Leap of Faith = Music Man?

Maybe it's very late, and maybe I'm exhausted from the past 3 months of 9 show weeks...BUT:

Is it just me or does Leap of Faith's synopsis sound an awful lot like an updated version of The Music Man?

"When his traveling ministry breaks down in a small Kansas town, part-time reverend and full-time con artist (Esparza) quickly pitches a tent and invites the locals to a revival. The sheriff is determined to stop Jonas from separating the townspeople from their money, but Jonas' real challenge arises when he meets a pretty waitress (Shields) and her son, whose love forces an ultimate cynic to take a real leap of faith."

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Really though...just about any comedy/love story would be similar. It's a formula that works.

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with Ashford directing it probably will be THE MUSIC MAN.
Did there appear any room for dance in the readings?

Whatever

It looks very good & with Esparza very much worth a look.

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Why has no one addressed how ugly-as-sin (lame pun) the marketing materials have been for this so far?

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"SISTER ACT and LEAP OF FAITH are coming to Broadway at the same time,"
Actually only SISTER ACT is coming to Broadway, LEAP OF FAITH could be a way-off, look how long it has taken CATCH ME IF YOU CAN.
You never know.

With the preacher/tent revival aspect, I think we might see shades of VIOLET in there as well. At least, I hope we will.

The artwork is indeed hideous, and as advertising starts tomorrow, I'm afraid we're stuck with it at least for the LA run. *gag*

However, they did tone down the orange a bit. Here's what the logo looks like now, from the website.



There's still way too much orange for my taste.

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Well Ashford has hired dancers for something and anyone who can stick businessmen in suits exercising into a solo number is capable of sticking anything anywhere.

Well...I'm assuming there will be some big "Feel the Spirit" number if he's an evangelist. That seems like the opportunity for some serious dance break time.

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(Wtf, what happened to the "edit post" option? Was hoping to word that a little more clearly, but oh well.)

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So, doing the math. realistically the earliest this show could reach New York is Summer of 2011, and more likely later in the 2011-2012 season. Once the LA run is done Ashford goes into preproduction and is tied up till end of March with HOW TO....

Iwas very excited about this show when I first heard the score, I am not a Raul fan but I do believe he is a good fit for the role, (I, and probably the producers would rather have Hugh Jackman) I like Brooke Sheilds, but I can name 5 or 6 Broadway actress/singers who I'd rather hear sing it, I hope Sheilds proves to be more than just a "known" commodity. The rest of the cast seems very strong.
Ashford is a big problem for me, he has yet to show me he is a good inventive, creative director rather than a band leader.
I know Taylor Hackford was reportedly all at sea, but I think the show could use an edge he might have brought.
It appears they are going more and more commercial and less artistic, and that could cause inner conflict as well.
We shall see, I guess I have to call Jet Blue or wait a year or two to see.

Yeah. The last "current" tentative dates I heard now conflict with the set dates for How to Succeed. If he went right from freezing How to Succeed into rehearsing Leap, they would be severely pushing the Tony deadline. I don't remember the exact dates offhand, but even that might be impossible. Once the H2$ dates were confirmed, I definitely became skeptical of Leap being able to happen this season. They could theoretically shift around their dates again somehow, but that's going to depend on how it goes out in LA, and on what theaters open up, because right now they don't really have many options anyway.

I am somewhat skeptical of Ashford, too, but I think I would much rather have him steering this thing than Hackford. I also feel like he hasn't really proven himself to have much strength as a director yet. The reading was really all about the material, there wasn't much of a way to tell how good or bad what he is going to do with it would be, other than that the performances, mostly, worked. Hopefully he will surprise us on this one, I really want it to come together well. The Raul factor, as it were, is no secret, but I really like this show. I was sort of indifferent to the idea having only seen the film, but I really like this show. I think it has a lot of potential, some interesting things to offer, and a damned good score.

(Oh, and Elizabeth Stanley was the only person I wanted to play the role. Oh well. And the out-of-town try-out of Leap of Faith has experienced several delays. The LA production itself has only been pushed back once, about a week. Just to be fair.)

I keep sort of idly looking at plane tickets, but I have huge ongoing schedule conflicts during the run and don't think it's going to be doable, or advisable in good conscience. I will have to be on the other side of the window for a change.

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Updated On: 7/25/10 at 11:56 AM