&quot;Book of Mormon&quot; star Mark Evans
"Book of Mormon" star Mark Evans


"It feels amazing. I've never experienced anything like this," says Evans, who stars in "The Book of Mormon," the hilarious and profane musical that won nine Tony Awards and opens Tuesday, Feb. 5, at the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis.


"The show has been so successful everywhere it has played that it really takes the pressure off," says Evans, a native of North Wales and veteran of the London companies of "Wicked" and "Ghost: The Musical."

"If people were lucky enough to get tickets before it sold out, they are so excited and have been hyped for it for such a long time. It's so different from any other show, where you have to win the audience over, because this show is funny from the very beginning and we know they're with us from the very beginning."


"When I auditioned for Trey and Matt (Trey Park and Matt Stone, co-creators of "The Book of Mormon," as well as the TV show "South Park" and the movie "Team America: World Police"), they spent a lot of time trying to help me find the joyous part of Elder Price," Evans said.


"The show is heightened, so I needed to feel like I was almost a caricature of myself to get to the level of joyousness I needed. They had me sing one of Elder Price's songs with a smile on my face the whole time," Evans said. "Then, I saw a clip of the Broadway company performing the first song, 'Hello,' and I realized there is a difference between a regular smile and an excited smile, with your mouth all the way open and your eyebrows all the way up. It's almost like I need to be a child at Disneyland for most of the show."

How to get there? Smilercises.

"I do a smile warm-up before I go onstage each night. I need to be superenergized because the character is so happy and positive," said Evans, adding that there was an additional degree of difficulty because he came to "Mormon" from "Ghost," in which he played "a desperately anxious dead guy. Not much in common there."



"I looked at the tour schedule when I got the job, and there was not one city on it I had been to before," said Evans, who'll visit St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Boston and other stops.


What: "The Book of Mormon"

When: Feb. 5-17

Where: Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.

Tickets: $154-$39 (limited availability)

Call: 800-982-2787

"It's an amazing opportunity because I've always wanted to travel around to see other places in the U.S. I've only been to New York. As an actor, I couldn't afford to take off six months and go backpacking around the country, so this is my chance to see it."

Backpack or no, Evans needs to blow off steam occasionally because the part of Elder Price is a demanding one. His big song, "I Believe," in which he sings about the faith that is about to be tested in Africa, comes right on the heels of a frenetic production number, "Spooky Mormon Hell Dream," in which his character is either dancing or getting tossed around the entire time.

"He's onstage for 10 minutes straight, pouring his heart out, finally accepting the challenges of what he's going to do and affirming his faith in God. So it's big. And there's no time to step off and collect yourself," Evans said.

But when he's facing the challenge of those scenes, Evans has two aces in the hole.

First, there's Elder Price himself.

"He really wants to succeed at his mission. Then he has his ambitions trampled upon, but then he discovers a new approach to life. Listening to me say that, people might be surprised that the show has that depth. A friend of mine told me, 'I didn't expect there to be such touching scenes,' " Evans recalled.

"But Trey and Matt have made you like the character so much as he goes on this journey from him being the perfect Mormon to becoming someone more human. I think that's the genius of the show."

Second, there's the audience he and his fellow performers are playing to.

"This show is what theater is about, I think: the chance to escape reality for a couple hours," says Evans. "By the time we get to the end, saying the final lines, I can sometimes sneak a look out at the audience and they're bowled over laughing. I honestly have never seen faces lit up like that, and I can tell you that, as an actor, it is a very rewarding payoff."
