As The Book of Mormon Nears Its 15th Anniversary, Broadway’s Elder Price Is Nearing His 10th

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As The Book of Mormon Nears Its 15th Anniversary, Broadway's Elder Price Is Nearing His 10th

March 24 marks the 15th anniversary of The Book of Mormon opening on Broadway, an incredible feat of more than 5,000 performances. But it’s not just the show that’s been around for a long time. Its current leading man, Kevin Clay (who stars as Elder Price), celebrated his 10th anniversary with the Trey Parker-Robert Lopez-Matt Stone musical just last fall.

Those 10 years weren’t all Broadway. Clay has belted his beliefs into the rafters of theatres around the world on European and North American national tours. He joined the Broadway production in 2018 and remained when the show re-opened after the pandemic shutdown. That means he’s literally starred as Elder Price in thousands of performances.

Since joining the show, Clay has gotten a decade older and added a wife and a child to the mix. So while The Book of Mormon has stayed mostly the same, life offstage has changed dramatically. How do you make performance 3,000 just as funny and fresh as performance 1?

Playbill went to the source, catching up with Clay over Zoom just recently. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Kevin Clay and Cody Jamison Strand in The Book of Mormon
(Julieta Cervantes)

How long have you been doing the show?
Kevin Clay: October was my 10-year anniversary.

Wow. I mean, you of all people know to have stability in this business is so very unusual.
That’s why I’ve clung to it. I’ve stuck with it, and I’ve had the benefit of doing it in different places, and sometimes doing some different jobs along the way. But particularly since re-opening here in the city, it’s become my comfortable, safe gig that I get to go to at night. And during the day, I get to hang out with my wife and my daughter.

I know it’s cliché, but how do you keep it fresh after 10 years?
We have directors that come in to give us notes and keep sharpening our intentions, but the big element is just knowing the show. Like, yes, sometimes you get tired of doing the same thing every night. But those nights you have to go, “I’m here to do the show that I know how to give.” And it’s a really good show. I hope at this point, the show I’ve crafted and created and can drop into, I can have confidence in the fact that it is top quality. And there are nights that make you feel sappy because you realize you’re doing exactly what you dreamed of doing. So there’s a mix between it being work and also living my dream.

At the core, the thing that keeps it the freshest is a level of confidence in the show, the material, that I’ve crafted. If there’s a night where I’m maybe not feeling great, the show is always great, so I can just trust in that and let it do the work.

I just think about over 10 years how many life events you must have gone through while doing this show, and certainly how many world events. What are the nights that make you so happy to be doing this exact show at that exact time?
I’ve been having those feelings a lot since having a child. I have a daughter who was born just a month after we re-opened the Broadway production, which was insane. But it’s been one of my biggest mental shifts with the show. I used to have days when it was just me in a hotel room on the road, thinking about nothing all day other than the show that night. My role in the show, Elder Price, is rather difficult. Even on a good day, it’s still difficult material. I would sit around worrying about if my voice was there, what I needed to do to get ready, all sorts of fixations.

Since having a daughter, my days are filled with getting to play with my kid all day. I’m not even thinking, really, about the show until it’s time to go. Those are the days that make me so thankful to be doing a show here in the city, that my job afford me this scheduled to get to hang out with my family, and then go star on Broadway in The Book of Mormon.

Would you call it an Elphaba-level sing? Have you ever had to leave mid-performance?
Yes. [laughs] The Elphaba-adjacent thing, I think it’s a good description. I’m on stage pretty much the whole show. And then every time I sing, it’s very high and it’s all about me. People always ask if the show is getting hard, but as long as I’m healthy, it’s there. Luckily my voice and my body have adjusted to sitting in this material quite nicely. That being said, any performer who has a big sing, we know the fear of even a little cold taking you out. You don’t want to live your whole life avoiding everything. I have crafted a warm-up and a pre-show ritual that gives me a pretty clear idea of where I sit. It’s the rare occasion now when a mid-show call-out happens, but it does happen. Sometimes you can’t really predict that it’ll suddenly be hurting. You usually know by “You and Me (but Mostly Me).”

Kevin Clay and Derrick Williams in The Book of Mormon
(Julieta Cervantes)

How has your Elder Price changed since the first day you played the role?
It’s gotten, at least internally, way more comfortable. It’s so rare to be able to play one role literally thousands of times. I have intentionality now behind every single thing that I do or listen to or observe. Doing it this many times, the level of specificity you get is a depth that I’ve never experienced before with anything else. For the most part, other than this job, I had, like, 10 shows to do a role and then you have to let it go. The trouble is not over analyzing. I think my Elder Price has become more positive and peppy within the last year or two. The energy I used to bring was from my own personality, a little more of that sardonic, sarcastic Elder Price that had more of a chip on his shoulder. I’ve been really enjoying playing more of the over-excited goof that’s obsessed with Disney and Orlando and is super peppey and happy.

You know, before tragedy strikes.

What are the parts of the show you most look forward to doing each night?
My favorite moment has to be “All-American Prophet.” I’m not that much of a dancer dancer, but I do like to dance, and that’s really the one number where I get to do that. And as far as vocals are concerned, where it happens to sit in my voice, that whole number is just—there really aren’t any trouble spots in that number, so I can just let any worries disappear and just sing and tell the story, interact with the company. Obviously “I Believe” and “You and Me” are amazing songs, but I can also get in my head thinking about the tricky spots. “All-American Prophet” is the one that I don’t think about that at all.

I guess your tenure in this role makes you the preeminent expert on Elder Price. If you were coaching someone going into that role, what would you say are the guiding principals?
Craft—the perfect warm-up. Not a show goes by that I don’t do the warm-up that I have created over the course of many years, with the help of Liz Caplan. Have a specific warm-up to get you ready, and remember when it comes to the actual character, to know exactly what Elder Price wants as opposed to going from comedy bit to comedy bit. It’s a comedy, so of course we want to get laughs. But the thing I’ve learned, especially through re-working the show with the writers when we re-opened, is that they’re much more interested in making sure your through-line as the character is clear. Warm-up, and clear storytelling.

The Book of Mormon will celebrate its 15th anniversary with a special performance March 19 where original Broadway cast members Josh Gad, Andrew Rannells, Nikki M. James, Rory O’Malley, and more will be in attendance.