Leap Of Faith Previews- Page 10

[once a month]

Posted: 4/11/12 at 3:33pm

Been to 350 Broadway shows, this was the 4th time I've left at intermission since 1970. Hard to care for any of the characters, and I'm a huge Raul fan.

[ken8631]

Posted: 4/11/12 at 3:47pm

Too bad - the second act was much better, including Raul's 11 o'clock song.....

[ken8631]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 7:24am

Saw "Nice Work If You Can Get It" last night - far superior.....

[phantom39]

Posted: 4/12/12 at 9:34am

Well the good news is that it can't get any worse!

[Nick Murphy]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 12:13pm

This is a dud. Maybe the ugliest set in many years. Cheap looking and does nothing to help focus the action. Esparza isn't charismatic and/or charming enough to make us care ANYTHING about him. Leslie Odom, Jr. was far more charismatic than Raul, and was the only character who actually did some preaching. The book and score are really weak, and one can't help feeling sorry for the cast to have to go through this eight times a week (well, probably not for long).

[bobs3]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 3:34pm

Saw it last night. All I can say is it still needs a lot of work. I guess they have few weeks before the opening but the creative team are going to have to work some serious overtime. I walked into the theater thinking this may be the role that finally wins Raul Esparza his Tony. Not going to happen. He has one really strong number toward the end of the second act but otherwise his performance lacks any charisma. Jeremy Jordan, you should start preparing your Tony acceptance speech.

Updated On: 4/13/12 at 03:34 PM

[bwayphreak234]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 4:44pm

I feel like there have been lots of shows lately that have tons of problems that do not get worked out in their preview period because minimal changes are made.... sounds like this will be another one to add to the list

[Blockhead24]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 7:24pm

For whatever it's worth they're changing the top of Act 1 tonight

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 4/13/12 at 8:43pm

Who was the top before?

[goldenboy]

Posted: 4/15/12 at 12:31am

I went tonight Saturday the 14th. Perhaps all the doomsayers on here colored my vision and I didn't expect much.

I have to admit... I had a good time and liked the show.

Yes there is some suspension of disbelief needed in that "how could the angels not be in on it."--- but thematically speaking... it kind of fits in with the "Leap of Faith Theme.

I enjoyed the performances, The cast was uniformly good. I found the score likeable.. much better than Sister Act. Loved the gospel numbers. Certainly not a brilliant musical but verylikable in its way.

Apparently they have made many changes to the show in the past two weeks. My friend went to the dress rehearsal and said they changed the opening number and the closing number.

Don't write them off yet. There's a lot of talent working on and in this. Based on what i saw tonight, I think they may pull it together. I'm rooting for them.


Updated On: 4/15/12 at 12:31 AM

[themysteriousgrowl]

Posted: 4/16/12 at 11:56am

Had a hard time locating this thread since the last post was 35 hours ago, but I tracked it down because I thought there was some good discussion about it here --

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=1044160&dt=13&boardid=1

[ken8631]

Posted: 4/16/12 at 12:29pm

Good to hear they have made changes....

[shrekster224]

Posted: 4/24/12 at 5:08pm

Haven't seen the show yet but just watched the video preview. If I see it, it will be for 3 reasons. Raul's singing, Leslie Odom Jr., and the Trujillo choreography.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/28/12 at 11:15pm

Saw the show tonight. Ooooof, I was bored.

It was ugly. The sets and lighting were just so "community theater" to me. It all clunked into place. There was no Broadway dazzle or anything. Even the backdrop is just a plain ol' curtain with some lights thrown on it. They couldn't get a picture of a cornfield or something that said "Kansas" more than just a row of corn?

The score was bland. I loved the Sister Act score, but this felt like the B-sides to all those songs. They all had the same sorta "bump. bump bump bump bump." beat to them. They all sounded the same. And they were all forgettable.

The book was just boring. What was the plot? What was the drama? Why are we telling this story? What makes it relevant to today? It could have had an interesting tone about how religion is a scam, or something, but then the ending happens and it's like "So what?"

Raul wasn't anything special. I feel like he gave the same performance he did in Company and was just hoping it would work. He builds to some sort of "frustration" and that's about it. His big song just kind of sags, and has an awful button to it. He didn't really "con me" into believing any of the hype, which I think is the point, yeah?

Jessica Phillips existed. She walked on and gave her lines.

The one song that I liked, but made me angry was the "On the Bus off the Bus" song. I mean, the lyrics awful, but I liked the melody. However, why the heck was Brown's character so angry? What was she angry about? Why was she riffing so much? I don't know. And I didn't care.

And did anyone else think the songs were all just awful orchestrated and arranged? They all seemed to be a little out of people's ranges? Evans kept going into her like legit head voice, when she should have full voiced it. What's up with that?

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 4/29/12 at 12:20am

Agreed about Evans. I thought the same thing when I saw it and forgot to post about it.

[egghumor]

Posted: 4/29/12 at 1:45am

The show could well take a flyin' Leap after tomorrow's matinee...

[somethingwicked]

Posted: 4/29/12 at 2:03am

RippedMan and WiCkEDrOcKS, Kecia Lewis-Evans has a very peculiar vocal technique, and that's part of it. She'll belt in her full, powerful chest one second and flip up to a light head voice the next. It's something she does in every show I've ever seen her in, but somehow, she manages to make it work (though it's never less than jarring.) It's most notable in "Lost" in LEAP OF FAITH, but you can hear it on stuff like "Mama Will Provide" from ONCE ON THIS ISLAND too.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/29/12 at 12:10pm

I guess this is my first time seeing her live, but I did not care for it at all. It just sounded like she either couldn't hit the notes, or was just sort of phoning it in.

All the vocal arrangements just seemed weird. Evan's "son" in the show seemed to struggle hitting some notes as well. Sure, he can riff, but he couldn't support an actual note without faltering. And the big song with all 3 women was just a shouting match.

[RH1234]

Posted: 4/30/12 at 5:14pm

Is the show likely to get a cast recording? Thinking the Alan Menken link might get it that?

[tmbyru]

Posted: 4/30/12 at 5:38pm

Doesn't pretty much everything get a cast recording now a days?

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/30/12 at 5:46pm

Well, I heard "Leap of Faith" on the SiriusXM Broadway channel today. So, something is recorded and available for airplay.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 4/30/12 at 6:19pm

Doesn't pretty much everything get a cast recording now a days?

Almost everything. If Glory Days, Story of My Life, 13 and People in the Picture could do it, then I'd imagine a new Menken score could as well. Of course, there was Lestat...

[binau]

Posted: 4/30/12 at 6:29pm

I feel like "doesn't pretty much everything get a cast recording now a days" might trivialise how much of an effort it seems to take for cast recordings to be produced though.

A lot of shows, for example the upcoming CARRIE, GLORY DAYS, 13, BONNIE AND CLYDE are funded by the composers themselves. So we will only get many of these recordings as long as composers are willing to (and can afford) to pay for them.

If Menken was not willing to pay for a new Broadway cast recording of SISTER ACT, would he be willing to pay for LEAP OF FAITH - which by all accounts seems to be a colossal embarrassment. And if he doesn't pay for it, who else will?

Updated On: 4/30/12 at 06:29 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 4/30/12 at 6:52pm

I don't see why he would want to. He phoned this one in, and the tunes are just awful. I thought I left the theater singing "Leap of Faith," but realized I was singing a song from the 80s instead, so there ya go.

[tmbyru]

Posted: 4/30/12 at 7:29pm

When I sing "Leap of Faith" around the house, I'm just singing a song from RENT.

And as far as the recording for Sister Act goes, it's the London recording. They haven't released a Broadway version.

And I don't think it is trivializing anything since it's pretty much the truth.