Teacher requesting help: Notable flop/disaster/bizarre PLAYS?

[edmundog2]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 11:58am

Hello! I'm a drama teacher, and I'm preparing a card game for my students where they will be dealt cards with various plays and musicals on them, and they will have to discard, draw, and trade to create a hand that will serve as the best possible season for a community theater. They'll have to consider genres, themes, tones, budgets, cast sizes, etc.

So with all that in mind, I thought it would be fun to throw in some famous fiascoes in there as sort of wild cards. Spider-Man, Carrie, Legs Diamond, etc. Some remembered only in their failure, some redeemed by time, it adds a fun twist to the game. The problem is, I can mostly only think of musicals, and any time I try to research, all I get is musicals. And that makes sense, musicals are more flashy, and thus more remembered. But as it stands, of the 30 flop cards I intend to make, I've currently got 15 musicals and Moose Murders.

So can anyone think of some more flop plays? I'm looking for any combination of:

* Horrible reviews
* Short runs
* Vanity projects
* Bloated budgets
* Audience-alienating stories
* Good shows that didn't find an audience

Thanks in advance!

[verywellthensigh]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 12:05pm

Children, Children--Gwen Verdon's sole non-musical role

Prymate--Infamous flop about a masturbating ape that knows sign language

And Things That Go Bump In the Night--Terrence McNally's first Broadway outing

Clothes From A Summer Hotel, Vieux Carre, The Two Character Play, The Milk Train Doesn't Stop Here Anymore--Tennessee Williams flops

Festen--Still popular in Europe, bombed here

 

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 12:17pm

the murder mystery farce Moose Murders is one of the most notorious bombs in Broadway history, closing on opening night.

Father's Day by Oliver Hailey closed on opening night but still managed to score Tony nominations for Best Actress and Best Scenic Design. 

Paris is Out! the only attempt Donald Trump made at producing a Broadway show was considered a flop, getting mediocre at best reviews and running 96 performances

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 12:35pm

Getting Away With Murder, a flop play notable only because Stephen Sondheim co-wrote it. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 12:40pm

Julia Roberts' Three Days of Rain was a pretty big flop.

[cmorrow]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 1:05pm

Fascinating flop from 1966, UTBU (which stands for “Unhealthy to Be Unpleasant”). It was a black comic farce, directed by Nancy Walker, which starred Tony Randall as an aging ham actor who plots to murder his 94 year-old mother, played by Thelma Ritter. Also in the cast, Tom Aldredge and Margaret Hamilton. Sounds intriguing to say the least, but it got scathing reviews, and played only 7 performances.

[JSquared2]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 1:38pm

dramamama611 said: "Julia Roberts' Three Days of Rain was a pretty big flop."

 

How so?  It was an impossible to get ticket, every performance sold out, and there were so many people waiting at the stage door that you couldn't walk down 45th Street!

 

[MayAudraBlessYou2]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 2:16pm

Depending on the age of the kids and the overall attitudes of your area, you may or may not want to include it, but I immediately thought of The Performers. An infamous flop. Cheyenne Jackson, Henry Winkler, and Alicia Silverstone were in it, playing "adult entertainment" actors. Had a major marketing push behind it due to the names in it, but after previews, it only lasted 6 performances. Since it didn't play a full 8 show week of regular performances, it suddenly wasn't even eligible for Tonys that season.

You could also include Frankenstein. The only non-musical play to perform at the Palace Theatre. It had a budget of $2 million, positively massive for 1981, which was 4 times the budget producers originally agreed to. It was supposed to be a major spectacle event, but after a short preview period it only played one single regular performance, closing after opening night.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 2:49pm

The Leaf People — Produced by the Public Theatre on Broadway in an attempt to have an ongoing venue for plays that might not otherwise be produced.  AWFUL.  The entire show was performed in a made up language, with interpreters in a pod over the stage.   To this day, I cannot guess what it was about.  I always refer to this as the worst show I ever saw.

Gary — I purchased tix in advance because of the cast: Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin (who escaped before it opened).  A farce occurring after the killing spree in Titus Andronicus…could have been funny.  It was decidedly not.

Marco Polo Sings a Solo — another bad Public Theatre mistake (they produced many, many great productions…this was not one of them.  All star cast.  I have no idea what it was about.  My wife remembers Joel Grey being raped by a tree.  I do not.  I do remember someone dying at my feet, which meant that I could not fidget for the rest of the show.  I assume they did it because it was written by John Guatemala, who wrote a few great plays as well as some truly awful ones.

Little Malcolm — An (I think) 7 performance fiasco by Edward Albee (who was still to win 2 Pulitzer awards).   I was too young to understand what it was trying to say, but there were mega-walkouts and the faintest applause I have ever heard in a theatre.  Again too young, but I remember being bored.  Stayed until everything was over in those days, else i would have left.

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 2:53pm

JSquared2 said: "dramamama611 said: "Julia Roberts' Three Days of Rain was a pretty big flop."



How so? It was an impossible to get ticket, every performance sold out, and there were so many people waiting at the stage door that you couldn't walk down 45th Street!"

 

Perhaps I'm confusing it with something or someone else.    (Hmmm...wonder what?)   I vividly remember discussion of a big actress have a big flop on Bway.  

 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 2:58pm

I don't know if this counts but I remember hearing that 1984 literally had audiences fainting and vomiting and getting into fights

[George in DC]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 5:43pm

Shogun

Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public

Bring Back Birdie

Merlin

Copperfield

 

All flops

[The Other One]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 6:38pm

dramamama611 said: "Julia Roberts' Three Days of Rain was a pretty big flop."

Not applicable.  It was a box office hit and had been a critical one as well in an earlier production that starred Patricia Clarkson.  

[two ladies tickets]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 6:38pm

Glory Days, closed on opening night. 

The Velocity of Autumn, closed the week after it opened.

Living on Love, closed the week that it opened. 

Bobbi Boland, never opened 

[KevinKlawitter]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 6:52pm

George in DC said: "Shogun

Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public

Bring Back Birdie

Merlin

Copperfield



All flops"

Me: wait... there was a Shogun MUSICAL!?!

*googles, finds NYT review*:

• Had the actor Philip Casnoff not been beaned by a falling slab of scenery at a press preview last week, "Shogun: The Musical" might have been best remembered as the first Broadway musical extravaganza to beguile an audience with a song about a dildo

​​​​​The deeper I dig, the more questions I have...

[merle57]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 7:09pm

Breakfast at Tiffanys musical with Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain

Lolita by Edward Albee 

Time of the Barracudas (closed in tryout) 

The Advocate - play

Standup Tragedy 

 

 

[ijest22]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 8:05pm

Taller Than a Dwarf

[dramamama611]

Posted: 4/23/25 at 8:10pm

The Other One said: "dramamama611 said: "Julia Roberts' Three Days of Rain was a pretty big flop."

Not applicable. It was a box office hit and had been a critical one as well in an earlier production that starred Patricia Clarkson."

Yes, I'd already addressed the other poster that pointed out my error. 

[TarHeelAlan]

Posted: 4/24/25 at 9:58am

Jarethan said: "Gary — I purchased tix in advance because of the cast: Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin (who escaped before it opened). A farce occurring after the killing spree in Titus Andronicus…could have been funny. It was decidedly not."

Ditto here. I had high hopes for a show with both Lane and Martin. It was dreadful. 45 previews, 65 performances, and I was stunned that it lasted that long. I wonder if Andrea felt that after leaving the show due to breaking 4 ribs during rehearsal she got the better end of the deal. 

What surprises me to this day is six Tony nominations, including Best Play (!) and Best Director. 

 

[IronMan]

Posted: 4/24/25 at 2:36pm

One person mentioned the Farrah Fawcett bomb Bobbi Boland (which closed after a week of previews), and I'd add Hwang's Face Value which is the only other play I know of to close before it opened.

I saw them both.  Closing them could be considered a mercy killing.  

[edmundog2]

Posted: 4/24/25 at 2:50pm

These are some magnificent suggestions, thank you so much! (And I actually have a few of these scripts lying around my apartment, so all the better!)

[Wick3]

Posted: 4/25/25 at 8:56am

TarHeelAlan said: "Jarethan said: "Gary — I purchased tix in advance because of the cast: Nathan Lane and Andrea Martin (who escaped before it opened). A farce occurring after the killing spree in Titus Andronicus…could have been funny. It was decidedly not."

Ditto here. I had high hopes for a show with both Lane and Martin. It was dreadful. 45 previews, 65 performances, and I was stunned that it lasted that long. I wonder if Andrea felt thatafter leaving the show due to breaking 4 ribs during rehearsalshe got the better end of the deal.

What surprisesme to this day issix Tony nominations, including Best Play (!) and Best Director.

"

The only thing I liked about Gary was its artwork in marketing. I still have my sippy souvenir cup from Gary and it's one of my favorite designs.

Not sure if "My Son's a Queer" play would count? It was slated to be on Broadway at the Lyceum (yes they sold tickets)  but was then cancelled. 

"The Inheritance" play wasn't really selling well and was scheduled to close in March 2020. Yes it won Best Play at the Tony's but it can also be argued that it only won because a lot of its competition that season were not open yet due to covid mandate closure.

"Ain't No Mo" sadly didn't find an audience. 

 

[ggersten]

Posted: 4/25/25 at 7:32pm

79 Performances - but just a scenic design Tony nomination - "A Matter of Gravity" starring Katherine Hepburn - and a pre-Superman Christopher Reeve.  I don't think it was  "flop" as Wikipedia said it was scheduled for only a 12 week run on Broadway. But it was definitely a bit bizarre.

I saw it in in the post-Broadway tour in Los Angeles (with my AP English class on a field trip up from San Diego) but don't recall if it was  before Hepburn broke her ankle and performed in a wheel chair - which would have made her levitating during the show to be even more interesting.

I haven't seen it since but recall that it was not a very good play - but I can say I saw Katherine Hepburn live on stage - even if I don't recall much (well, hardly any) of the play. .