Hatimbi, with Scott Barnhardt, Justin Bohon, Darlesia Cearcy, Kevin Duda, Asmeret Ghebremichael, Brian Tyree Henry, John Eric Parker, Jason Michael Snow, Benjamin Schrader, Michael James Scott, Brian Sears, Lawrence Stallings, Rema Webb, Maia Nkenge Wilson and Tommar Wilson. Additional casting will be announced soon.

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. Music supervision is by Stephen Oremus.

Tickets ($137.00 - $59.00) are currently available for pre-sale at SouthParkStudios.com. Tickets are available  at www.Telecharge.com or by calling Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200. 

Photo Credit: Joseph F. Panarello