The Book of Mormon in Sweden

Ugh, I'm shocked. I suppose they thought it doesn't matter how old the lead guys are but I personally think it matters very much as both Price and Cunningham show typical teenage behaviour and naivety. I was already struggling with the last Price in London who I thought was a bit too old for the role.

Years ago I thought Sweden was doing great in terms of importing new musicals and creating their own like Kristina, but first the blonde Lola, now the ancient Elders.... egh.

I don't think they're big enough names to sell tickets on. Linus Wahlgren (Elder Price) was in a bunch of shows (I realize that if he was in Rent 2006 I would have seem him there, but I can't remember him or anything much about the production) and has been on television regularly.

He was in the Scandi Noir series "Blue Eyes" which is available on Channel 4's "Walter Presents" website. I meant to watch that anyway, so will take a look at him. I actually think he's quite a handsome chap, just so utterly wrong for this part.

Don't know anything about Per Anderson really.

If they needed to sell this on names, I'm sure they could have found someone in their early-mid-20's from one of the oodles of casting shows on television and their Melodifestivalen shows?

Edit: I just realize that Linus is the brother of Pernilla Wahlgren, who's a MUCH better known musical performer in Sweden and also made several appearances in their Melodifestivalen pre-selections without ever making it to the ESC. 

They got away with it with Gavin Creel, but I always thought that it was because it was Gavin Creel. Also, he was 36 or so when he started, and 39 when he left. Not from the beginning!

There are a couple of years inbetween both acts, so elder Elphabas and Glindas work well with the 2nd act. And Elphaba's green skin helps making her look younger.

Also, Wicked's score is one of the hardest to sing out there, so a certain maturity and experience is needed get through it eight times a week. And you also need to have some life experience to be a convincing Elphaba and Glinda.

Most of them could pass for early 20s though. This guy definitely can't. And as for Cunningham I just can't see how the immaturity will come across when you look 40

When I saw Rannells in Jersey Boys, I thought he was straight out of college -- imagine my surprise!

Anyway, I'm willing to suspend disbelief, but sitting close enough to see Gavin's neck wrinkles at the end of his run was a bit much.

I am really starting to get worried about this production now.

The markting is horrible and the commercial is not doing the production any favours with the actors just overdoing it: www.facebook.com/Showtic/videos/1259637737433814 and www.facebook.com/105546659474631/videos/1481667641862519/.

Seeing this on opening night so let's hope for the best!

Elder Cunningham needs a haircut.

For better or for worse, Gavin Creel changed everything.

Just got back from a try out (the show is opening on Thursday) and I was very positively surprised. The show and the cast are in a very good shape for opening night but you do notice that it has not been performed in front of an audience much. Nonetheless, I am confident that the show will be in a very good shape in 2-3 weeks.

Here are my 2 cents:

Linus Wahlgren is definitely one of the better Elder Price I have seen (I have seen the show in NYC with the original cast, Chicago and several casts in London). He carries the show with ease and, even though he is 40, has no problem passing for an eager kid in his early twenties. Per Anderson (Elder Cunningham) tries too much to fit the roll. At times he is really good and funny but most of the time he is not really convincing. Samantha Gurah (Nabulungi) seemed to struggle a bit with the score in the first act but sounded much better in the second act.

I was a bit concerned for the translation as Sweden is very politically correct. But the translator was very faithful to the original text and at points even sharper! The only problem was that at times words got cramped together in order to fit the melody. This resulted that some text/jokes got lost, especially in 'Sal Tla Ka Siti' and 'I Believe'.

The set was clearly inspired by the original sets around the world, but upgraded. The backdrop were projections that worked really well and created more atmosphere (especially in key songs such as Man up, Spooky Mormon Hell Dream and I am Africa). The iconic opening scene is not performed in rows but rather on staircases (each elder his own staircase), which worked really well. Elder McKinley also makes a surprise appearance in Spooky Mormon Hell Dream.

Those videos make me think this is about Elder Price and his Uncle performing a stand up show. They really haven't done Cunningham any favours with that wig have they. It makes him look even older than he was before XD