Gavin Creel Cast as Elder Price on ‘Book of Mormon’ Tour

Tony nominee Gavin Creel has been tapped to play Elder Price in the upcoming national tour of “The Book of Mormon.”

The announcement is the first casting announcement for the upcoming tour, which will kick off in Denver this August. Elder Price is a Mormon missionary with ambiguous sexuality, and currently is played by Andrew Rannells in the Broadway production.

Creel is best know for his work in the 2009 Broadway revival of “Hair,” which earned him a Tony nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of Claude. He also received a Best Actor Tony nomination for his role as Jimmy Smith in the 2002 musical “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” Creel also appeared on Broadway in “La Cage aux Folles,” and in London in “Mary Poppins” and the West End version of “Hair.”

When tickets for the Denver run of “The Book of Mormon” went on sale earlier this year, all 51,000 tickets available for the show sold out within five hours of going on sale. Denver is the hometown of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who created the religious satire musical along with Robert Lopez. Parker and Stone also created the long-running Comedy Central show “South Park,” and Lopez is perhaps best known for his work on “Avenue Q.”

The Denver run will take place from August 14 to September 2, and after that the tour will travel to Los Angeles for a three month run. Other cities the tour is scheduled to visit in 2013 include Portland, Ore.; Seattle; Minneapolis; St. Louis; Detroit; Boston and Washington, D.C.

The show premiered on Broadway on March 24 of last year. It earned nine 2011 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. From its opening the show has been considered a widespread critical and commercial success.