9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

A Master Class from the Maestro, January 11, 2008

While the name 'Allan Rich' may not jump into consciousness of the general public immediately, the face and persona of the man who adopted the name years ago are doubtless known to all who love the stage and film, whether in the form of motion picture or television. Rich is a character actor par excellence who is so immersed in his roles that in becoming the character he loses his 'star identity'. Some would say that is a negative statement, but after reading this excellent book, A LEAP FROM THE METHOD, and learning from every page how Rich practices and teaches acting, then there could be no higher compliment.

Rich's book is so warmly user friendly that after the first fifty pages of biographical information and photographs the manual feels like a conversation with an old friend - and a wise one at that. While many actors have the ability to 'show' students 'how to act' by proximity in a shared production, very few have the ability to put those instructions into words. Rich uses the first pages of the book to give his personal history and the reason for that seems to serve as a personal journey that quietly illustrates his points. He address the Stanislavsky 'method acting', giving examples of famous actors with whom he has worked as to how that 'method' has flaws. Instead of finding the emotional space of the character to be portrayed or re-enacting personal history moments that mimic the emotion of the character to be conveyed, Rich instead simply presents a series of questions: 'Did I tell the story, Did I experience the back-story? Did I do the details? Was I economical? Was the situation important enough to me?'

Once the questions are posed, Rich adroitly (and with fine asides) offers the background for each question - aids in helping the student understand both the question and its worth. He then, by example, reiterates these new concepts and thereby provides the 'leap from the method' of the title. By maintaining the personal biography format, both in words and photographs, Rich makes learning simple and approachable. This book is a fine manual for students of drama at any stage, but what is more important for the general public, this 'inside look' at the machinations of the theater and the actors who transport the audience is a fine 'historic novel'.

There is a preface and subsequent series of references to one of Allan Rich's pupils, Peter Antico, who managed to overcome the obstacles of having Tourette's Syndrome by learning and adhering to the techniques of Rich's teaching lessons. This kind of human interest story, one completely based on truth, makes an otherwise potentially dry teaching manual a joy to read. Grady Harp, January 08