Leap of Faith (musical)

Production history

A workshop was held in May 2008, with Taylor Hackford directing. The cast included Raul Esparza as Jonas Nightengale and Elizabeth Stanley as Marva McGowan. At the time, producer Tom Viertel said :"As with any productive workshop of a new musical, we learned a lot about 'Leap of Faith' last month, including what works well and what needs work. But we have no plans and have made no decisions to alter the creative team in any way whatsoever."

Another workshop was held in New York in early 2010, with Sutton Foster and a new director, Rob Ashford.

Leap of Faith, with Rob Ashford as director and choreographer, made its world premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles. Previews commenced on September 11, 2010, opening night was on October 3, with the run ending October 24.

The show opened on Broadway at the St. James Theatre in previews on April 3, 2012, officially on April 26. Raul Esparza, Jessica Phillips and Kendra Kassebaum played the lead roles, with direction by Christopher Ashley and choreography by Sergio Trujillo. The book was revised by Warren Leight. Menken discussed the style of the songs: "Menken told Playbill.com that his score is flavored with the sounds of gospel, country and American roots music."

The production closed on May 13, 2012 after 24 previews and 20 performances. It was reported (by The New York Times) that the entire $14 million investment was lost.

Synopsis

Note: Based on the Broadway production

A con artist, the "Reverend" Jonas Nightingale, travels with his ministry, but his bus breaks down in a small Kansas town. The some-time reverend pitches a tent and invites the townspeople to a revival. However, the sheriff, a woman named Marla McGowan, is determined to stop Jonas from taking the people's money. Jonas is challenged when he becomes romantically involved with the sheriff. Her love forces the cynical Reverend to come to terms with his life.

Critical response

The Backstage reviewer wrote: "Though the overlong show improves marginally during the home stretch, its story and themes never fully cohere, and the derivative, gospel-driven Alan Menken-Glenn Slater score is disappointing. By inserting superfluous Agnes de Mille-style ballet segments, as if this were a modern-day Rodgers-and-Hammerstein opus, and pumping up the volume and the histrionics, it's clear Menken, director-choreographer Rob Ashford, and co-librettists Slater and Janus Cercone envisioned this adaptation as more of an artsy prestige musical than a sentimental bromide for "The Sound of Music" crowd...Esparza has a dynamic singing voice and is a formidable presence, but his Mephistophelean con man seems a shade too smarmy for us to buy into his eventual redemption. The performer also sometimes indulges in a mush-mouthed Brando broodiness that seems inappropriate here. Shields sings sweetly if not spectacularly and provides a welcome note of calmness amid the boisterous goings-on."

The Los Angeles Times reviewer wrote: "...much of the score is derivative, the dancing often seems like ballet school parody, Shields' singing defensively retreats to the safest possible key and the closing moments are pure sentimental hokum. But there's a fascinating character in the middle of it all, and a performance by Esparza that digs deep into questions of faith, love and mystery. The show needs another overhaul, but it's easy to see why the creators have persisted for so long with this project: There's something uniquely compelling in the source material. I hope the collaborators press on (Broadway is apparently in their sights). They can begin with some radical pruning."

Ben Brantley, in his review for The New York Times, wrote: " 'Leap of Faith' is this season’s black hole of musical comedy, sucking the energy out of anyone who gets near it... Jonas... is a figure with a long and nobly ignoble ancestry in the theater, the irresistible charlatan. He’s a type whose very existence depends on his ability to charm a crowd, to whip up emotions, to make us suspend disbelief. He is, in other words, showbiz incarnate... Mr. [Raúl] Esparza would seem to be a natural for such a part... Yet here Mr. Esparza seems to keep a chilly distance from his character, and you realize the degree to which self-consciousness has always been a part of his performances... But 'Faith' recycles its clichés without a shred of true conviction. Its jokes, its romantic scenes, its dance numbers, its interchangeable songs by Mr. [Alan] Menken... all feel as if they had been pasted into place the night before."