Terry Gross

From WHYY in Philadelphia, I'm Terry Gross with Fresh Air Weekend.

The Book of Mormon is celebrating its 15th year on Broadway.

We'll hear from two of the original stars, Josh Gad and Andrew Rannells.

The show is beloved and or offensive, which isn't surprising considering it was co-created by Matt Stone and Trey Parker, the creators of South Park.

Gad remembers the first time he heard the show's song, Hasadiga Ibuwe.

Later, actor Clark Peters, whose breakout role was in the HBO series The Wire, as police detective Lester Freeman.

He co-starred as a Vietnam vet in Spike Lee's Defy Bloods and co-stars in the new series The Burrows.

That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.

This is Fresh Air Weekend.

I'm Terry Gross.

The Book of Mormon is celebrating its 15th anniversary on Broadway.

It received nine Tonys, including Best Musical and Best Score.

My guests were stars of the original Broadway cast.

This weekend marks the end of their week of cameo appearances in every show as part of the anniversary celebration.

The Book of Mormon revolves around two young Mormon men who are very excited that they've reached the age where they're assigned to a mission.

They're hoping to be sent to an exciting, beautiful place, but they're assigned to Uganda, which is dealing with the AIDS epidemic, war and famine.

The show is a satirical, but kind of affectionate, but could also be considered kind of offensive, look at Mormon beliefs and the naivete of some young men.

It was created and written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of South Park, along with Robert Lopez, who co-wrote the songs for Frozen and Avenue Q. A 15th anniversary remastered edition of the original Book of Mormon cast recording, along with new liner notes and photos, will be released later this month.

Let's start with the opening song, Hello, as the young missionaries are being trained on how to go door-to-door proselytizing.

We'll hear the opening of the song featuring Rannells and the conclusion of the song featuring Josh Gad.