Broadway stars Ben Platt and Nic Rouleau (Book of Mormon) and Ben Fankhouser and Corey Cott (Newsies) made donations to DM. Here are some facts about these actors and their musicals.
1. Book of Mormon was nominated for 13 Tony Awards in 2011, the year of it's release. Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone (best known as the creators of South Park) took home nine. A year later, Book won the Grammy for Best Musical Theater Album.
2. Robert Lopez, who wrote all of the music for Book of Mormon, more recently wrote the songs for the hit Disney musical Frozen with his wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez. Their song "Let it Go" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song, giving Lopez a coveted EGOT.
3. In a statement the Book of Mormon's success on Broadway, the Church of Latter Day Saints stated that the "production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people's lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ."
4. Newsies is adapted from an eponymous Disney musical-drama from 1992. The star of this film was a young Christian Bale.
5. That movie is, in turn, based loosely on the New York City Newsboys Strike of 1899.