'Book of Mormon' Breaks Ticket Price and Music Sale Records

After winning nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, 'Mormon' keeps winning.

ByABC News
June 16, 2011, 5:45 PM

June 16, 2011— -- "The Book of Mormon," an edgy and controversial Broadway musical written by the creators of "South Park," is the show that just keeps on winning.

After accepting their nine Tony Awards, including Best Musical, ticket prices shot up to a record-breaking $487.25, Bloomberg.com reported.

That's the price, including service charges, for a prime orchestra seat bought within 48 hours of a performance, according to Telecharge.com, which handles the show's ticket sales. The record was previously held by "The Producers" in 2001, at $480 per ticket.

But that's not all. The original cast recording to the musical about Mormon missionaries in Africa shot to No. 3 on the Billboard charts, making it the highest-charting Broadway cast album since 1969, according to Billboard. The title had previously belonged to the soundtrack of the original cast of the rock musical "Hair," which stayed at No. 1 for months.

ABC News' Jake Tapper, usually our political window into the White House and the going's on at Capitol Hill, sat down with "Mormon" producers Matt Stone and Trey Parker in March before the show opened.

After over a decade of amusing and offending America with its smash-hit cartoon, "South Park," on Comedy Central, the duo took a leap of faith in their Broadway debut.

"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 at the time. "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."

Watch Jake Tapper's full interview HERE and read more about Stone and Parker's vision for the 'Book of Mormon' HERE.