FLASHDANCE THE MUSICAL Coming to Broadway in Fall 2012

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To quote Sheridan Whiteside, "I may vomit."

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I left this show at the interval and if it wasn't for the sake I was with some industry folk I would have left after 15 mins. The worst show I've seen since woman in white

Ugh, this was the worst show I saw in my last 3 trips to London. It was absolutely terrible. I almost left at intermission to try and catch a different show instead (it was a 5:00 pm matinee). I stuck it out hoping it would get better, but it was such a train wreck. LET IT DIE!

These kinds of shows do better in London anyway and, as mentioned, didn't it flop there? Will it be vastly changed?

The movie is a guilty pleasure and I have a near sick love for even the campest of Giorgo Moroder's dance and disco music--I know years back Moroder was apparently working on a full stage show, but from what I've read none of the songs used in the musical are from him (are they jukebox tunes? a new score?)

If Mister Matt says it's worse than the ATROCIOUS stage version of Fame (which I had the horror to perform in as a teen), then I'm especially worried. I do have some guilty pleasure feelings for Footloose though (as ell as Sat Night Fever which both at least made more sense on stage than Flashdance does).

"That said, there is a major focus in producing musicals based on films from the late 80's/early 90's. I guess someone thought nostalgia from this specific period would sell so well (not). "

Exactly, particlularly ones that have a beloved/now nostalgic soundtrack. No matter that most if not all of these shows were not musicals in any true sense--they just had iconic soundtrack moments (Dirty Dancing, the three Fs, Sat Night Fever, etc all fall into this category) and much more often than not it's hard to shoe horn the songs into an "actual" musical.

Sorry but i have to say i enjoyed it. It was far better than shows like Fame and Footloose (and i think the UK Footloose is pretty good, the Broadway one was a wreck). The show actually got some OK reviews as well it just did not catch on. Oddly it's pre West End tour (that was very different to what opened in London) was a huge success.

I think the score has some real gems in it, i remember The Long Way Home was a brilliant ballad in act 1 that was stuck in my head for weeks, i also loved the opening number and a great song they had in a dance studio called High Art. For me the only duff songs were Totally Different People and Up In Smoke

It's not as playful as the other 80s shows and did actually have a heart to it. It will be good to see what they have done with it. I would take Flashdance over most of the jukebox musicals anyday, at least they gave it a fresh score (apart from the few famous songs from the film)

Musical numbers
Act 1
Working Man's Orchestra - Company
Steeltown Sky - Alex and Company
Up In Smoke -Hannah and Alex.
In Touch With The Beat - Keisha, Jazmin, Gloria and Alex
High Art - Alex and Company
Maniac - Keisha, Jazmin and Gloria
The Long Way Home - Gloria
Totally Different People- Alex, Sammy, Abe, Joe and Hannah
Manhunt - Keisha, Jazmin and Gloria
Don't Stop - Nick and Alex
Don't Stop (Reprise)- Alex
My Next Step - Alex, Jimmy, Jazmin, Keisha and Company
Act 2
Working Man's Orchestra - Company
New Economy - Dr Kool, CC, Jimmy, Nick and William Hurley
You Can't Keep Me Down - Jimmy and Company
You're Not Done - Hannah and Alex
I Love Rock and Roll - played on radio
Gloria - Keisha and Jazmin
Don't Stop (Reprise) - Alex
In Touch With The Beat (Reprise)- Keisha
What A Feeling - Keisha, Jazmin and Gloria


PS fashionguru_23 The plot was beefed out for the show, still not great but worked fine.

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Updated On: 12/15/11 at 06:22 PM

I thought it was ok when I saw it. Could use some major improvements or changes, but I still don't feel it'll be a success on Broadway. Would like a cast recording though - I liked some of the songs..

I've only seen the movie. It was so boring. The dog was the best part. Did he get cut from the musical?

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To those asking "WHY?? all the musicals from movies of this period???"... simple. The generation that grew up with them is now successful enough (hopefully) to afford the tickets to see them again all dressed up in shiny new party frocks.

They might be able to afford the tickets, but they are not buying them. Most of these 80's/90's adaptations have proven to be real flops.

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Wow.

Okay, when she took off the welder's mask, I thought "LESBIAN!!"

-- and she did nothing in the rest of the clip to dispute that.

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You know, as horrendous as the results might be, if you're gonna go mining stuff like this because you're having trouble thinking of an original plot, there's a whole spate of movies out there from the period that would seem far better suited to adaptation. SIXTEEN CANDLES seems so obvious I'm surprised no one's thought of it. Ditto PRETTY IN PINK. These at least have (1) reasonable places to build a musical number and (2) an actual plot.

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And it was difficult to find any sketch comedy show that *didnt* do a riff off that water-cascade-on-the-chair scene.

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