The Raúl E. Esparza "Spread the Love" Thread, Part Four — Page 34

Riedel is at it again, getting a jump start on denigrating a show Raúl is going to be in:

June 20, 2008 -- THE Broadway rumor mill is grinding up Taylor Hackford, the Oscar-winning di rector who's making his stage debut with the new Alan Menken musical, "Leap of Faith."

Hackford, whose movies include "Ray," "Against All Odds" and "An Officer and a Gentleman," may soon get his walking papers after staging a workshop of the show last month that, says a source, "was pretty underwhelming."

Another person involved in the show said Menken's score and the script by Janus Cercone (who wrote the Steve Martin movie on which the musical is based) are strong, but Hackford just doesn't have the experience to pull together a Broadway production.

"He's a very smart man, but he doesn't seem to know much about the theater," the source says.

Maybe he could check in with his wife, Helen Mirren, a two-time Tony nominee for "A Month in the Country" and "Dance of Death."

"Leap of Faith," which will star Raul Esparza, tells the story of a charlatan faith healer who discovers that folks in one small town aren't quite as gullible as he thought.

Tom Viertel, one of the producers of the show, said yesterday: "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."

Should Hackford return to Hollywood, he may be replaced by the show's choreographer, Rob Ashford, who's making a bid to become a Broadway director.

Ashford directed a revival of the musical "Parade" in London last year that impressed many New York producers.

Hackford isn't the first Hollywood heavyweight to trip over a footlight on Broadway.

Blake Edwards nearly derailed his wife Julie Andrews' career with the disastrous "Victor/Victoria" in 1995.

And the great Vincent Minnelli made his stage debut with the notorious flop "Mata Hari," which closed out of town in 1967.

Legend has it that on the first day of rehearsal, Minnelli surveyed the cast and yelled, "Action!"
No

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Let's just hope Riedel is wrong. About Hackford, I mean, and not about what his source says about the score and script. Of course, since said source is involved in the show, he/she isn't exactly unbiased.

I hope the whole thing is really as good as Raúl thinks it is.

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It sure can. I'm trying not to think about it too much beforehand. At the very least, we'll get to hear Raul sing again.

For some reason, the plot of this show reminds me of 110 in the Shade, and I can't help but smirk thinking of Raul's version of the Rain Song. Actually, he'd probably nail it.

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Whoever is leaking information about a possible director-switch may very well have an agenda. Most people who leak things to gossip columns do. But the point still stands that he's never done theater before. Riedel may be stirring things up by reporting it, but it's the truth. And it would be worrisome regardless of the source.

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Updated On: 6/20/08 at 04:16 PM

And then there was Raul’s prettier sister Raquel.

Dude, no way. Raúl is the pretty one in that family.

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The best part about Raquel is that it wasn't simply a typo, or intentional. Which the others are.

I really wish I had screencapped the Raquel thing before they corrected it.

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Ahem.



I wanna know what she just SAID!!

And a more...composed shot.

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Updated On: 6/23/08 at 04:32 PM

Raúl's hair ftw!

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Looks like the Tonys, based on her dress color. Love the untied tuxedo tie on Raul. I think he has known Deanna for more than 10 years - based on his time at Steppenwolf. Love that photo!

Probably the August: Osage County Tony party?

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Well, given that August won almost every award it was nominated for, I can't imagine its winners would be at anyone else's party.

And yeah, she is, which makes her all the more impressive on stage.

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I miss you!! *cuddle*

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