“The Ugandans are a pivotal part of the show,” explains Meredith who portrays Mafala Hatimbi the leader of the tribe. “It doesn’t seem like there’s any Black people in the show, but you’d be surprised at the number of Blacks that are in it. The singing is top-notch.
“The show is also extremely funny and it’s not trendy. It’s pretty consistent and a lot of people are surprised that after the swearing and the off-color talk, at the end of the show you care about these people and it surprises you and that is not the kind of surprise people are expecting after the show,” continued Meredith who voices the character of Laurence “Prophet” Barnes in the Crysis video game series.
The show, which played a record-breaking two-week run in 2013, will grace the Heinz Hall stage from September 23-October 5. The tour is being offered as a season special from the 2014-2015 PNC Broadway Across America–Pittsburgh series. It is a presentation of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, Pittsburgh Symphony and Broadway Across America. Broadway Across America is part of the Key Brand Entertainment family of companies which includes Broadway.com.
Tickets for the show range from $40 to $150 and are available by visiting the Heinz Hall box office, or online at www.TrustArts.org and www.CulturalDistrict.org. Single ticket sales are limited to nine per customer. Performances are Tuesday through Thursday evenings at 7:30 p.m., Friday evenings at 8 p.m., Saturdays at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
“The Book of Mormon” has won nine Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Score, Best Direction and Best Book. It also received the New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Musical; five Drama Desk Awards including best musical, the 2011 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album; four Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Musical, and the Drama League Award for Best Musical.
Meredith wasn’t aware that he was stepping into such a prestigious show when he became a member of the “Book of Mormon” family at the end of 2012. An actor of television and stage, he did not come from a musical theater background.
On Broadway he played in “Superior Donuts.” Off-Broadway he was in “The Bluest Eye.” In Chi Town he performed in “The Pain and the Itch,” “The Crucible,” “Carter’s Way,” “Tempest,” “Claybourne Park,” “The March,” “Othello” and others. His television credits include: “Law and Order SVU,” “Prison Break,” “Detroit 187,” “Chicago Code” and Alderman Ross on the HBO series “Boss,” which starred Kelsey Grammar.
“I was excited when I got the role in ‘Book of Mormon’,” said Meredith the married father of a 15-month old son. “I was in over my head because the musical theater actors read music on sight and I can’t read music. The first few rehearsals were humbling. I got a vocal coach and then my nerves settled.”
Meredith has performed in more than 700 “Book of Mormon” shows.
“I am in awe every time I go on stage,” he said. “I’ve grown into the role. These kinds of opportunities don’t come around all the time.”
About Post Author
