Leap of Faith

This musical stars Raul Esparanza and Brook Shields.  Who knew that Brooke could sing?  I was doubtful, but I was pleasantly surprised.  We’ve all seen this type of plot before.  A handsome scoundrel con man comes into town, sweeps a single mother off her feet, struggles with his life’s direction, finds love and settles down. 

Raul plays Jonas Nightingale who leads a troupe of entertainers across the Midwest to hold the tent revivals where they whip the audience into religious frenzy when he proclaims their private weaknesses and prays to redeem them.  The con is that members of the troupe discretely overhears audience conversations or investigates people, especially the wealthier population.  They then relay the information to Jonas who proclaims that he obtained this information through divine intervention. 

Another attraction is the miraculous healing.  For example, as she walks into the revival tent, a poor old lady is pushed into a wheelchair.  She sits in bewilderment as Jonas lays his hands on her forehead crying out, begging her to walk.  Of course she can walk…but no one else in the town knows because she is a visitor from another town.  In the meantime, the gospel singers are banging tambourines, waving their uplifted hands, singing “Allelelujah”!  The singing throughout the show is so absolutely uplifting,  the audience wants to jump up and wave their hands too.

The problem the town faces is that they have little money because most of what they earn goes into drilling for water because of the drought conditions they are facing.  So the struggle Jonas faces is the fact that he is fleecing money from a town with little money, struggling to survive. 

Brooke plays Marva, a single mother of a young boy named Boyd.  She is a street smart waitress in the only café in the small town.  Marva falls in love reluctantly with a man who arouses her suspicions.

Years before, Marva’s husband died in a car crash.  Boyd was also in the crash causing paralysis from the waist down.  Jonas sings, “Death is a breeze.  Death is a breeze because no one has come back to complain.  But Life is the really hard part.”  Boyd believes Jonas is going to provide a miracle and you guessed it….Boyd walks and everyone lives happily ever after.  The plot maybe old, but the excitement and top notch entertainment is worth seeing again. 

 As the cast took their bows to the standing ovation, Brooke asked to make an announcement.  I thought, oh she is going to make a request for contributions for AIDS or some Performing Arts association.  But it turns out that it was the last performance in L.A. and it was also Raul’s birthday.  So 2000 members of the audience, cast and stage hands sang Happy Birthday to Raul as he stood stunned and teary eyed.  It was fun.