The Book of Mormon: Rory O’Malley departs 27 Jan 2013

Rory O'Malley, who originated the role of 'Elder McKinley' in the Tony Award winning musical The Book of Mormon, has announced os his Facebook page that he will play his final performance on 27 Jan 2013. There has been no announcement about his replacement.

O'Malley wrote, "As a kid I dreamt of nothing more than originating a role on Broadway, but getting to do that with Elder McKinley has fulfilled that dream tenfold. Now it's time to pass the torch, or I guess... sparkly pink vest!"

O'Malley, who was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance, is the third original member of the show's prinipal cast to leave the production, Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad left in June 2012.

The principal cast for the The Book of Mormon currently stars Jon Bass (Elder Cunningham), Matt Doyle (Elder Price), Nikki M. James (Nabalungi), Rory O'Malley (Elder McKinley, Michael Potts (Mafala Hatimbi), Lewis Cleale (Missionary Training Center Voice/ Price's Dad, Joseph Smith, Mission President) and Brian Tyree Henry (General).

The Book of Mormon opened on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre on 24 Mar 2011, following previews from 24 Feb, and is currently booking through to 05 Jan 2014.

The show opened to excellent reviews: Bowls you over (newyorktheatreguide); Pleasure-giving musical (NY Times); Blissfully original, irreverent, outspoken and hilarious (NY Daily News); A hit (NY Post); Hysterically funny and tunefully irresistible (NY1).

The Book of Mormon 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.

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 show won nine 2011 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, and has been a box office hit with a regular house attendence of 102%.

The show is choreographed by Casey Nicholaw and directed by Nicholaw and Trey Parker - joint winners of the 2011 Tony Award for best direction of a musical.

The Book of Mormon's creative team 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.

Parker and Stone make their Broadway musical writing debut with The Book of Mormon. Parker and Stone have won four Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award for "South Park," the team's controversial, critically acclaimed series, which airs on Comedy Central.