BROADWAY FLOPS- Page 2

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:33am

"Merlin was NOT a flop.

It ran for over 200 performances and was nominated for FIVE Tony Awards including BEST MUSICAL."

Maybe in that respect it wasn't a flop. It still could have been a financial flop. Look at Thoroughly Modern Millie. It wasn't a flop in terms of show quality. It attracted a lot of people. It was nominated for a lot of Tonys and won 6 of them, including Best Musical. It had a healthy 2 year run. Despite these factors, Millie did not recoup its investment, therefore making it a financial flop. I believe it only made up somewhere between 80-85 percent of its investment.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:35am

But they are now releasing the rights and did a tour, I am pretty sure they are making the money back.

[west end artist1]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:35am

millie lost money in london to ,is there anywhere this show diddnt flop?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:36am

And did Millie lose any money on the national tour?

Updated On: 6/26/06 at 12:36 AM

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:37am

Merlin also lost at least four million dollars. No matter how long the run, that's a flop. Sorry.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:38am

It did well at the La Jolla Playhouse. Millie that is.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:40am

Yes, but it still lost money on Broadway, on tour, and according to west end artist, in London.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:40am

I am pretty sure it did okay on tour.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:41am

Does anyone know how much Lestat lost? If it was posted, I missed it. That had to be a pretty penny.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:43am

Doing "okay" doesn't mean it recouped the investment.

I miss this show though. Sutton owned the role.

[neddyfrank2]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:44am

By OKAY I mean I don't think it lost a significant amount of money.

[nobodyhome]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 1:27am

Yeah, Merlin most assuredly was a flop. And not only in the traditional Variety definition of a flop as a show that doesn't return its investment (though it didn't return its investment).

By 1983, a six-month run for a big, expensive Broadway musical was definitely a flop run. And God knows that Merlin got flop reviews.

Now that some shows run two or even three years and still fail to return their investment, it might be time to rethink the traditional Variety definition. But, personally, I think the definition does make sense.

But Merlin was not the biggest flop in Broadway history, neither in terms of its run nor in terms of how much money it lost. It's possible that at the time it was produced, it lost more money than any earlier show had. But I'm sure that it lost only a fraction of what Dance of the Vampires or The Scarlet Pimpernel or Lestat lost.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 1:34am

Merlin ran 162 performances. It was a huge finacial flop. And yes it was nominated for 5 Tonys including Best Musical but it was a flop. A Class Act was nominated for Best Musical and had other Tony noms to but it was a flop. Merlin was a flop.

FUN FACT: One time when Nathan Lane was interviewd and was asked a question about Merlin he said "The remarkeble thing about Merlin was that Doug Henning could also make the audience disappear!" LOL

[west end artist1]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 9:54am

i know that millies uk tour was a flop it was playing to 500 people a night in 2000 capacity theatres

[boxers7]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 10:38am

What about OLDEST LIVING CONFEDERATE... everyone always talks about flops but no one ever brings up this show that opened and closed in one day.

[west end artist1]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 10:46am

hey boxers7 tell me more about this show

[jimnysf]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 11:49am

"Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public"
"Lestat"
"Moose Murders"
"Mack and Mabel"
"Got Tu Go Disco"
"Via Galactica" (8 performances)
"The Prince of Central Park"
"Frankenstein"
"Rockabye Hamlet" (7 performances)
"Dude" (16 performances)
"The Capeman"

"Breakfast at Tiffany's", "The Mambo Kings" are two shows that closed before they opened.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 11:56am

The Wind in the Willows

Starred Nathan Lane as Toad (before he was famous) and Vicki Lewis as Mole. It had 9 previews and 1 performance.

[west end artist1]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 12:20pm

WIND IN THE WILLOWS WOW

that show is always been donr over here

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 6/26/06 at 1:40pm

Well, there have been different productions of it!


I`ve never seen or heard the music so I don`t know which one it was!