NYT on Leap of Faith

[karen24]

Forgive me if this has already been posted here; I did look through the recent Leap of Faith threads and didn't see it. Patrick Healy has written an interesting piece on what went wrong with the show.

I was surprised to read about the "financially struggling Roman Catholic order" that has lost their $50,000 investment. I guess they were hoping for another "Book of Mormon" or "Sister Act."


Why 'Faith' Never Had A Prayer

[blaxx]

Only a handful of poorly reviewed productions emerge as critic-proof — “The Addams Family” in 2010 — but they usually have a major star (like Nathan Lane as Gomez Addams) who can be counted on to sell tickets.

Uhh, Addams didn't make its investment back. So it was not critic proof.

[CurtainPullDowner]

And GHOST's numbers are not all that good (yet).

[PlayItAgain]

wow, how did that cost 14 million to produce!

[CurtainPullDowner]

Healy is a poor excuse for a Theatre scribe, he seems to know little on his subjects. His numbers imply LOF's running costs are under 500k a week. Even one of the producers stated they were loosing half a mil a week which puts the nut over 600k.

I'll google him but where did he come from and why is he writing for the Times?
Anyone remember the Friday Arts and Leisure Theatre news column with a Hirsh every week as topping?
That was fun.

[RippedMan]

How did that show cost $14 million? That can't be right. Wicked cost $14 million. Those shows are not on the same level.

And a running cost of over half a million? How?! There is basically no set. Not a lot of expensive costumes, etc.

[newintown]

Where they went wrong was trying to write above their abilities.

I don't know anything about Janus Cercone (the screenwriter with ONE credit who apparently thought adapting his film to the stage was within his skill set), but Warren Leight's skill (if one can tell anything from one play in 15 years) is not for turning a cliché screenplay into a tightly constructed and well-told musical book. Menken and Slater excel at lightweight, charming, amusing genre songs. When they aim at light entertainment, they do OK.

Here, they all attempted to turn an obvious Music Man knock-off into a deep and significant piece of theatre about faith and change. And they just don't have the chops.

[Rainbowhigh23]

I'm glad I saw this last night to see for myself how "bad" it was. It wasn't terrible, the crowd was really into it and I could see where the producers thought they had a hit on their hands. Act 2 was more enjoyable than Act 1. They should have taken the time to let it develop, rushing it was a big mistake.

[ASOOS04]

Warren Leight-
Mayor
Side Man
Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine
No Foreigners Beyond This Point


I count 4 plays, that are publised and produced regularly.
Following the success of Side Man, Mr. Leight was commisioned and encouraged by countless theatres, producers and collaborators to write another play. His response was Glimmer which continues the story of Clifford and his father, Gene. After the emotional strain of writing two autobiographical plays about rocky familial relationships, and following the death of his father, Mr. Leight re-directed his energy to tv where he was a successful writer producer for Law and Order and In Treatment, both critically acclaimed award winning shows. The original book was only credited to Janus Cercone. Mr Leight was called in to assist with what was already there. He was invited into the process for one reason, because h remains a highly respected writer in the entertainment industry, regardless of how prolific his PLAYS are that in no way speaks to his abilities or relevance to this particular production. In fact, while much of this show was a huge failure, I hardly think the book was the biggest culprit. Nor do I think this a great achievment for Leight. If you go back and read some of the reviews/interviews, many on the creative team cite Leight's idea to combine the sherrif and the mom into one character as something that streamlined the original story and made the book CLEARER. Newintown, I will thank you in advance to really look at someone's credentials before questioning their relevance.

[RippedMan]

The show just needed more meet. The sister should have had a love interest, perhaps a local lesbian or something, and that could have been used to explore faith and acceptance. I don't know. The show was just so flimsy and I think the whole idea of setting the show in the actual St. James as a revival was a dumb idea.

[newintown]

"Following the success of Side Man, Mr. Leight was commisioned and encouraged, etc., etc., etc."

Thank you for the update, Warren.

[bk]

"They should have taken the time to let it develop, rushing it was a big mistake."

Thanks for the laugh. I don't know, eight years - is that "rushing?"

[Jordan Catalano]

I saw on SMASH that musicals go from an idea to out of town tryouts in 2 months. Is that not how it really works?