"Leap of Faith" is not the shortest running Best Musical nominee in history

[chanel]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:14pm

Apparently there are three musicals that ran an even shorter time.

Surprising.

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/dailymusto/2012/05/leap_of_faith_i.php

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:21pm

Did anyone here see those 3 shows? If so, what did you think of them?

[newintown]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:31pm

Leap is also not the worst Best Musical nominee, but that's not meant to be a compliment in any way.

Quilters is actually a pretty good show; too quiet and small for uptown, perhaps (like Tintypes), but it had a lot of life in stock in the late 80's-early 90's.

Rags was a good show, mostly, but was poorly produced, under capitalized, and needed more tightening.

Updated On: 5/15/12 at 12:31 PM

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 12:57pm

What about The Lieutenant? I'd love to hear the score. I love a good rock-musical.

[After Eight]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 1:46pm

Musto has screwed everything up.

Previews are not tallied as official performances.

Therefore, Quilters ran 24 performances, Leap of Faith, 19, the Lieutenant, 9, and Rags, 4.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 2:07pm

The Lieutenant, ah yes. They were giving tickets away at Equity by the handful and still couldn't fill the house. It was originally done at Queens Playhouse to a good reception and was brought in with limited production values and under capitalized. I think they opened knowing that unless they got raves, they were going to close right away. The 4 Tony noms were a surprise.

Subject matter and all, it wasn't as bad as it sounds and as a whole it worked and worked better as a sung-through rock opera than it would have as a play or a talking musical. Don't ask for details because it was 35 years ago and memory fades.

I do remember the leading man, Eddie Mekka, soon to join the cast of Laverne and Shirley as a regular, being very talented. He could act and sing and do major athletic dancing to boot. Him going to California was a bit of a loss for Broadway.

[bobs3]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 2:17pm

Rags had a lovely score and some good performances (Stratas, Kuhn, and Kert) but the book was a mess and so was the staging. Joan Micklin Silver was the original director but she was fired late in rehearsals and Gene Saks was brought in to fix the show. He did what he could but it was too late to save the show.

The failure of the show was good fortune for Judy Kuhn who was immediately cast as Cosette in Les Miserables.

[Jon]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 2:25pm

and Terrence Mann was cast as Javert.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 2:35pm

The Lieutenant Vol. 2:
I had to go into the Tony database to make sure, but the 4 nominees for Best Musical in 1974-75 were The Wiz (which won; 7 awards in all), The Lieutenant (which flopped out after a week), Mack and Mabel (a two month flop) and Shenandoah, a sentimental show with a nice score and a Tony winning book and a real good cast headed by John Cullum, also winner of the Tony that year.

Notably missing from Musical, Book, Score and staging categories was Goodtime Charley, a star vehicle for Joel Grey and Ann Reinking's first lead. It was the story of Joan of Arc and her relationship with the Dauphin except that this show was geared toward the lesser character, him, as opposed to her. Whose story is it anyway?

I felt this show was dull although not in the 'ghastly' category.The nominators obviously felt something along the same lines since both Mack and Mabel and The Lieutenat had closed, but Goodtime Charley was still running.

Rumor had it that Goodtime Charley, when it was first thought about several seasons before it was produced, would be a real comic take on the situation and would star Gene Wilder and Barbara Harris! THAT might have worked.

[Noel&Cole]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 3:18pm

This did seem insanely short for a musical that got a nomination! I had my tickets to catch it this week but I guess I was not quick enough! Even though it was supposedly ripe with flaws, I'm surprised that a big budget musical grossed this low... I would have thought it could manage in the 300's.

To bad for all the people involved.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 4:30pm

I'm just not sure why Leap of Faith was produced so poorly. It's not an expensive show at all. What made it cost so much to run every week? There's not really any big set. The costumes are like jeans and one sparkly jacket. I would think it could have easily run.

[ColorTheHours048]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 4:32pm

RAGS has an overall very pretty score. Its downfall is that the book is not just boring, but stupid.

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 4:33pm

I'm just not sure why Leap of Faith was produced so poorly. It's not an expensive show at all. What made it cost so much to run every week? There's not really any big set. The costumes are like jeans and one sparkly jacket. I would think it could have easily run.

It had a large cast. Payroll costs are almost always the largest chunk of any operating budget. As for other reasons, I can't guess, but any show, no matter how low its operating costs, has to sell tickets in order to run, and for whatever reason, this just wasn't selling. A one man show can fold quickly if no one comes.

[Huss417]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 4:47pm

I saw two of the Quilters and Rags.

I did love Rags.

[Zimmy]

Posted: 5/15/12 at 11:07pm

The real question is has another show that was nominated for best musical closed after the nominations were announced but before the Tony awards themselves? - This may be numero uno.

Any Tony buffs have the answer?

[Zimmy]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 10:24pm

Bump - Any clues? ^

[chewy5000]

Posted: 5/16/12 at 10:47pm

Updated On: 5/16/12 at 10:47 PM

[Matt2]

Posted: 5/17/12 at 11:19am

Regarding the question Zimmy brought up, I know Hallelujah, Baby! closed before the 1968 Tonys, but does anybody know if it closed before its nominations were announced or after?
Now its run was nowhere near as short as Leap of Faith or Rags, but I think it only ran a few performances longer than Passion (currently the shortest running Best Musical winner).

Updated On: 5/17/12 at 11:19 AM

[singingbackup]

Posted: 5/17/12 at 8:47pm

And going by the "previews don't coun"t rule (Which I subscribe to) he omitted "Doctor Jazz" which played the Winter Garden:

Preview: Feb 4, 1975 Total Previews: 42
Opening: Mar 19, 1975
Closing: Mar 22, 1975 Total Performances: 5

They knew they would get creamed if they opened, and only did so to garner Lola Falana a Tony nomination. They actually received a total of 3(Falana, Choreography and Costumes.) She didn't win, but took home a 1975 Theater World Award. Updated On: 5/17/12 at 08:47 PM