Dave13 -- just one note on your original post, and apologies in advance if I'm reading this wrong, but when you say it's shocking that "they" plan to have these productions, I would just note that the Broadway producers may not have anything to do with the productions in Australia or Brazil.
I honestly don't know one way or the other, but foreign productions are often done in partnership with or entirely under the auspices of a local producer who raises a lot (and sometimes all) of the money and assumes most of the risk. It's not impossible that the Broadway producers are mounting these additional productions but I suspect, for any number of reasons (including the feelings expressed in this thread), that this is not the case and that the "they" in each instance is a different group of people, each of which feels that the show has legs in their country notwithstanding the negative reception it received on Broadway.
Apropos of the NYT article this past Sunday, it will also be interesting to see if they make changes for the upcoming national tour which, if received more favorably, would likely make their way into these other productions as well.
"No matter how much you want the part, never let 'em see you sweat." -- Old Dry Idea commercial