Josh Gad Slams 'Book of Mormon' Director Casey Nicholaw for 'Awful Environment,' Attempting to Drive Wedge Between Him & Co-Star Andrew Rannells

Josh Gad has some words for Book of Mormon director Casey Nicholaw.

If you don’t know, Josh portrayed Elder Cunningham in the original Broadway cast of the 2011 musical, and was nominated for a Tony for his performance. He was one of the first actors cast in the production, and the musical’s director, Casey, was brought on in 2011 to help open the show. Casey‘s other Broadway directing/choreography credits include The Drowsy Chaperone, Spamalot, and Follies.

In Josh‘s new memoir, “In Gad We Trust,” he’s speaking out about his experience putting up the show.

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Josh wrote (via EW), “Our director, Casey, was a genuinely brilliant creative visionary and truly helped to make the show the giant hit it would go on to become. What he lacked, however, are social skills and anything resembling team-building leadership,” alleging Casey created an “awful environment.”

“To the best of my knowledge, he either did not like that I predated him on the project or that he was saddled with me, but to say he made every day completely unpleasant would be an understatement,” Josh continued. “The best example I can give of his complete lack of leadership was the day after we won nine Tonys: we entered the theater to three pages of notes hung up on the bulletin board proclaiming how disappointed he was in all of us and the awful state of the show. That week, he brought us all in for rehearsals and proceeded to call me out in scene after scene telling me that every choice I was making was wrong.”

Josh said the reason he decided to even write this was because of a quote Casey said in a New York Times piece from 2023.

“As a lead-up to my return to Broadway in Gutenberg! The Musical!, Casey was interviewed for a New York Times profile…[Casey] said this about [Book of Mormon costar Andrew Rannells] and me: ‘Josh‘s comedy basically just says ‘Watch me. Love me. Josh is just out there. Andrew knows how to hold himself with grace and dignity and just go for it.’”

Josh called this quote from Casey “highly public and deeply hurtful.”

He also said this impacted his relationship with his co-star, Andrew Rannells.

“He either intentionally or unintentionally constantly tried to pit me and Andrew against each other. And for the record, for a little bit, it worked,” Josh shared. “I once confronted Andrew and said, ‘I feel like you don’t have my back,’ and Andrew took Casey‘s side and really hurt me. We didn’t speak for almost two weeks until I ultimately understood that it had nothing to do with Andrew and everything to do with the environment Casey had created.”

Josh concluded by writing that Casey “has never once apologized for his inexplicable behavior and the awful environment he created in an otherwise loving space… Maybe he’ll read this and apologize, but after 13 years, I’m not holding my breath. You know where to reach me, Casey!”

You can buy Josh‘s book here.

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