Variety reports that Taylor Hackford will direct a Broadway musical version of Leap of Faith (1992), the movie that starred Steve Martin as a cynical huckster who poses as a faith healer. The film also co-starred Debra Winger, Liam Neeson, Meat Loaf and, apparently, a young Philip Seymour Hoffman; and it was directed by Richard Pearce, who had covered a real-life religious scam artist years earlier as a cinematographer on the 1972 documentary Marjoe.
The musical’s score has been composed by Alan Menken, who is probably best known for scoring the films of the “Disney renaissance”, i.e. The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991) and Aladdin (1992); he and Tim Rice also wrote a stage musical called King David several years ago (my review). And the lyrics are by Glenn Slater, who collaborated with Menken on Disney’s Home on the Range (2004). According to Variety, “The musical will hew close to the film’s storyline but accentuate the relationship between Nightingale and a young widow and her son, who give the cynic a reason to finally believe in something.”
I remember reading, at the time of the film’s release, that the filmmakers had hired real, live charismatics for the crowd scenes, because the usual movie extras could not fake speaking in tongues. I wonder if that will be a consideration for the Broadway producers — and whether it will be incorporated into the score.
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