‘Book of Mormon’ returns to Las Vegas for a limited run

Las Vegas just can’t get enough of “Book of Mormon.” The comedy musical returns to Las Vegas for a limited engagement Sept. 22 through Oct. 18 at The Smith Center for the Performing Arts.

The show sold out during a four-week run in Las Vegas last year. The winner of nine Tony Awards on Broadway tells the satirical religious tale of two missionaries who head to Uganda to try to share the Book of Mormon with the local population. The village people are more concerned with an overlord taking over, poverty, famine and AIDS than religion. Comedy ensues as the missionaries, one naive and the other who thinks he’s destined for bigger things, try to convert the villagers.

Trey Parker and Matt Stone of “South Park” fame wrote the original book, music and lyrics with Robert Lopez of “Avenue Q.” The trio worked on the concept for eight years before it hit Broadway in 2011 and the cast recording of the musical even captured a Grammy for Best Theatrical Album. Casey Nicholaw, who worked on Monty Python’s “Spamalot” and “The Drowsy Chaperone” choreographs this show and directs with Parker.

Why target religion with this musical? Stone tells the Wall Street Journal that when he discovered that the Church of Latter Day Saints came of age around the same time as Rodgers and Hammerstein and Disney, the cheesiness of religion and musicals seemed to click.

“Mormonism has this great cheesy aesthetic—when you watch their videos, it’s almost as if they’re about to flash a smile at the camera and burst into song. One of the things that we talked about early on in the crafting of this show was how Mormon cheesiness is so close to musical cheesiness.”

Tickets start at $36 and go on sale Monday, June 8.

Tickets: The Smith Center box office, (702) 749-2000