When his traveling ministry breaks down in a small Kansas town, part-time reverend and full-time con artist Jonas Nightingale (Raul Esparza) quickly pitches a tent and invites the locals to a revival. The town sheriff, Marla Humes (Jessica Phillips) is determined to stop him from separating the townspeople from their money.
Does anybody believe that “Leap of Faith” is trying to convert all of us atheists and Jews in the audience? It’s an ersatz experience, emotionally and musically. Menken’s 17 appealing songs (Including three show-stoppers, “Step Into the Light,” “Are You on the Bus?” and “Leap of Faith”) are mostly good, ersatz gospel music. Sergio Trujillo’s choreography is mostly energetic swaying in gospel robes, which mimic the movements of an actual gospel choir. (The set, mostly a rotating revival tent, is as fake as the story.)...Should lovers of gospel music pay $100+ to see “Leap of Faith?” Why not? But they could have the authentic gospel experience at one of the many churches in New York City with gospel choirs. And if they are not comfortable going to church, they can attend one of the city’s many gospel brunches.
On its third director and its second book, the slightly road-worn Leap of Faith vaults over a chasm of skepticism—and stops precisely three quarters of the way across. It’s not a terrible show—Elmer Gantry-meets-The Music Man is certainly a winning stage-musical conceit—but it's a persistently confused one, in tone, content, and mood. Ostensibly a straightforward inspirational dramedy (sporting a straightforward set of smoothly toothsome Alan Menken tunes, sprightly recyclings of his trademark pop yearnings and gospel pastiche), the show aims to be hiply clued-in and folksily naïve all at once. The result is a sermon in song that’s rousing enough, but also instantly evanescent: Believers and unbelievers alike are welcomed (nay, bullied) to clap along, and they’ll leave baptized in freshets of energetically manipulative pop-Broadway melody, but the effect evaporates fast. Leap feels like the not-awful, not-wonderful product of a long series of compromises.
2010 | Los Angeles |
World Premiere Los Angeles |
2012 | Broadway |
Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Raul Esparza |
2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Warren Leight |
2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Book of a Musical | Janus Cercone |
2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Choreography | Sergio Trujillo |
2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Director of a Musical | Christopher Ashley |
2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Music | Alan Menken |
2012 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Musical | 0 |
2012 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Raúl Esparza |
2012 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance Award | Leslie Odom, Jr. |
2012 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Production of a Musical | 0 |
2012 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Actor in a Musical | Raúl Esparza |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Relativity Media, LLC |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Steve Kaplan |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Rich/Caudwell |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Center Theatre Group |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Michael Palitz |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Richard J. Stern |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Melissa Pinsly |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Celine Rosenthal |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Independent Presenters Network |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Diana Buckhantz |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Pamela Cooper |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Vera Guerin |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Leading Investment Co., Ltd |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Christina Papagjika |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Victor Syrmis |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Semlitz/Glaser Productions |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Jujamcyn Theaters |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Daryl Roth |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Michael Manheim |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | James D. Stern |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Douglas L. Meyer |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Marc Routh |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Richard Frankel |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Tom Viertel |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Steven Baruch |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Annette Niemtzow |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Leap of Faith |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Robert G. Bartner |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Steven Silva |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Shanna Silva |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Endgame Entertainment |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Patricia Monaco |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Debi Coleman |
2012 | Tony Awards | Best Musical | Dancap Productions, Inc. |
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