Spotlight on 'The Book of Mormon' with Kevin Clay and Diego Enrico

As part of a series showcasing long-running Broadway shows, we speak to the actors who play the mismatched Mormon missionaries at the center of this hit comedy.

Summary

• The Book of Mormon actors Kevin Clay and Diego Enrico discuss the musical's staying power
• The show premiered in 2011 and will be Broadway's 10th-longest-running-musical ever by the end of 2025
• The satirical show follows Mormon missionaries sent to convert villagers in Uganda

Actors Kevin Clay and Diego Enrico want everyone to join the congregation at The Book of Mormon. "We are one of the go-to shows to convince people who have never seen a Broadway show before to try one," said Clay.

Both performed in the show's national tour — Clay starting in 2015, Enrico from 2024-25 — before making their Broadway debuts as Elders Price and Cunningham. They agreed this musical's audience has a particularly high concentration of dads, boyfriends, and teenage sons, aka your stereotypically theatre-indifferent demographics. That's part of the reason, they continued, behind The Book of Mormon's endurance: It turns people into Broadway believers. In fact, it will become Broadway's 10th-longest-running show ever by the end of 2025.

Counterintuitively, Mormon is rife with elements that, especially back in 2011, don't seem like the stuff of musicals. Namely, a story about religion told with decidedly sacrilegious humor from the creators of South Park (Emmy, Tony, and Grammy winners Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and fellow R-rated musical Avenue Q (double EGOT winner Robert Lopez). The plot follows two mismatched Mormons sent on a mission to Uganda, where they team up with villager Nabulungi to convert the more stubborn locals — by taking a few liberties with the titular sacred text.

Below, Clay and Enrico spread the good word about The Book of Mormon on Broadway and share some divinely funny stories of their time with the show.

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Why do you think this show has lasted so long on Broadway?

Kevin Clay: I was a freshman in college when it came out. I'm studying musical theatre. I'm like, "Oh, this show is, frankly, perfect for me, but [...] I've still got four more years of school. Bummer. There's no way the show is going to run that long."

It's the creators of South Park. It's Bobby Lopez, who wrote Avenue Q. It's all these different pieces coming together that seem, frankly, not expected for the Broadway community. [...] All the reviews we have on our doors here at the theatre [say things] like "lewd" or "offensive."

Diego Enrico: "Theatre, missionary style."

Clay: Exactly. But then the staying power comes from the creators really adhering to what works about Golden Age musical theatre. It's very laser-focused and following a certain number of specific, very developed characters. All of them go through full journeys and arcs.

By the end of the show [...] it's not just comedy for comedy's sake, or it's not offensiveness just to be offensive. It arrives at a very specific point of view and message. And that message just happens to be very positive: very community-positive, faith-positive, believe it or not.

Enrico: On top of the ridiculous humor they come up with [...] it is also a ridiculously well-written musical. The music in this show has no right being as good as it is, and the choreography as well. You can tell theatre lovers made this show happen. There's so many homages being paid to Wicked, The Sound of Music...

No other show on Broadway does what The Book of Mormon does, which is effectively [being a] "bring your boyfriend to the show" musical.

Clay: We get a ton of people at the stage door being like, "It's my first Broadway show ever." For someone who's not super theatre-oriented or interested in what else might be perceived as classic musical theatre, we're the trick.

What is the best audience reaction you have seen to the show?

Clay: There's a scene in the show in which everything Elder Cunningham and Nabulungi have been building toward begins to unravel.

She says her final line of the scene, and she storms off. And in the silent moment between her leaving and the next person's line, someone in the audience — clearly wanting to be heard, loudly projecting — just goes, "You fucked up, Cunningham!"

Everyone broke immediately. They were right — but maybe save it for not during the show.

Enrico: My story from tour is similar. It was [after the line], "Even if we change some things..." Somebody goes in the audience, "I did that once." It became this running joke.

What is your favorite moment in the show?

Clay: As an audience member [...] the most perfect encapsulation of the comedy and messaging of the show was "I Am Africa."

As Elder Price, I really love doing "All-American Prophet" because it's the most I get to dance. It's super storytelling-driven.

Enrico: "Baptize Me" with Nabulungi. [...] There's so much to mine and find in that song. It's so meaty, and [there's] so much stupid innuendo in it that it's so much fun to play with.

What is a little-known secret about performing in the show?

Clay: Eagle-eyed viewers will notice there are no Mormon women in the show. There are a few scenes that involve Mormon women [...] but it's just the boys dressing up as the ladies.

The story goes, there was [...] a workshop performance or something, and the women who were supposed to be in it were super sick [and] couldn't show up. So they're like, "You know what? Let's obviously keep doing it, dress up the boys, and just have them stand in."

Enrico: At the top of Act 2, Cunningham has a book, and there's actual quotes from — I don't know how exactly book-accurate they are, but they're things that the Book of Mormon says, and those lines are printed out in there.

I believe it's because [original Cunningham] Josh Gad was like, "I need them." And I will say, for a little bit, I was like, "I say this every night. I got it." And then one night I didn't have the right book. I was a nightmare. That scene added an extra minute because I was trying to figure out what was coming next.

What do you hope audiences take away from the show?

Clay: I hope it can show a different side to Broadway and musical theatre that can inspire continued viewing of the medium. But mostly, even if it's the only show you've see and you never see any show ever again, I'm always very proud of the fact that our show begs to have a conversation around it.

Hopefully it's also a night of entertainment, but then afterward, you can be like, "This raised some pretty serious questions and concerns about organized religion, about new religions, about old religions."

Enrico: Coming into theatre, I was an outsider [...] and I ended up falling in love with it and finding my tribe.

This show centers itself around that idea of home and community and friendship and [that] love is found anywhere and everywhere. Trying to find yourself within other communities is something very special and poignant the show really tries to touch on.

Clay: I'm like, "The questions about religion..."

Enrico: ...and I'm like, "Everyone can be friends!" It very much is Price and Cunningham.

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Interview excerpts have been condensed and edited for length and clarity.

Photo credit: Kevin Clay in The Book of Mormon on Broadway. (Photo by Julieta Cervantes)