What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#0What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 4:44pm
My pick would be PRETTYBELLE.
PRETTYBELLE opened in Boston in 1971 with a Jule Styne/Bob Merrill score.
Angela Lansbury played a troubled housewife in the Deep South whose redneck husband locked her up in a mental instituion.
Lansbury received rave notices (as always) but critics panned the show (subject matter bothered a lot of them) and it closed out of town.
It has been recorded on CD; I do not know if it is still available.
My PRETTYBELLE personal highlight: Lansbury singing "You Never Looked Better" to dead husband at his funeral.
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
#1re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 4:46pmDance of the Vampires DEFINITELY deserves another chance! it was so good! it's too bad it closed so quickly!
#2re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 4:47pmTABOO!
I have my books and my poetry to protect me...
GovernorSlaton
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/14/04
#3re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 4:55pmParade, of course.
Spooky
Featured Actor Joined: 7/20/04
#4re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 4:57pm
Urinetown
Steel Pier
#5re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 4:59pmTaboo
"But I relish every brillant inspired moment. This is who I'm determined to be- an actor/singer/dancer-no, I take that back, this is who I am. These people are my tribe, my destiny. I know it.
-How I Paid for College; A story of sex, theft, friendship and musical theater.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#6re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:01pmUrinetown didn't fail. It ran for nearly 1000 performances and turned a very healthy profit.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 10/9/04 at 05:01 PM
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#7re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:04pm
Spooky,
I agree. I have only LISTENED to STEEL PIER, but it SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT SHOW.
Did you ever see it?
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#8re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:08pmI saw Steel Pier -- it made two and a half hours feel like a 6 month dance marathon....... bored me to tears.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Chrysanthemum62001
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/14/04
#9re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:12pmTaboo, Tom Sawyer, and Romance, Romance (just because I would love to have seen them)
"What a mystery this world. One day you love them and the next day you want to kill them a thousand times over." The Masked Bandit in THE FALL
Matt_G
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/1/04
#10re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:12pmYou really didn't miss much with TOM SAWYER. Believe me.
"Noah, someday we'll talk again. But there's things we'll never say. That sorrow deep inside you. It inside me, too. And it never go away. You be okay. You'll learn how to lose things..."
GirlfriendFromCanada
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/7/03
#11re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:15pm
Taboo, no question. Saddens me to this day that it is gone.
MargoChanning
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/5/04
#12re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:18pmTom Sawyer was painful to sit through.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
[http://margochanning.broadwayworld.com/]
"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
#13re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:19pmCats and Les Miz (LOL!).... No really Taboo needed a bit more time
"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."
Conan O'Brien
Al Dente
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/22/03
#14re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:19pmMy usual answer to this question, Fascinating Rhythm. If only to re-assemble that stunning and inspired cast, most of which have gone on to much success. As a matter of fact, I think every lead in the show (Michael Berresse, Darius De Haas, Adrien Lenox, Orfeh, Sara Ramirez, Patrick Wilson), has been doing rather well ever since, most notably board favorite, Patrick Wilson.
#15re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:26pm
Carrie
Chess
Tenderloin
Goldilocks
Parade
Jane Eyre
The Human Comedy
Dance of the Vampires
Hallelujah, Baby! (biggest Tony-winning flop)
The Most Happy Fella
Pipe Dream
Flora, the Red Menace
The Rink
Rags
"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian
Chris537
Swing Joined: 10/7/04
#16re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 5:59pmFrankenstein. Does anyone remember?
magruder
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/15/03
#17re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 6:01pm
The cast recording of Prettybelle doesn't reflect exactly what was heard in Boston. The show opened with "Prettybelle" and that Overture was written for the album. "I'm In A Tree" was cut in Boston. There is an extensive "John Sweet Ballet" and an incidental song for Charlotte Rae's character that were not recorded.
I've studied that show pretty extensively and have a full tape of a performance and I'm pretty confident that "You Never Looked Better" never actually made it into the production. It was going to go in in New York, but it was never actually performed. Because it was never finished, Styne actually wrote the lyrics for the male chorus that opens the song ("Poor Leroy's gone to heaven..." etc.) expressly for the album.
Also, it's not quite accurate that the critics praised Lansbury while hating the show. Prettybelle surprised Bostonians when the normally conservative Elliot Norton raved for the production, and Kevin Kelley panned it.
"Gif me the cobra jool!"
#18re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 6:15pm
Hands Down:
PARADE
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
And you think of all of the things you've seen, and you wish that you could live in between ,and you're back again only different than before...
After the Sky.
-Into the Woods (Jack)
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#19re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 6:21pm
GOLDILOCKS! Yes!!!
Elaine Strich and Don Ameche trading one-liners (they had that nonlovesong, "No One Will Ever Love You Like You Do")
Margaret Hamilton!
Last scene: EGYPT ON THE HUDSON!
And how can you forget Russell Nype's plaintive, "Shall I Take My Heart and Go?"
Do you think Stritch is too old to give it another go? 
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
BroadwayGirl107
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/26/03
#20re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 6:26pmThe Wild Party (Lippa)
Mary_Ethel
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/6/04
#21re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 6:29pmWhat is THE WILD PARTY? :)
"I say YOU'RE the CUTEST one. No, I say YOU'RE the CUTEST One. And we go on like that from dawn to three."
LindsayAnne
Swing Joined: 9/11/04
#22re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 6:35pmTaboo. I was all hyped up to see that one, & then it closed before I had a chance to get down to the city. *shakes fist*
millie_dillmount
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/22/04
#23re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 6:49pmI would like to have seen Thoroughly Modern Millie with a longer run. Also the revival of Gypsy and Little Shop of Horrors. I am not sure if Gypsy recouped their initial investment.
"We like to snark around here. Sometimes we actually talk about theater...but we try not to let that get in our way." - dramamama611
BWayBoy88
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/23/04
#24re: What Shows That Failed Do You Think Deserve A Second Chance?
Posted: 10/8/04 at 7:17pmI think Taboo just needed a better, more experienced producer.
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