The Book of Mormon: Meet Sam McLellan Elder Price

By Cesar A Reyes

he Book of Mormon – A Broadway Sensation is coming back to San Diego! The nine-time Tony Award-winning Best Musical graces the stage of the San Diego Civic Theatre. Hailed as the best musical of this century by The New York Times, and celebrated for its brilliant humor and genius by Jimmy Fallon, this show is a must-see for theater lovers. The Book of Mormon is an outrageous musical comedy that follows the misadventures of a mismatched pair of missionaries, sent on a mission to a place that is about as far from Salt Lake City as you can get. With its clever mix of humor, heart, and a message of love and faith, the show has earned rave reviews and packed theaters in London, New York, and across North America. Enjoy the stunning production and talented cast, including standout performances by Sam McLellan (Elder Price) and company. We got the chance to link up with Sam before the show hits San Diego and we got to know Elder Price a little better.

When did you discover your passion for singing/Acting performing?:
When I was in high school. I had been persuaded by a friend of mine to audition for the musical because they needed more guys in the show. So that is how I got into theater in high school. But shortly after doing my first show, I realized I had a real passion for performing. It was something that I excelled at and also something that was more exciting to me than anything I had ever done before.

Please give us a brief history of how your passion became your career:
In high school, I talked to the director of our musicals about potentially pursuing a career in theater. And so, he set me up with some auditions for some musical theater programs. I ended up going to one audition that was not too far away from home. You know, at the time I was not necessarily sure if performing was going to be something that was going to work out or something that I was actually going to be good at, at a larger scale. But I ended up going to a school, the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point, and they have a phenomenal musical theater program there. I just fell in love with theater more and more every day while I was there. 

Then shortly after I graduated, I moved to New York and I started auditioning for roles. The very first show I did was a show called Interstellar Cinderella, which is a children’s show, doing all matinees for five-year-olds for a couple months in New York City. Then after that I did a cruise ship. I played Sky in Mama Mia for Royal Caribbean. After that contract ended, I went on tour with Fiddler on the Roof. When the pandemic happened, we got shut down. Once things started back up again, I got cast in Anastasia as Dmitri. I was on tour with that for a season.

Then like literally the day after my last show of Anastasia, I started rehearsals for Book of Mormon. I have been with the Book of Mormon cast for three seasons and going into my fourth season at the end of the summer.

You are playing Elder Price in The Book or Mormon; would you please talk about your personal history with the show?:
One of the very first shows I saw was The Book of Mormon in Chicago. Nick Rouleau was playing Elder Price and Ben Platt was playing Elder Cunningham. I fell in love with it. You know, I grew up in Mexico. My parents were missionaries. So when I saw the show and I just saw how the scriptwriters handled the story about these missionaries going to a country that was very unlike where they were from, it really spoke to me in a way that I did not expect it to. After seeing that show, I felt very convinced that I was going to be cast in this show someday.

What is one thing that you have enjoyed about touring?:
Well actually, I have performed three seasons with this show and then two additional seasons with other productions so I am a tour veteran at this point. Really, what I love about touring is just the change of environment. I like traveling. I like living different places. I like having different restaurants and coffee shops to go to.

I like just seeing how audiences across the country receive the show differently, you know? And, it is really rewarding to be able to take a story like this that I feel very passionately about to so many different people. Having so many different people react in so many different ways.

It feels rewarding. It makes it feel like I am doing something important. You know, being able to bring theater to the far corners.

This is not your first time in San Diego. Is there anything that you like to do in the city?
Well, just to be perfectly frank with you, lately on tour, I have mostly just kept to myself and mostly just stuck around the hotel. I do not do a ton of exploring so much these days. But what I will say is, I always enjoy being in California and audiences in California love our show. So it is always a treat to bring the show out there.

What are some of your other passions aside from performing?:
You know, not a lot of people ask me that. But I really love playing competitive video games. I play Overwatch like every day. But I play a bunch of different video games as well. Me and several of my other friends on tour play together. It is an easy thing that you can do literally anywhere. Beyond that, I really enjoy socializing with people. That is another thing that I love to do. I like to keep to myself most of the time and recharge my batteries, but I am definitely a social animal, so I really enjoy spending time with people: getting dinner, getting drinks, that kind of thing.

How can people keep up with you (your social media or site)?:
On Instagram, you can find me @samclellan. I put the M’s together, so just S-A-M-C-L-E-L-L-A-N on Instagram. And that is where I am the most active. I also have a TikTok as well, which is just my name, Sam McLellan.

The WORD is Gratitude