BWW EXCLUSIVE: GETTING SIRIUS WITH SETH: A Visit W/Bobby Lopez and the Cast of AVENUE Q

Welcome to BroadwayWorld's weekly feature: GETTING SIRIUS WITH SETH, a sneak peek preview of Rudetsky's weekly popular Sirius Radio Live program. Each Thursday, we're bringing you highlights from the program, which airs nationally on Fridays. Want the scoop before the rest on your favorite stars in entertainment? Check GETTING SIRIUS WITH SETH each week here!

This week, Seth takes a hiatus while co-host Julie James steps in to have a "Sirius" talk with Bobby Lopez and the cast of AVENUE Q.

"As we were writing Mormon we kind of felt that if AVENUE Q was the raciest and sort of naughtiest show on Broadway, this was going to blow it out of the water," joked Bobby Lopez as he reflected on the creative process of writing his current Broadway hit, BOOK OF MORMON. Yet he's quick to add that theatergoers are often surprised after watching the end result. "People come to it with the expectation of 'this is going to be like a "South Park" episode', but it really isn't. Later they think, 'that was sort of tame, sort of sweet'."

Lopez recalled the first time he met MORMON co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone. At the time, the creative team behind TV's "South Park" was in the process of making a puppet movie of their own and decided to check out the newly opened AVENUE Q to see if they could gain some pointers. "I happened to be there that night and I saw them in the audience," Lopez recalls. "I said 'Oh my God, those are my heroes!" Over drinks after the show, the three had a fateful conversation about their future. "I said 'I want to do something about Mormons, but I'm not sure.' And they said, 'No, do that because that's what we want to do and we should do it together!' And seven short years later..."

Lopez still thinks back in amazement about the confluence of events that took place on the road to creating BOOK OF MORMON. "That's your fantasy of what happens when you meet someone you admire. That you'll get along great, that they'll be influenced by you and you'll be influenced by them and you work on something together... but it usually never happens that way. Matt and Trey are a little like big brothers to me. We got along great right from the start!"

Sirius/XM's Live On Broadway with Bobby Lopez and the cast of AVENUE Q and actors David Furr and Santino Fontana of Roundabout Theater's THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST will air exclusively on Sirius/XM Channel 72 on Friday, June 3 at 7 PM ET with encore presentations on Sunday, June 5 at 11 PM ET, Tuesday, June 7 at 7AM and Wednesday June 8 at 12 noon ET.

SIRIUS XM LIVE ON BROADWAY is hosted by Seth Rudetsky & records live every Wednesday at noon at the Broadway Concierge & Ticket Center, located inside the Times Square Information Center, 1560 Broadway, between 46th & 47th Street, in between the Palace Theatre and McDonalds. It is free to the public.

Video clip courtesy of SIRIUS XM/The Broadway League. For more information on The Broadway League, please visit: www.ILoveNYTheater.com