Back by popular demand, "The Book of Mormon" is playing at The Wharton Center June 14-19, 2016.
Ryan Bondy, who plays lead character Elder Price, sat down with us to talk about his history in theater and his thoughts on the show.
'The Book of Mormon" is a satirical story of two Mormon missionaries, Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, who go to Uganda to try and convert people to their religion. The two struggle to carry out their mission in a world of poverty, illness and violence.
When did you develop an interest in theater?
"When I was in high school, I was always a kid that wanted to be the center of attention all the time, so my parents were like, 'Well, what's an outlet for him to actually make good use of that?' And my Aunt was like 'Hey, you should audition for this thing that happens in high school.' It was like a little review of TV shows they did called Spring Beat and I did that and had a chance to do some Jim Carey stuff, because I love him.
In high school, I auditioned for all the plays. My drama teacher was very nice to give me a lot of significant roles and so I got used to that and I went to theater school in Toronto and here we are."
Did you ever anticipate being on Broadway?
"No, Broadway was never really on my radar because what I was trying to do was go from being a bar tender to shows in Canada. There's some great work obviously in Canada. but I never thought it would bring me to the U.S. and having a chance to do it on Broadway was like 'Whoa, what?' So, I'm just kind of riding a wave and pinching myself in the morning when actually thinking about how cool my job is."
Who is your character in The Book of Mormon?
"I play Elder Price, who is a 19 year-old Mormon missionary. My character is this picture perfect Mormon who feels he's Gods gift to Mormonism and he gets paired up with his exact opposite -a very dysfunctional kind of a wacky Elder Cunningham and they get sent to Uganda. So, it''s about the reality of the Mormon religion placed in a very war and God-less Uganda."
Can you to relate to Elder Price in any way?
"Funnily enough, I grew up Catholic so I knew what it was to be devout to a religion at a really young age and then also have kind of an awakening when I was about 17, being like 'Whoa, this is kind of weird.'
So, Elder Price kind of goes through the same journey, and as devout to his faith as he was, as he gets older, real life kind of hits you in the face and the same thing happened for me and the same thing happened for Price.
I'm not going to tell too much about the story, but that happened so it was cool to be able to relate to him in that way for sure."
What is the main message of the show?
"The main message is it's a great buddy story. One of the underlying messages is that we are all on this earth to do the same thing and that's to love your neighbor and we are all the same, on this earth no matter what religion you are or how your outlet to being a good person is. You can surprise yourself in life of who your friends are and who your great friends are."
The play uses satire to tackle controversial subjects. What are your thoughts on that?
"People get the sense that it's out to make fun of the Mormons. It's written by the guys from South Park and they're so brilliant and if you are familiar with South Park, nobody is safe as far as comedy and what they decide to bring to light.
But, this show definitely kind of brings to light the absurdity in kind of any religion and just kind of uses Mormonism as an outlet. So, as far as a satire, it is written perfectly and with some great music written by Robert Lopez, who did like Frozen and Avenue Q, so when they team up with these guys they definitely do an awesome job on stage.
It has a lot of heart. Don't just think it's out to offend, that's not the purpose of the show. It definitely has a lot of heart and it has a lot of shock value, so come and surprise yourself and get a laugh out of it."
