http:\/\/broadwayinwilmington.org\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cI hope to see a lot of people,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI truly kind of just put the message out there and see who shows up. I always say here\u2019s the website, here are some dates, let me know when you want to come. I would love to see you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Book of Mormon\u201d is one of the funniest shows to hit the stage. It features book, music and lyrics by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone. Parker and Stone are the brains behind the animated TV comedy \u201cSouth Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
The musical follows two young Mormon missionaries who are sent to a remote village in Uganda. Expecting to convert people easily, they instead encounter villagers dealing with poverty, violence and a warlord, making the religious message seem irrelevant. The musical explores faith, doubt and storytelling, ultimately suggesting that belief systems can be meaningful not because they are literally true but because they give people hope and a sense of community.<\/p>\n
The show has been on the road for about seven months and, by now, Hicks knows it inside and out.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s funny, I had never seen it (before getting the part),\u201d Hicks said. \u201cWhen I started the auditioning process, I knew it was written by the same people at \u201cSouth Park,\u201d which I grew up watching.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably should not have been watching in my very Christian households, but I caught a few episodes every now and again. It\u2019s a specific type of humor. During rehearsals, I saw it for the first time and I was like, \u2018Hmm, interesting concept. OK, I\u2019m here for it. Let\u2019s go for the ride.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The travel is not new to Hicks. He was part of the 25th anniversary tour of \u201cRent.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I\u2019ve built up the stamina for it,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cIt\u2019s still a job at the end of the day. I think a lot of people are like, \u2018Oh, well you\u2019re in the theater, so obviously it\u2019s a fantasy land reality and you\u2019re on tour, so you are certainly seeing all these places.\u2019 I do appreciate the adventure of it, but I also appreciate I am working in my field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hicks is a sought-after vocalist, actor and teacher. He has collaborated with Estelle, Andrea Bocelli, Aretha Franklin and Sam Smith on NBC\u2019s \u201cSaturday Night Live.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI do virtual lessons while on tour,\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI\u2019ve been able to sustain and keep up even while on tour.<\/p>\n
\u201cI did this over COVID as well. I\u2019m kind of used to the whole setup and the delays and all the things that come with the technical aspect of doing it virtually.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hicks is looking forward to the tour getting back to the East Coast.<\/p>\n
\u201cI live in New York, so I\u2019m definitely excited to come back.\u201d Hicks said. \u201cI have definitely been enjoying this (tour). I must say, though, it\u2019s obviously very homey and very familial about the East Coast that I do miss.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"When Philadelphia native Shafiq Hicks takes the stage at Wilmington\u2019s The Playhouse on Rodney Square the overwhelming cheers…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":654681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,905,1448,2830,1311,20348,1148,1072,33431,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-657179","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-delaware","10":"tag-pa","11":"tag-pennsylvania","12":"tag-philadelphia","13":"tag-philadelphia-county","14":"tag-theater","15":"tag-things-to-do","16":"tag-top-stories-mlt","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116232715356265565","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}