Great off-Broadway plays & musicals that never made the transfer to Broadway...- Page 2

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 12:13pm

VIOLET was pretty much all set to transfer to Broadway (From Playwrights' Horizon) and the NY Times (the lone dissenting voice on the show) killed it. Such a shame. It could easilly have been a Tony contender for a lot of awards that season, particularly Lauren Ward who would have won the Best Actress trophy in just about any season.

[Becoz_i_knew_you21]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 12:14pm

L5Y had stated to gain an audience just as it had started closing. The show is unique and if non-theater people saw it I don't think they would like it very much.This show could ever work on Broadway. It belongs in a smaller house. It would be nice if they revived it Off-Broadway. The recording has gained much popularity and a lot of people would like to see it on stage.

[Jellylorum]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 12:16pm

I love The Fantasticks. Though it is possible to revise it to better suit a bigger stage, I doubt it would be successful on Broadway. Part of the magic of the show was its intimacy, and that would be taken away when placed on a bigger stage.

I remembered reading a while back that The Fantasticks had been offered a Broadway theatre at one point, but Jones and Schmidt declined, knowing that the transfer wouldn't be successful.

Updated On: 1/15/07 at 12:16 PM

[Michael Bennett]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 12:31pm

Becoz -- I think the L5Y cult following has grown over the years: the show was a major bomb Off Broadway, and most of my theatre friends who saw it hated it. I can only imagine what the general public thought of it. This is a show performers like more than audiences.

[dancingthrulife04]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 12:43pm

I would've loved to see Birdie Blue (with S. Epatha Merkerson) transfer to Broadway.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 12:45pm

Bernarda Alba. Beautiful score.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 12:47pm

I loved VIOLET at Playwrights and wished it would have had a chance to transfer. I also really enjoyed Playwrights' THE BUBBLY BLACK GIRL SHEDS HER CHAMELEON SKIN (which starred LaChanze) and know there was talk of moving it after it received a nice notice from Brantley, but unfortunately that never happened.

[keen on kean]

Posted: 1/15/07 at 1:38pm

In a strange way, THE FANTASTIKS is on Broadway, in a way. The current revival is at the Snapple Theater on 50th Street - but even it is a small , Off-Broadway theater.