When South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone attended Broadway musical Avenue Q and saw they were thanked in the playbill by co-creator Robert Lopez, they could not have comprehended meeting for drinks would lead to the 21st century’s first musical phenomenon. Lopez stunned Parker and Stone—both fascinated by Mormon culture—by disclosing he harbored a desire to make a musical inspired by Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism. The rest is history: smash successes on Broadway and London, Tony Awards, a Grammy Award and a touring production that has returned to Las Vegas after a successful run at The Smith Center last year.

It will be Brian Beach’s debut playing principal cast member Elder McKinley at The Smith Center, though, as he joined The Book of Mormon a little more than six months ago after a rigorous audition process. His timing was fortunate, as Beach was the first actor to sing McKinley’s signature song “Turn It Off” in Salt Lake City, the headquarters of the Latter Day Saints Church, during a two-week run this past summer. It was the first time the musical Book of Mormon was performed for an audience before a room full of people that had likely read the LDS text the play was named for.

“Those audiences were pretty intense,” says Beach by phone from Denver. “Here, it’s been awesome, but I’m telling you Salt Lake was unreal. … I’ve never been on Broadway, but I’m guessing that’s what a Broadway opening night would feel like. The energy that I got from the audience was like nothing I’ve ever felt before. It was like a total buzz between the actors and the audience. Everyone was so into it, so there. It was the best audience I’ve ever had in my 10 years of being in the theater.”

Expect that buzz to be sustained through the Smith Center run, as earnest Elder Price (Billy Harrigan Tighe) and childlike Elder Cunningham (A.J. Holmes) are paired up in Salt Lake City before being sent on their mission to Uganda, where leader Elder McKinley has been less than successful in converting locals such as tour guide Mafala Hatimbi (Stanley Wayne Mathis) and his daughter Nabulungi (Alexandra Ncube). Songs such as opener “Hello,” “You and Me (but Mostly Me)” and Lion King spoof “Hasa Diga Eebowai” have joined the canon of Broadway classics and helped make the soundtrack the highest charting Original Broadway Cast album since Hair. Most importantly, as testified by the Salt Lake City audience’s reaction, The Book of Mormon is satirical but weirdly respectful towards its subject material.

While Beach aspires to be part of a Broadway cast in the future, performing in Book of Mormon is rewarding on any stage—especially with the talent he’s surrounded with.

“We’re a very happy family,” he says. “I’ve done two other national tours before this one. It’s always a little bubble that travels around together. You go back to your hotel together, you have the same eating schedules, you have the same show schedules. Overall, this company is a dream, and everyone is very lovely and we all love each other.”

The Smith Center for the Performing Arts, 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sept. 27 & Oct. 3-4, 10-11 & 17-18, 7:30 p.m. Sept. 29-30 & Oct. 1-2, 6-9 & 13-16, $36-$160 plus tax and fee. 702.749.2000