Book of Mormon 1st national tour ends

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 3:25pm

It ends today in Hawaii. It toured around the country for about 3 and half years. Did anyone get a chance to see this tour and the current cast? I wonder if anyone from it will make a transfer to Broadway or Australia. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 4:55pm

some cast members will be moved to either the Broadway company or 2nd national tour. However, most cast members will be without a job unless they have something else lined-up.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 5:00pm

Forgive me if this has been asked, but is there any difference between the 1st and 2nd NTs?  Or better yet, what differences are there between the B'way version, 1st NT version, and the Chicago/2nd NT version? I've not seen the tour yet...as you can probably tell...

Updated On: 5/1/16 at 05:00 PM

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 5:38pm

I got to see the tour in Philadelphia during its run in the summer of 2014 and it was an absolute blast. The then cast included KJ Hippensteel (filling in between Mark Evans and Gavin Creel), Chris O'Neill, Grey Henson, and Alexandra Ncube who all were terrific in their roles and definitely rank highly on my list of favorites. 

Macavity - There is no major difference between the two tours from what I've seen having seen both tours and nothing different in terms of comparing it to the Broadway production either. The second national tour cast (the cast you'll be seeing) are also wonderful. 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 5:39pm

Call_me_jorge said: "It ends today in Hawaii. It toured around the country for about 3 and half years. Did anyone get a chance to see this tour and the current cast? I wonder if anyone from it will make a transfer to Broadway or Australia. "

Do you really think they'd wholly move everyone?

I've seen all the companies of BoM. The 1st national was always excellent.

Macavity, no. There are very minor costume differences and occasionally "Listen to that weird white guy" instead of "fat white guy" depending on the Cunningham, though.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 6:02pm

LizzieCurry said: "Call_me_jorge said: "It ends today in Hawaii. It toured around the country for about 3 and half years. Did anyone get a chance to see this tour and the current cast? I wonder if anyone from it will make a transfer to Broadway or Australia. "

Do you really think they'd wholly move everyone?
 

"

I know they would all move together, but I was wondering if ANY of them would. I wonder if nic and Chris are still there so they could wait for bully and aj 

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 6:10pm

No, I'm very sure Nic and Chris are not just there until Billy and AJ are. But swing Jamaal Wilson is going to Broadway!

http://jamaalwilson.com/updates/2016/6/7/broadway-debut

[NewsiesForever]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 6:14pm

Any word on Jeff Heimbrook?

[mormonsandglindas]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 6:29pm

Yup! I saw it in Costa Mess back in March and really liked it!

Updated On: 5/1/16 at 06:29 PM

[Dave13]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 7:35pm

Any chance AJ Holmes makes it to Broadway? I loved him as Elder Cunningham.  Definitely a different take on the character.  

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 7:38pm

NewsiesForever said: "Any word on Jeff Heimbrook?"

I don't know about Heimbrook, but Heimbrock is probably always going to orbit around the Mormon planet.

[¿Macavity?]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 8:07pm

LizzieCurry said: "

Macavity, no. There are very minor costume differences and occasionally "Listen to that weird white guy" instead of "fat white guy" depending on the Cunningham, though.

 

"

Thanks! Just curious!

[asmith0307]

Posted: 5/1/16 at 8:11pm

Dave13 said: "Any chance AJ Holmes makes it to Broadway? I loved him as Elder Cunningham.  Definitely a different take on the character. "

He was the Broadway standby for several months in 2014, and was the full-time West End Cunningham, so I'd say there is definitely a chance...

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 10:23am

Alexandra Ncube says "So long to Naba...for now ??"

https://www.instagram.com/p/BE5Mf_3Gv_b/?taken-by=alexandras.light

[Phantom of London]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 11:33am

Surprised, I thought this was doing well on the road.

i would say this is there 1st crack.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 11:49am

First crack? Maybe. But there are two tours -- they've both been doing well and probably wanted to close before they were doing less than well. I'm sure Honolulu was a strategically chosen city to close this production, and I'm also sure they're shipping this set off to Australia, and come next year there will again be four worldwide productions of the show.

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 2:47pm

Phantom of London said: "Surprised, I thought this was doing well on the road. i would say this is there 1st crack."

Oh, so is the first national tour of Wicked closing their first crack as well? As Lizzie mentioned, this was a strategic move that will allow the set to be used elsewhere while keeping the touring production a hot property while not overdoing it with two tours. 

[ACL2006]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 7:24pm

I was wondering if this set will simply transfer to Australia, too.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 7:37pm

It would make sense since they're part of the way there anyway (and closer than they ever would be had they closed anywhere else in North America), and it doesn't even have to be there until the end of the year. Saves $!

[asmith0307]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 7:39pm

Plus, they have hit most of the major markets multiple times now, and many of their engagements are longer.

Lion King also closed one of their tours fairly recently (it may have been a couple of years at this point).

According to Heimbrock's Twitter, he's not immediately transferring to anywhere (though I never saw him on the website so I thought he was a universal swing again, but I may have missed him).

[Jakeevan942]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 9:01pm

The set is headed to Australia-Saves them money, and no need for 2 tours at this point-They have played just about all of the full week markets at least twice, and are starting to play a full week in split week markets.

It wouldn't surprise me if some of the principals move to the Broadway company. Aside from Nic Roleau, all of the Broadway leads have been with the show for at least 18 months and might be ready to move on to other projects. Between the tour and Broadway, Grey Henson and Derrick Williams have been with the show for almost 4 years, and Chris O'Neill for over 3.

I've been told that an American Price/Cunningham pair will be headed to Australia to open the new company-Maybe Billy and AJ, but could be anyone.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 9:24pm

I had a friend who bounced between the tour and Broadway and I told him how the tour looks just like the Broadway production and he said that it was a completely different in terms of backstage choreography, entrances, exits.  That makes sense but he said that an actor could not be on the tour and then just jump into the Broadway version without a lot of rehearsals to learn the less-than-obvious-but-huge differences.  

Also...... If the 1NT was still making tons of money, it would not be closing.  There was a demand for it and now there's not. I totally get being defensive about a beloved show, but it's understandable that such a polarizing show could not sustain two national tours for more than a few years.  It's not like this show is on Phantom's level which had its 1NT run for 10 years.   

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 9:27pm

I love the show, but I was surprised when I learned Chicago wasn't going to be a sit-down and instead a 2NT that they were even going to have concurrent tours.

[Phantom4ever]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 9:29pm

I thought Chicago was going to be a "we will stay as long as people buy tickets" situation ? 

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 5/2/16 at 9:30pm

^the Chicago production did run 9 months. It didn't run as long as wicked but it was rather long. It has since come back with a 12 week engagement last year and is coming back this summer for 5 weeks. I'm pretty sure chicago is done with the show.