Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad carried out on the Tony Awards at Radio Metropolis Music Corridor on June 7, 2026 in New York Metropolis.
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Jenny Anderson/Getty Pictures North America
Fifteen years after The Guide of Mormon made its Broadway debut, unique forged members Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad as soon as once more took the stage as Mormon missionaries — this time on the 2026 Tony Awards.
Created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone (the duo behind South Park), together with veteran Broadway composer Robert Lopez, The Guide of Mormon follows two younger missionaries despatched to attempt to deliver Mormonism to a Ugandan village that is battling the AIDS epidemic, warfare and famine. The musical is a satirical — typically affectionate, typically offensive — take a look at Mormonism and youthful naïveté. It was clear from the very first quantity — “Hi there!” — that the present would trigger a stir when it debuted in 2011.
Gad, who performed Elder Cunningham within the unique Broadway forged, remembers “snigger[ing] my butt off” when he first heard “Hi there!” Then Gad listened to “Hasa Diga Eebowai,” a track wherein the Ugandan villagers curse God, and he known as his agent.
“I mentioned, ‘I do not assume I can do that present,'” Gad remembers. “And he mentioned, ‘Why?’ And I mentioned, ‘As a result of I do not wish to get killed.'”
In the meantime, Rannells, who performed Elder Worth, wasn’t phased by the fabric: “I heard the humor in it and I felt very assured that individuals have been going to assume it was humorous,” Rannells says. “I definitely did not assume it might be nonetheless operating on Broadway after 15 years and would have toured to Salt Lake Metropolis. I did not assume that they might have performed that, but it surely did.”
The Guide of Mormon acquired 9 Tony Awards in 2011, together with greatest musical and greatest rating. To have a good time its Broadway anniversary, Gad and Rannells shall be making cameo appearances in each present this week — together with the present’s creators and several other different unique forged members. Gad says that behind the satire, The Guide of Mormon is definitely a “very pro-faith present.”
“In case you persist with the craziness and chaos … the top could be very uplifting,” he says. “It is truly fairly emotional and hovering. And so that you get this sense that there’s something optimistic to return out of this hellscape that the present depicts.”
Andrew Rannells and Josh Gad starred in The Guide of Mormon when it premiered on Broadway in 2011.
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Joan Marcus
Interview highlights
On connecting with Mormon missionaries in New York Metropolis whereas in rehearsal for The Guide of Mormon
Rannells: Once we have been in rehearsals for the workshop, I made a decision that I ought to be an excellent little actor, and I ought to go to the Mormon temple and I ought to meet with some Mormon missionaries. So I obtained myself ensnared in a really unusual relationship with these two younger males, who I met with a handful of occasions they usually have been so excited that somebody wished to speak to them and that I solicited them. We met twice, like out close to Lincoln Middle the place there may be the massive Mormon church. After which they mentioned, “Can we come to your property?” …
So these two Mormon missionaries came visiting and instantly there is a image of my boyfriend and I like on the mantel and so I needed to clarify to them that I used to be like, I am truly in a musical in regards to the Mormon church they usually have been kind of shocked. However then they actually … opened as much as me about how scary and disappointing it was to be a missionary at occasions, and particularly being a missionary in New York Metropolis. They have been like, “Nobody will converse to us. Individuals are very imply to us.” After which I used to be like, “Nicely, the place are you hanging out?” And so they’re like, “They ship us to Instances Sq.,” and I used to be like, “You have to get out of Instances Sq.. You can’t be hanging out in Instances Sq., boys. You need to go someplace else. Do not attempt to discuss to individuals there. It is not protected for you.”
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On how their voices have modified up to now 15 years
Gad: I used to be insulted yesterday when our producer got here as much as me and mentioned “You sound so a lot better than you probably did again while you first did it.” I used to be like what did I actually not sound good once I first did it?
Rannells: No you sounded nice. … I feel you sound the identical. I imply, look, our voices are completely different. Fifteen years, there’s lots of put on and tear. However a few of it’s muscle reminiscence, I’d say, a few of it comes again. I obtained to carry out this quantity, “I Imagine,” on Stephen Colbert’s present. That was the quantity that I sang on the Tony Awards… It was nonetheless someplace like lodged in my voice.
Gad: After I came upon I used to be doing this I performed the album within the automotive, and I began to sing alongside, and a few of these excessive notes, I simply was like, “Oh my god I am unable to! How am I gonna hit these?” And I truly requested them to decrease it, they usually laughed and mentioned no, after which I began to kind of do it on my ft. And similar to you mentioned, one thing clicks. It is like driving a motorcycle. It is simply kind of in there someplace
Rannells: Now the bodily aspect of it, Terry, is a bit of completely different. Bodily doing a few of these numbers, that is the place the growing old course of actually catches as much as you. … I am unable to dance as a lot as I used to. The singing half is a bit of simpler to manage. The bodily, the knees, the getting up and down off the bottom, that is all a bit of bit completely different.
On shedding his voice throughout a present
Rannells: That occurred many occasions.. … Over the course of my profession, that is one thing that occurs, not simply in The Guide of Mormon, however in different reveals. You be taught to sing by means of illness. I feel there are nights the place there are specific notes lacking in your voice abruptly, and you do not discover out till you are on stage in entrance of 1,200 individuals, and you are like, “Oh boy.” And also you simply have to determine a option to sing round it. After previews, after opening, after the Tony Awards, I hadn’t missed any performances. And I began my profession as a alternative, as an understudy. I used to be not accustomed to the concept I might name out of a present. I in all probability should not have performed the present that night time, however I bear in mind it was like a pair weeks after the Tony Awards and I sang this duet that that Josh and I sing known as “You and Me (However Principally Me)” and it was type of a catastrophe, however I simply proceed with the present and I used to be like, I am gonna attempt to make this work.
Gad: It was truly exceptional to look at.
Rannells: I obtained by means of “I Imagine,” someway and sang the entire thing and I amazed myself that I might do it. After which I obtained to a different track that is known as “Orlando,” I am undecided if you happen to bear in mind this Josh, and it is supposed to finish with a bit of falsetto factor … and as a substitute I went [low] … and the curtain flew up and all of the missionaries come out and everybody was laughing and it was not nice. However after the bows that night time, I walked off stage and I bear in mind Karen Moore, our stage supervisor, was standing there and I burst into tears, and I mentioned, “I’ve to overlook a present.” And he or she mentioned, “You are allowed to overlook a present.” And I simply cried and cried about it. It had by no means occurred to me.
On the songs in The Guide of Mormon being a tribute to musical theater, influenced by Depraved, The King and I, The Lion King and The Music Man
Gad: The influences of every of those songs [come] from a spot of absolute bizarre devotion to musical theater on the a part of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Clearly Bobby Lopez comes from that world. However while you take a look at Trey and Matt, the very first thing you consider will not be essentially, like, musical theater acumen. And these are two guys that individuals overlook after they wrote South Park: Greater, Longer & Uncut, the characteristic movie adaptation of the Comedy Central present, they obtained a letter from Stephen Sondheim, who’s in all probability essentially the most acclaimed composer and lyricist of the twentieth century. And he principally mentioned this is among the high 10 most brilliantly realized musicals he is ever seen.
And I actually do assume that a part of the explanation this present endures is as a result of every certainly one of these songs is instantaneously hummable. … Every certainly one of these songs reminds you of one thing, but it surely’s by no means pastiche. It is by no means kind of making enjoyable of a style. It’s totally embracing it and incomes its area. So you could have an 11 o’clock quantity in “I Imagine” that’s as highly effective, potent, and as mesmerizing and memorable as an 11 o’clock quantity from Guys and Dolls.
Rannells: Nicely, I feel, and lots of people would come to see The Guide of Mormon and say, “Ah, I do not actually like musicals, however I do like this one.” Which is at all times humorous to me, as a result of each quantity was — I do not wanna say a ripoff — however was a tribute.
On making the choice to depart the present and later regretting it
Rannells: We did depart on the identical time. Josh and I each had this very distinctive expertise the place we opened The Guide of Mormon, we have been each nominated for Tony Awards, we each misplaced these Tony Awards. … We then went out to Los Angeles. … We had a bunch of conferences in LA. We have been extremely popular. These two guys from the most important Broadway hit, everybody wished to fulfill with us. We each obtained TV reveals for NBC. Josh’s was known as 1600 Penn. Mine was known as The New Regular. They each aired the identical week. We went to the up fronts collectively. They have been each canceled.
Gad: Identical week. … I used to be positively, I feel, extra performed than Andrew was by that time. … I had checked out at that time, and I felt like I used to be doing a disservice to myself and the viewers.
Rannells: You did not seem to be you have been checked out.
Gad: No, however I began forgetting traces on stage. I wasn’t current. … I had additionally been doing it for thus lengthy, from its origin. I wished to strive new issues. After I kind of do the identical factor time and again, I begin to get bored. … I look again at that now with lots of remorse. As a result of I do not assume I appreciated this unbelievable second till I used to be capable of replicate on it, truly, years later. As a result of while you’re in it, if you find yourself within the eye of the hurricane there’s rather a lot occurring which you could’t cease and settle your self and go, oh my God, it is a second that I am going to by no means have once more. That is so unbelievably distinctive. …
Rannells: I want that I had stayed longer.
Gad: I want we had performed one other 12 months.
Susan Nyakundi and John Sheehan produced and edited this interview for broadcast. Bridget Bentz, Molly Seavy-Nesper and Beth Novey tailored it for the net.
