Religious Scammers Get the Surface-Level Treatment In 'Leap of Faith,' Now at Blank Canvas Theatre

Religious con artists are fascinating characters, whether they’re real like Jimmy Swaggart or fictional like Elmer Gantry. We are drawn to such stories because of the vulnerability inherent in being a congregant in such a church. That is, we are asked to believe and if we don’t get the results we anticipate, we are told it’s our fault because we just don’t believe enough.

It’s the perfect set up for a scam, and that’s the familiar premise in Leap of Faith, the musical now at Blank Canvas Theatre. Trouble is, the book by Janus Cercone and Warren Leight is brutally clumsy and the song lyrics by Glenn Slater not much better. That leaves Alan Mencken’s serviceable music, director Patrick Ciamacco, and the cast to pick up the slack. But the effort falls short in most respects.

Based on the 1992 film starring Steve Martin, the script problems surface almost immediately after we meet Jonas Nightingale, who is the faith healer of a travelling tent show. Jonas and his sister Sam sing about their recent travails, including his stint in jail and their plans for another big “score.” This opening number shortcuts the storytelling and denies the audience the pleasure of discovering the duo’s skullduggery for themselves.

The sleazy siblings and their retinue of gospel singers, the Angels of Mercy, find themselves out of money in Sweetwater County, Kansas, so they decide to pop up their tent and soak the yokels right there. But instead of allowing us to see Jonas in action, the third song features local sheriff Marla who has already made Jonas as a con man and sings about it in “Fox in the Henhouse.”

With any twinge of suspense removed, that pattern is continued throughout the two-hour show, with characters speaking and singing all their character traits and intentions. That makes for a long slog which might have been brightened by imaginative performances.

As Jonas, Shane Patrick O’Neill has a strong voice but he never exudes the oleaginous charm one would expect of a person who plans to talk people out of their money. He moves around the stage with alacrity but without much purpose, pointing in all directions like a TV weatherman who just got a new satellite map. His sis Sam (a stoic Amy Pilgrim) rarely cracks a smile–or even a sneer—and while she sings admirably, she never creates a character we could either love or hate.

Kate Leigh Michalski puts a more human touch on Marla, but she is saddled with a scripted romantic attraction to Jonas that feels wrong, especially as it incongruously blooms immediately after she’s outed him as a sleaze. And she also has a disabled son Jake (Colin Primrose) who walks on crutches and who believes that Jonas can cure him. Does it happen? One hint: This is a musical, not real life.

There is also a limp subplot involving the Sturdevant family led by mother Ida (Neda Spears), who is the lead singer in the chorus of Angels, which also includes her daughter Ornella (Kyla Burks). Both Spears and Burks sing well, making one wish they each were given better songs in a better show. Ida’s son Isaiah (Emmanuel Stewart) also appears as a true god-fearing man and truth-teller, but that role seems like an afterthought.

There is a deeper meaning to all this, involving Marla’s love for Jonas that helps him find redemption, but it doesn’t track because the characters as written are as thin and dry as discount T-bones. Ciamacco, a superb director, here leaves several of the performance glitches unaddressed, and that adds up to a less than stirring experience.

To make familiar stories like Leap of Faith come alive, the performers need to find some special juju to fashion characters we can be passionate about. In short, they need to take an acting leap of faith. But in this production, there are no leaps or risks taken, just a dutiful shuffle to the curtain.

Leap of Faith
Through July 22 at Blank Canvas Theatre, 78th Street Studios, 1305 West 78th St., Suite 211, 440-941-0458, www.blankcanvastheatre.com.

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