'Book of Mormon' sweeps Tonys

Excerpts of 'The Book of Mormon' wins nine Tonys, by Scott D. Pierce, The Salt Lake Tribune

To the surprise of absolutely no one, "The Book of Mormon" musical dominated the 65th annual Tony Awards on Sunday, winning the award as Best Musical and becoming one of the most honored productions in Broadway history.

Broadway neophytes Trey Parker and Matt Stone thanked their "South Park" fans and the audiences who are packing the show.

"You guys made this show what it is," Parker said. "And therefore, you're going to have to atone for it one day."

He went on to jokingly thank the "co-writer who passed away. Mr. Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion. He couldn't be here tonight, but — you did it, Joseph! You got the Tony!"

The three-hour ceremony served as a build-up to the foregone conclusion that the boisterous, irreverent, hilarious, profane and, yes, surprisingly sweet production would win the big award.

"The Book of Mormon" won nine Tonys on 14 nominations. Only "The Producers" (12) and "South Pacific" (10) have taken home more ...Tonys.

"The Book of Mormon" follows two Salt Lake City Mormon missionaries sent to Africa, where they discover it's nothing like they expected.

Andrew Rannells (nominated for best actor in a musical), almost alone on stage, brought down the house with his rendition of "I Believe."

Nikki M. James, who won as Best Featured Actress in a Musical for her role as Nabalungi, thanked Parker, Stone and Lopez "for writing the most incredible show, the funniest and most beautiful, heartfelt musical that's changing the face of American musical theater."

"The Book of Mormon" is a box-office smash, so its success on Sunday night is sort of frosting on the cake.

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Best Musical

Best book of a musical: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

Best director: Parker and Casey Nicholaw

Best featured actress: Nikki M. James

Best original score: Parker, Lopez and Stone

Best orchestrations: Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus

Best lighting design of a musical: Brian MacDevitt

Best sound design of a musical: Brian Ronan

Best scenic design of a musical: Scott Pask

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