I was thrilled to hear the recent announcement that The Book of Mormon Musical is coming to Broadway in March 2011! Sure, it’s from the creators of South Park, but I have it on good authority that their presentation of the Book of Mormon will be nothing but fair, unlike their previous treatment of Mormons in the South Park episode, “All About the Mormons”.
So, here are my choices for the leading roles. Please feel free to make additional suggestions/replacements:
Nephi – Gerard Butler: With the fierceness of 300, and tenderness of The Bounty Hunter, Gerard is a natural choice. Can he sing? Who cares!
Laman – The Rock: It’ll give, ‘lay hands upon’ a whole new dimension
Lemuel – Jay-Z: For some cross-culture boost in sales, and can double as the assistant music director/remixer
Sam – Sean Astin: can just port his great supporting friend/brother role from Lord of the Rings
Lehi – Ian McKellen: With the role of Gandolf under his belt, who better to lead a rag-tag group on an adventure with a plethora of supernatural occurrences?
Sariah – Penlope Cruz: Put some Mediterranean sassy into this role!
Zoram - Donny Osmond: With just coming off a high of winning, ‘Dancing with the Stars,’ it’d be a great cameo. And really, can you have a Mormon musical without Donny?
Laban – Chunga from the 101.9 morning show in Salt Lake. He could really breathe new life into the role of Laban until, well, you know…
Just think of all of the missionary opportunities this will open up after so many new people are exposed to The Book of Mormon! I can imagine the missionaries now, lining up outside the theater with Books of Mormon in-hand, to answer all of the burning questions the eager theater-goers will have after seeing the production!
Great casting call. I'd love to see Chunga take the hit. The price of admission would be worth it just for that scene.
ReplyDeleteBound to be a cult classic!
ReplyDeleteSo, this AM we were reading about Nephi being tied up by his brothers while out at sea. It says that Sariah was on her sick bed and mentions her gray hairs and she's about to die--I'm guessing not just of old age but seasickness b/c of the storm. (Chap 18: 18-19) But in the next verse, it says that Jacob and Joseph were young, having much need of nourishment were grieved b/c of the afflictions of their mother.
ReplyDeleteSo, I'm thinking Penelope is going to need to have a little work done to make her look really old but not so old she can't nurse her babies. Doesn't that just seem weird?
Lady Gaga to represent the 'whore of all earth'.
Abish=Either Aishwarya Rai or Preity Zinta. They're not Lamanites, but they are "Indians" ;)
EW - No problem with the makeup. Trust me - Penelope's the one, and if the role requires nursing, well, they have keep it real...
ReplyDeleteWorking in Lady Gaga could be huge! Maybe just a medley with all the brothers on the boat.
On the suggestions, I'm sure that just by having darker skin, they somehow would qualify.
Gerard Butler CAN sing--he was the Phantom in the 2004 movie version of "Phantom of the Opera." :)
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more with your choices!
ReplyDeleteExcellent!
HA! I like your cast so far... On the mish, me and a couple elders "cast" our version of The Book of Mormon movie (or now, musical). Here's some of what we came up with:
ReplyDeleteBen Kingsly as King Benjamin (judging by name similarity, this was foreordained)
Samuel L. Jackson as Samuel the Lamanite (now we know what the L stands for...)
Danny Devito as King Noah (pulling from his role as the Penguin in Batman Returns)
Christopher Lloyd as Abinadi (no one does a better "psychologically-questionable" old man)
Jim Carrey as Zeezrom (Zeezrom's name just screams "comic relief")
Denzel Washington and Vanessa Williams as King Lamoni and Queen
James Earl Jones as King Lamoni's father
I like your Laman/Lemuel choice, but we had The Rock playing Zarahemna and Jack Black in the place of Lemuel.
I can't wait to see the musical next year...