leap of faith

just saw leap of faith and i have to say, what were they thinking. I could not even make it through to intermission. it was such a bad production, and such talented people, what a waste. The worst culpret was the book and directing. i will be surprised if it opens. didn't this do an out of town tryout, how did it make it to broadway. the WORST thing is they must know its in trouble, they actually had a questionaire in the playbill for feedback, just like spiderman when they were having all the trouble. bad, bad,bad. there also was not one memorable song.

when producers actually ask the audience what they think, i think thats a sign of them throwing in the towel on their own creative facilities. If you, the creative team, don't know what is wrong with your show anymore and need help from jim and judy from Montauk, there is a problem.

Kevin5, the show will open.

If this is the first Broadway bomb you've ever experienced, consider yourself lucky.A few come around every season since the Greeks.

All I can say is that I wouldn't advise making artistic decisions based on anything that comes from Jim and Judy from Montauk.

Those two are just the worst. Have you ever had dinner with them?

Priceless. That comment reminds me of the time my mother went to see the film "The Piano." I asked what she thought of it, and she said this (I'll never forget): "It had too much mud in it, and don't like a lot of mud in my movies."

That still doesn't make 'em writers or collaborators.

Of her time working on the tryout of Leap of Faith, Shields told Playbill magazine recently, "I was so intent on [originating a role] for the longest [time], but after that experience, I'm acutely aware now it has to be perfect for me to go out on that limb."

She added, "If you replace, you have nothing to lose. It doesn't rest on you. They're just hoping you can keep it open. With a new show, you must be clear and know what you're getting into. I was a bit naïve about that. I'm able to keep coming back to Broadway because I do all of it well enough — but it's everything. If you take out one of those things and just compare me to the best in that field — whether it's dancing or singing or acting — I'm not going to win that battle. Take away two out of the three and leave me just singing in the spotlight, I'm going to lose. The role [in Leap of Faith] had virtually no dancing, no humor. I'm proud of what I did...but I think what they wanted was somebody above the title with Raúl. The show is all him, and he's so extraordinary in it, but what he needs around him is not just someone to get them in the seats. I felt fenced [in] through the whole thing, but I learned it's better to have learned that out of town."


Interesting to reread this after the show has been mounted on Broadway.
After seeing the Leap, I think Brooke got out at the right time! The show is a train wreck and that character is a massive hole. Raul should have leapt at the same time.

Updated On: 4/18/12 at 02:02 PM

Wow, really surprised at this thread. If some of you are so concerned that audience members have nothing to offer in terms of feedback, what are you doing on BWW giving your opinion of a show? And since often our views differ from critics, who so frequently disagree with each other's published opinions, why shouldn't we be heard from? Then there is the fact that almost all products and services have consumer focus groups when they are launched; why should a Broadway musical be any different? That is, if we can agree with the premise that a show actually wants its audience to members to enjoy themselves. Then of course there is the snobbish idea that someone from Montauk may not have anything constructive to say about a production, as if people from outside the city are cultural illiterates, or as if the Broadway theater is only for someone's warped idea of what the intelligentsia is and where they live. Finally, if an audience member's comments are silly, of course they are going to be of limited values to the producers; but that doesn't mean that in any audience there aren't people - from all over - who might have something of value to offer.

OK, I think I've dryly said all I needed to say. Thanks, I feel better now.

Updated On: 4/18/12 at 03:48 PM

I don't know. Who better than housewives (some of them, they are not a united front when it comes to literature) to be moved by a Madame Bovary or to relate to a character so tragically dependent on the desire, romance and longing, or to understand the needyness engendered by Emma's Catholic education and sense of romantic deprivation? But that's beside the point. I would not be at all surprised if Flaubert sincerely cared how people of all walks of life, and especially married women - happily or unhappily - leading conventional lives, experienced Madame Bovary (although he might have been more interested in how provincial women felt about Emma than how their Parisian counterparts saw her).

In any event, as Roadmixer's made clear, the survey only seeks to identify the audience coming to see the show; it's not soliciting their opinions.

Still, movies often have focus group audiences. Why shouldn't a Broadway show?

Updated On: 4/18/12 at 04:34 PM

Target Audience = People willing to pay money to see LEAP OF FAITH

Why do we need to get to our seats by ten of, or would that be a special surprise?

I'm seeing it tonight so I'm asking with a purpose.

There is a pre-show that starts 10 min. before curtain