Hey Melbourne, the Mormons are back! After wowing audiences in Sydney with plenty of "did they really just say that?” humour, The Book of Mormon is heading to the Princess Theatre from February 6, 2026.
This somewhat unconventional musical comedy cleaned up at the Tony Awards after it debuted on Broadway in 2011, going on to break box office records and garner near-unanimous critical acclaim when it opened on London’s West End. When tickets for the show’s Australian debut in Melbourne were released in 2015 – nearly a year in advance of opening night – the Princess Theatre recorded its highest pre-sale period of any production in its 159-year history, also going on to win the Helpmann Award for Best Musical.
For the uninitiated, The Book of Mormon follows two inept Mormon missionaries from Salt Lake City on their journey to save mortal souls in a corner of Uganda ruled by a one-eyed warlord. It’s the brainchild of South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone – hence, you can expect a lot of explicit language – along with Avenue Q and Frozen co-creator Robert Lopez.
So what’s the secret of the show’s success? As Time Out London’s Theatre and Dance Editor Andrzej Lukowski wrote, Mormon was always going to be a hit, but what made it into the Mormania phenomenon is the fact that non-South Park fans love it too. The songs are excellent. Filthy, witty and outrageous, but also sumptuous and note-perfect, they nod to the golden age of the American musical.
As for how the show has aged, its post-Lion King depiction of the luckless Ugandan tribesfolk is largely accepted as an ironic comment on Western perceptions of Africa. (And apparently the Mormon community responded to the whole thing with slightly forced good humour, even taking out some rather optimistic recruitment adverts in the program for the US tour.)
The Australian cast features Sean Johnston (Hairspray) as the charmingly self-important Elder Price, Nick Cox (Beauty and the Beast) as geeky, show-stealing Elder Cunningham, and Paris Leveque who is making her professional debut as Nabulungi. They are joined by Tom Struik, Simbarashe Matshe, Augie Tchantcho and Matthew Hamilton.
To join the waitlist for tickets, head to the website.
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