LEAP OF FAITH Previews — Page 9

I think Slingshot is catchy but it's not story-serving. It could easily go. I don't know that five minutes makes a difference in the scope I'm thinking about, though. If that's all the time they're going to lose, IMO as an audience member, they might as well just leave it.

I don't see how it is consistent with showing that Marva is having an impact on Jonas that he has never experienced before.

I think at the beginning she is just supposed to be another hot conquest to him, and then over time, particularly once he meets Boyd and gets to know them as a family, he starts to realize that there's more to how he feels about her. But that can happen not in a song.

But they have bigger problems than this song. I'd rather see them fix those!

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Updated On: 9/29/10 at 05:32 PM

chrisampm2 wrote:

"Fosse, They're Playing Our Song, The Happy Time, Me and Bessie, A Doll's Life, Evita (US premiere), Jelly's Last Jam, Quilters, Fire in the Rain Singer in the Storm, Sunset Blvd (US premiere), Martin Guerre (US version), Ragtime (US premiere), Roza, Babbitt, Love Match, Mack and Mabel, The Flower Drum Song revisal, Sansei, Spunk, Zoot Suit, Bandido, The Joni Mitchell Project, The First Picture Show, 13, Curtains, Minsky's, Drowsy Chaperone, Leap of Faith, Cy Coleman's last musical Like Jazz, Beautiful Lady, Catch My Soul, and The Odyssey along with many others like it that included LA in their tryout tours. These are just the ones that spring immediately to mind."

I agree with humbug, that is almost never!

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That 'review' just sent a c(s)hill down my spine!

"This show is definitely going to Broadway and will be a big hit"

Oh good, now we can all stop speculating and blogging.
End of subject, end of thread.
No more posts please!

Nope, it isn't, and I think I offered my opinion from the start that it needed to go, solely for time. It's a great number, and Raul and Kendra clearly have a great rapport, and have a great time with the song, but it just isn't necessary. They covered it with one line of dialog. And saved four minutes of time.

As for the hand mic thing, I'm puzzled. It's part of the character in the revival scenes. Jonas is putting on a show and needs the mic to be heard. Standard procedure. Jonas's production isn't sophisticated enough to run to head mics, and besides, they're already using earwigs for the secret part of the show (the show within the show).

I'm still puzzled by the lack of the hand mic in Last Chance Salvation. Yes, Raul can be heard because he's wearing a body mic, but Jonas can't. And Jonas has to be heard by everybody in that tent. Also, when he shed the red jacket towards the end of the scene, he also pulled off two earphones. I hadn't noticed them before that point in that scene, but he wasn't wearing them earlier in the show. Only for Last Chance Salvation. I honestly don't know if it was Raul or Jonas who was wearing them.

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The audience leaped to its feet at the end of tonight's show.

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Updated On: 10/3/10 at 03:45 AM

ABB2357, I agree with you on most points. I didn't think the score was as bad as you say. I liked it. What bothered me the most were the ballets (just didn't work), the set (boring), costumes (are we in the 1930s?), and most of all, Kendra Kassebaum (her character and voice were so annoying).
I didn't hate the show. I just don't think this will make it on Broadway. Too bad, I really wanted it to be great.

So I'm finally read to put my thoughts together about the show. I saw it three times last week.

On a small note, ABB, from my understanding the original Slingshot song has been cut; they've added in what is essentially a musical reprise of I Can Read You utilizing some of the Slingshot sequence text. That may have changed again, though.

Anyway...after the third visit I starting enjoying the gospel songs much more. I don't know how much of that had to do with just familiarity. I also am rather fond of the music to a few of the other songs. However...great score this is not. The music is pleasant as in a good (but not great) Disney film. The lyrics range from serviceable to incredibly bad. As I told Humbug, I didn't expect Sondheim and I actually wouldn't have minded nearly as much if the lyrics stayed at the serviceable, generic level (such as in Long Past Dreaming or Something Real), but they dip so far below so often that it's cringe-worthy. Are You On the Bus has some especially awful examples.

The only semi-clever lyrics come in the Angels' gospel numbers, such as Hotline to Heaven, and only because they seem like fun takeoffs of real songs.

The non-revival sets are dwarfed by the stage, and look really cheap.

Brooke's voice is better, but she still sounds like she's having a hard time at times. I thought her acting was fine, given how unnuanced her dialogue generally was, though my husband thought she wasn't very good. Of the three nights, the only night I heard any entrance applause was on Thursday night for Brooke, and my assumption was that there may have been more friends or industry types in the audience--with it being days from the opening. I never expected entrance applause for a L.A. unknown like Raul.

The supporting players are uniformly fine, but it's hard to tell because they're not vivid characters either. The one (poor) exception for me is the cardboard Sheriff. I couldn't tell if his stiff acting was an acting decision or a result of the stiff dialogue.

The ballet sequences. Ugh. I was so fixated on how out of place the dancing was that it wasn't until my 2nd show that I realized how awful the underlying musical transition choices were too. The ballet transition is especially egregious after the supposed heartfelt scene of the 2nd act Walk Into the Sunset reprise, where they go into this almost upbeat music that completely undercuts any power from the prior scene.

The book is not fleshed out enough and certainly the dialogue could be better written and have more zing. Again, perhaps I have too much Sondheim echoing in my head, where the wordplay is so intricate and clever.

What's good? The Jonas Nightingale tent scenes. Luckily, there is so much time spent on those, and Raul does such an incredible job. He really was very powerful and, both as a result of being Raul, but also because that dialogue seemed to be only sequences fully written with any inspiration, they were truly mesmerizing. Similarly, his Jonas' Soliloquy was also mesmerizing, if you didn't listen too closely to the lyrics. So much of the show seems to be built around these showy and flamboyant scenes that if it goes to Broadway I can't imagine Raul not having a decent chance at a Tony this year. They make up a major percentage of the show. Too bad that the entire show isn't really a worthy vehicle.

The times I was there, I didn't notice the audience being bored. In fact, they seemed to laugh unduly at things I only found mildly amusing, and applauding quite a bit at various times. There was also a palpable energy by the end and, looking around, I always found many delighted faces. So...I don't know how the reviews will turn out. I think eliminating the ballet sequences altogether would have eliminated the most obviously awful, parody-like scenes, which, I think, would make the rest of the show seem better. Plus, it would leave more time for character development. However, that obviously isn't going to happen--and definitely not before tonight.

Worse shows have made it to Broadway, so I'm still hoping for decent-enough reviews. I really think the audiences were less critical than we have been, and the revival scenes do make a huge impression.

Well, that's good. It's nice that they maintain some mercy. I mean, I saw a workshop presentation of the show in New York and really loved it. I thought it had all the right building blocks in place, but I just can't help thinking, with what limited resources I've got thousands of miles away, that the production isn't living up to what it could be. It's frustrating to see that happen with a show you really care about.

I really disagree with the thematic recapitulation of I Can Read You with another character, alas. They should have just cut Slingshot, put that sentiment in a few lines of dialogue and been done with it. Ah well.

The bow thing also bothers me. I understand the democracy mentality of a simple, full company bow, but I think when stars are really carrying a show on this scale, they deserve a little extra recognition.

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Updated On: 10/3/10 at 02:19 PM

Heh, you don't have to apologize to me, I've been there, and all of BWW has seen (endured?) it. Anyway, yeah, it's not to say everyone on stage isn't working hard, but I think it's particularly the case with big, classically-constructed musicals to need to allow for that moment. For the star and for the audience. I think as audience members, we want that moment, too, to say something.

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Updated On: 10/3/10 at 02:41 PM

Well, I always thought Slingshot was extraneous. But by recapitulating the melodic theme from I Can Read You in a duet between Jonas and Sam, they're setting up a certain parallel and mirroring of relationships that doesn't work for me. Recurring melodic themes tend to mean something, and maybe they intend it to mean nothing here, but having that tradition, I think runs the risk of making the audience think it does. I know they do set up a link between Marva and Sam with the duet later on, but I don't think that needs a wrap-around in the beginning.

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Updated On: 10/3/10 at 02:59 PM

Well, thanks. I wish they did, because my sitting around on the Internet saying it isn't helping anybody.

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Updated On: 10/3/10 at 03:20 PM

A friend commented to me the other day that it was kind of funny how hard they're evidently trying to make Brooke Shields look plain. Sutton works in that regard (she's cute, but not, you know, a supermodel), but she was totally wrong for the part in completely different ways. (I saw her do it, it didn't work.)

I think the part is extraordinary, and perfect for Raul, but I guess it's a matter of how well the surrounding material lives up to what he's giving. Obviously I can't speak to that having only heard the present incarnation and seen selected images, but my inclination is that I feel like there's a gap between the potential I saw coming from it when I saw the workshop and what's actually ended up being done on stage. I had a lot more hope then than I do now. Of course, in a full production there's a LOT more to be critical of than just a reading performance, but I feel like I would like it less in full than I did in the workshop. That's frustrating. I really hope they can get it together and put the best possible production of this show on Broadway.

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Updated On: 10/3/10 at 09:25 PM