Last year, the off-Broadway mess "Idol: The Musical" closed on opening night (countless people walked out during the intermissionless show during previews - the gall to charge $55 prices to see basically high school & college students who had never stepped foot onto an off-Broadway stage in their lives, according to their bio's in the playbill).
Hmmm, do I detect strong foreshadowing here? The strong implication is....what new Broadway musical may close after one performance (excluding previews)? Hehe :)
"what new Broadway musical may close after one performance (excluding previews)?"
The nature of producing has evolved in certain ways, so that closing on opening night, or after opening weekend, is UNHEARD of. The last new Broadway musical to close on opening night was Dance a Little Closer in 1983. The likelihood of this happening now are VERY slim. There have been dozens of musicals to run longer than a few performances, since 1983, that are far worse than anything in previews on Broadway right now.
That's a really interesting question, verynewyorkcurious. I'd be interested to hear people's opinions on that... I think the problem though, is that once a show "hits" or "flops" the preview period is looked at through rose- colored glasses, with hindsight either being too kind or too cruel.
There are 2 plays that are wonderful to read: "johnny one time" was a 1967 broadway flop by Mary Mercier. Had the play done better, I truly believe that Mary Mercier would be one of our all-time best known playwrights, but the disappointment was enough for her so she lost confidence. There is a terrific full length book about the production called "On Stage". Don Scardino, who has since become a director, was the lead, with Sada Thompson, Pat Hingle, James Broderick, and Bernadette Peters playing other roles. The text of the play, with a fascinating essay, is in a great book called "Broadway's Beautiful Losers" (which also includes another short-lived flop play I love: "Look: We've Come Through" - believe it or not, Burt Reynolds was in that play!)"johnny one time" would be a great play to revive off-broadway.
The other one performance play that is shockingly good to read is "Father's Day" by Oliver Hailey. Marian Seldes got a tony nomination for it in 1971. Again, an off-broadway production of it would be great. There have often been plays on broadway that were too small and belonged off-broadway.
When I was in high school, I had the (mis)fortune to see a preview of a Broadway musical entitled "A Broadway Musical". It then rightfully closed on opening night. Here's its IBDB page:
How many performances did RAGS play? Wasn't it like 4 or 5?
"Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there - fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge - they were all messages of love. If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love actually is all around."
Mambo Kings was supposed to play at the Broadway a few years ago, and already had the marquee up, but never made it. Color Purple ended up there instead.
The Manbo Kings was not worth a cent! Dreadful production!
A young actress with Noel coward after a dreadful opening night performance said to him 'Well, i knew my lines backwards this morning!''
Noels fast reply was ''Yes dear, and thats exactly how you said them tonight'!'
