From Deseret News archives:
'South Park' creators trying 'Mormon Musical'
The New York Post and playbill.com, among other sources, reported Tuesday that South Park creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker are at work on a Broadway-bound show titled "Mormon Musical."
An openly gay actor, Cheyenne Jackson, is said to be cast as the lead — a Mormon missionary. "It's hilarious — very acerbic and biting. It offends everybody but does what 'South Park' does best, which is by the end it comes around and has something great to say," Jackson is quoted as saying in the Post's Pop Wrap blog.
"I play the main missionary, Elder something," he said.
The announcement comes two weeks after the LDS Church helped lead a successful voter referendum against gay marriage in California. Ever since, gay rights protesters have picketed LDS temples in three states, threatened to boycott Utah businesses and blacklisted donors to the campaign supporting Proposition 8 in California.
Top LDS leaders have issued several pleas for civility in the past two weeks, asking that those who opposed the measure respect the rights of the faith and its members to vote their conscience without fear of reprisal.
It won't be the first time the LDS faith and its doctrine have been the focus on Broadway. In 1993, Tony Kushner's "Angels in America" included a gay Mormon man struggling to reconcile his sexuality with his faith.
The South Park duo also created a Mormon-focused episode of their TV series back in 2003 that caused some controversy among Latter-day Saints.
E-mail: carrie@desnews.com
