Musicals That Never Made It To Broadway- Page 6

[vassey]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 12:39pm

Bringing up Lolita My Love from the depths of the thread.....

I've recently rediscovered the soundboard and despite the stunning score... it makes me think HOW ON EARTH DID THEY THINK THIS WOULD BE WATCHABLE? The subject matter, regardless of the execution, is utterly, utterly unsuitable for musical comedy....

Explaining the songs just shows how off-target Lerner and Barry got it.

Going Going Gone - a group of paedophiles sing about taking MANY girls virginity. Includes the great line - "lots of great nights in bed with a steel automaton" :O

Broken Promise Land of 15 - an unreliable narrator sings about being in love with a 15 year old girl
Dante Petrach and Poe - a paedophile attempts to justify his obsession by referring to classic literature
How Far is it to the next Town? One paedophile, who has kidnapped Lolita, is chased by another paedophile across America, to kidnap her himself in order to make dirty films with her.

At some stage they must have realised that no Broadway house would EVER be occupied by this car-crash of a show.

Updated On: 11/1/14 at 12:39 PM

[Lovinbroadway2]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 6:51pm

Annie 2

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 7:25pm

They Shoot Horses Don't They" of movie of same name

[Lovinbroadway2]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 7:34pm

Pleasures and Palaces

[Lovinbroadway2]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 7:36pm

Little World, Hello!

(Closed before rehearsals)

Also, Mata Hari

(Closed in Washington D.C.)

And Love Match

(Closed in Los Angeles)

Not to forget, The Prince of Grand Street

(Closed in Boston)


Updated On: 11/1/14 at 07:36 PM

[morosco]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 8:43pm

They Shoot Horses Don't They" of movie of same name

I vaguely remember this. Can't find anything online. Was there a production? Who was associated with it?

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 11/1/14 at 11:10pm

I thought the attempted musical version of They Shoot Horses, Don't They? eventually became STEEL PIER when they couldn't get the rights. Or is my mind just formulating that because of the similar subject matter?

[AHLiebross]

Posted: 11/2/14 at 12:14am

I just caught up with the Yeston and Kopit "Phantom" in Phoenix, at a theater in the round. (I've moved to Palm Springs, CA, so now you get to read my carryings-on about left coast theater, instead of DC theater. )

Y&K wrote a lovely story, with lovely music. There are dark parts, but Erik is portrayed as essentially an innocent who was very much loved and protected by his parents, and who believes that his father's bargain with him allows him to kill to protect his secret if anyone invades his territory. As I watched, I imagined what the Broadway staging would have looked like, and I think the show could have succeeded.

The show has humorous moments, some admittedly the director's way of poking fun at a certain ALW musical. Carlotta is portrayed as evil instead of as a buffoon, which made for a lot of fun. The ending is a tearjerker. However, there are negatives: The middle drags in my opinion, and some of the music is downright boring. Nonetheless, that's what previews fix, and this show never had the kind of scrutiny that a Broadway preview crowd would provide.

I have to agree with Kopit (or was it Yeston), who said something to the effect that "Phantom" is the most successful show never to make it to Broadway. Happily, it has received a lot of positive reviews in regional and local theaters. I'm glad I went, but the show didn't touch my core the way ALW's version does.

[Demitri2]

Posted: 11/3/14 at 7:58am

My two cents for what it's worth...:)

Egghumor - Thanks for posting THE AMAZING ADELE poster. I've never seen it before. Tammy Grimes was indeed the star as credited below as Adele:

http://www.ovrtur.com/production/2879740

Miranda3 - The Cleo Laine COLETTE is not the same show. The Broadway bound COLETTE had a very pleasant score by THE FANTASTICKS' Tom Jones & Harvey Schmidt. A few of the songs can be heard on THE LOST BROADWAY cd series. There's also the reworking of the show titled COLETTE COLLAGE available on CD at Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Colette-Collage-1994-Studio-Cast/dp/B0000014U3/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1415018314&sr=1-1&keywords=colette+collage

Mr. Nowack - I also had heard that the rights to THEY SHOOT HORSES DON'T THEY? weren't available so the creators came up with a story set in the same period titled STEEL PIER.

I saw another musical based on Jimmy Durante titled DURANTE that played the Shubert Theatre in Los Angeles. The problem was there was absolutely no conflict in the comedian's life so the book suffered:

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-11-09/news/8901290454_1_club-durant-frank-peppiatt-john-aylesworth

CHAPLIN with Anthony Newley was a show I saw in its first preview and final performance that played the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Of all the shows I've seen pre-Broadway, this one had the most retooling I've ever seen. Songs were either changed or totally dropped, book scenes were rewritten and edited and the whole show was changed for the better. One of the major problems was the creators were unable to get the rights to the Little Tramp character so closely associated with the comic which the audience expected to see at some point in the show. Overall by closing the show was definitely ready for Broadway but lack of funds prevented it from ever opening there.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/3/14 at 11:34am

I'm wondering if Amazing Grace is going to make this list.

I Love Lucy (yet, but doubtful)

It's not really a musical and I don't think they had plans to take it to Broadway.