The irreverent 2011 Broadway musical from South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone that satirized organized religion while winning 9 Tony Awards, becoming the most successful Broadway comedy of the 2010s.
Phenomenon
“The Book of Mormon” opened March 24, 2011, with previews selling out instantly based solely on the South Park team’s involvement. The musical follows two mismatched Mormon missionaries sent to Uganda, blending profane humor with surprisingly earnest examination of faith’s purpose.
The show won 9 Tony Awards including Best Musical, with ticket demand so extreme that premium seats sold for $477 (then a Broadway record). The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responded not with outrage but with clever advertising in playbills: “You’ve seen the play, now read the book.”
Songs like “Hello!” and “I Believe” became cultural touchstones, with “Hasa Diga Eebowai” (a profane parody of “Hakuna Matata”) shocking audiences while becoming a meme for expressing frustration. The show’s willingness to mock while humanizing its subjects represented a peak moment for politically incorrect comedy before cancel culture intensified.
The musical grossed over $500 million on Broadway by 2019, with its success proving appetite for edgy religious satire - a phenomenon that would become increasingly rare as cultural sensitivity debates escalated in the late 2010s.