Creators of 'South Park' Defend Their Broadway Debut, 'Book of Mormon'

March 25, 2011— -- Although the Broadway musical, "The Book of Mormon," is edgy and controversial, its creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, insisted that Mormons should not be offended by its content.

"They're so happy-go-lucky, kind of optimistic people, and they kind of have that cheesy factor," Parker said. "It's like Mormons, Disney, Rogers and Hammerstein, it all kind of makes sense...Mormons are just happy people so you're going to get a happy musical out of it."

After over a decade of amusing and offending America with their smash-hit cartoon, "South Park," on Comedy Central, the duo took a leap of faith into their Broadway debut with "The Book of Mormon," which has already earned them critical acclaim.

The musical, which opened Thursday night at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in New York City, tells the story of two Mormon missionaries in Uganda.

Although it was written to poke fun at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Stone reiterated that the "Book of Mormon" was not meant to just mock Mormonism, but religion in general, calling his show, "an atheist's love letter to religion."

"Anybody's religion, to an outsider, it's just as goofy," he said. "I don't think either of us think Mormonism is any goofy-ier than Hinduism or Christianity, from an outsider's point of view."

But taking on religion in a comedic way with "The Book of Mormon" was entirely different for the duo.

"None of us ever sat down and said, 'OK, let's go after Mormons! Let's get them! And how can we do that? Let's do a Broadway show,'" Parker said. "I love the format. I love the oldies. I love the classics. I love 'Oklahoma' and 'South Pacific' and mostly the Rogers and Hammerstein musicals."

"We grew up in Colorado," Stone added. "So Mormonism and Mormons, other than Utah, is right next door, so there's just a lot of crossover there, and we both knew a lot of Mormons growing up and it's always fascinated us."

A project that has been seven years in the making, the show's plotline changed dramatically since the two first came up with the idea. Parker said they originally wanted to write a story about Joseph Smith, the founder and prophet of the Mormon religion, but that a "covered wagons musical" wasn't going to work.