The story follows two missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they attempt to preach the faith to the inhabitants of a remote Ugandan village.

The success of the Broadway production has spawned many stagings worldwide, including a long-running West End replica and several US national tours.

[6] The two had first thought of a fictionalized Joseph Smith, religious leader and founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, while working on an aborted Fox series about historical characters.

[5] Smith was also included as one of South Park's "Super Best Friends", a Justice League parody team of religious figures like Jesus, Buddha, and Muhammad.

[7] Parker and Stone went to see the production during that summer and the writer-composers of Avenue Q, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, noticed them in the audience and introduced themselves.

[9] For the next few years, the remaining trio met frequently to develop what they initially called The Book of Mormon: The Musical of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

[12] The crew embarked on the first of a half-dozen workshops that would take place during the next four years, ranging from 30-minute mini-performances for family and friends to much larger-scale renderings of the embryonic show.

[4] Producers Scott Rudin and Anne Garefino originally planned to stage The Book of Mormon off-Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop in summer 2010, but opted to premiere it directly on Broadway, "[s]ince the guys [Parker and Stone] work best when the stakes are highest.

[4] In 2020, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd, black actors from the original and current casts stated in a letter to the creative team that changes would be needed to reflect modern day perceptions and avoid tropes that were commonplace in the past.

[18] High attendance coupled with aggressive pricing allowed the financial backers to recoup their investment of $11.4 million after just nine months of performances.

The same day, Samantha Marie Ware played Nabulungi on Broadway as the start of a six-week engagement (James was shooting a film) in preparation for her tour performance.

On February 18, 2018, after six and a half years with the show, original cast member Nic Rouleau played his final performance as Elder Price.

Other cast members include Kayla Pecchioni as Nabulungi, PJ Adzima as Elder McKinley, and Sterling Jarvis as Mafala Hatimbi.

[34] The London cast members hosted a gala performance of the new musical on March 13, 2013, raising £200,000 for the British charity Comic Relief's Red Nose Day.

Creel left the West End production to return to the first national tour and was replaced by his stand-by, Billy Harrigan Tighe.

It reopened on 15 November 2021 at the Prince of Wales Theatre, following a performance at West End LIVE in Trafalgar Square on 18 September 2021, with Simpson and Xander still leading.

[55] A Norwegian production opened at Det Norske Teatret in Oslo, Norway September 2017[56] to favorable reviews with demand crashing the ticketing website.

She protests, insisting that the women of the village will not have to stay in hiding if they listen to the missionaries, as they hold the secrets to liberation, protection, and eternal happiness.

Though her protests to go out and talk to them fail, she calms down after remembering how she was moved by Price's promise of an earthly paradise and dreams of going to live in that new land with all of her fellow villagers ("Sal Tlay Ka Siti").

Cunningham's conscience (personified by his father, Joseph Smith, Hobbits, Lt. Uhura, Darth Vader, and Yoda) admonishes him, but he rationalizes that if it helps people, it surely cannot be wrong ("Making Things Up Again").

The Book of Mormon uses a nine-member orchestra:[63][64] † In the West End and UK Tour productions, the Woodwind part is reduced to just Flute, Piccolo, Alto Saxophone and Clarinet.

In addition, the central theme that many religious stories are rigid, out of touch, and silly comes to the conclusion that, essentially, religion itself can do enormous good as long as it is taken metaphorically and not literally.

"[81] Ben Brantley of The New York Times compared the show favorably to Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I and The Sound of Music but "rather than dealing with tyrannical, charismatic men with way too many children, our heroes... must confront a one-eyed, genocidal warlord with an unprintable name... That's enough to test the faith of even the most optimistic gospel spreaders (not to mention songwriters).

[83] Charles McNulty of the Los Angeles Times praised the music, and stated: "The songs, often inspired lampoons of contemporary Broadway styles, are as catchy as they are clever."

"[85] The Wall Street Journal's Terry Teachout called the show "slick and smutty: The Book of Mormon is the first musical to open on Broadway since La Cage aux Folles that has the smell of a send-in-the-tourists hit.

[90] Max Perry Mueller of Harvard writes that "The Book of Mormon producers worked so hard to get the 'Mormon thing' right, while completely ignoring the Ugandan culture".

[92] In a retrospective interview published by Deseret News, Herb Scribner interviewed Cheryl Hystad, a retired attorney who had written an op-ed criticizing the musical in The Baltimore Sun,[93] stated that "most reviewers have not mentioned the blatant racism in the show, points to a subtler issue, a pervasive anti-Africa bias to which white Americans have been inculcated so thoroughly that few seem to have concerns about the show’s portrayal of Africans.

In response, the team collaborated with the New York cast at a two-week workshop in the summer of 2021, reviewing the intent, comic elements, and staging of each scene.

[96] The church released an official response to inquiries regarding the musical, stating, "The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.

"[100] In Melbourne during the 2017 run, the Church advertised at Southern Cross railway station and elsewhere in the city, as well as on television with ads featuring prominent Australian Mormons, including rugby league player Will Hopoate, stage actor Patrice Tipoki and ballet dancer Jake Mangakahia.