Favorite Broadway Musical Flops?- Page 3

[Cora Hoover Hooper]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 4:43pm

Did anyone here see Dear World in previews and after it opened? I wonder how much it was changed. It set a record number of previews at the time (something like 2 or 3 months) People were wondering if it would EVER open.............I know the director and  choreographer were canned during the Boston run.

[@z5]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 4:48pm

Gotta say American Psycho and It Shoulda been You. I did enjoy Amelie, too. 

[Shubert Alley Cat]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 6:03pm

Though it was a bit of mess, CRY BABY had its highlights.  The choreography and performance of Ally Mauzey were truly memorable.

I still remember watching that show in disbelief that a big, huge theater (Marquis) could really be that empty.

[bowtie7]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 6:40pm

My favorite has to be The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public.

So glad it got a cd, still love to listen to the score.

And no one who saw it will every forget the phone sex production number

or the prostitutes heading to Washington DC in their Bob Mackie outfits

or Siegfred and Roy being played by a single person  

or the live horse

or the not so now far fetched plot point of Miss Mona becoming president. 

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 6:48pm

I'd really have to search my memory to give a complete answer, but a few that come immediately to mind are:

SCOTSBORO BOYS

RAGTIME

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN ( a very underrated show)

R&H CINDERELLA 

JEKYLL AND HYDE

I'm defining flop as a show that did not recoup, and I'm not certain if Ragtime fits into that category. 

[Ado Annie D'Ysquith]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 8:44pm

And oh my gosh, how could I forget THE VISIT?! Thanks to this show, I can say I saw the legendary Chita Rivera bring the house down live and in person. That whole production was truly unlike anything I'd ever seen on Broadway.

[BwayDreamer00]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 11:39pm

CARRIE is probably the most iconic and notorious flop in Broadway history.....mainly due to its super high anticipation but then disappointing results. I mean come on it had only FIVE performances and the reviews from critics were GOD AWFUL. "The scariest thing about Carrie was that it had a second act"-Some critic from the 80s. I never saw the original 1988 production but there's a ton of videos of it on youtube...I actually find the score to be quite catchy and literally go on youtube right now and look up "Carrie The Musical In Opening Number" as its the original broadway cast doing the opeing number and THE CHOREOGRAPHY IS SO GOODDDDDDDD THEY'RE DOING CARTWHEELS AND TURNS AND ACRO STUFF ITS LIKE WOAHHHHHHHH!! (Make sure its the original 1988 opening not the 2012 revival opening as its very scaled down and different....)

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/12/17 at 11:56pm

Ado Annie D'Ysquith said: "And oh my gosh, how could I forget THE VISIT?! Thanks to this show, I can say I saw the legendary Chita Rivera bring the house down live and in person. That whole production was truly unlike anything I'd ever seen on Broadway."

THE VISIT was an incredible evening of theatre. The evening I saw it I ended up walking out with Donna McKechnie who was, of course, in to watch the show before she was to go into it. I told her I would be back to see her. As we know, that sadly did mot happen.

 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/13/17 at 8:26am

I'm defining flop as a show that did not recoup, and I'm not certain if Ragtime fits into that category. 

Yes.

[asimplegal2]

Posted: 7/13/17 at 11:57pm

All of Jason Robert Brown's shows that have gone to Broadway.

[uncageg]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 12:06am

How did I forget "Merrily We Roll Along"?!! 

Also loved "Shuffle Along". Finally went and got my window card from the show last month.  Fabulous artwork.

[Jarethan]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 12:50am

Cora Hoover Hooper said: "Did anyone here see Dear World in previews and after it opened? I wonder how much it was changed. It set a record number of previews at the time (something like 2 or 3 months) People were wondering if it would EVER open.............I know the director and  choreographer were canned during the Boston run.

 

I saw it three times; first, in Boston; then, in NYC on what was originally supposed to be its opening night; and then again in NYC after it finally opened.  Ironically, I thought the best version was in Boston, where Each Tomorrow Morning was one of the most beautiful production numbers I had seen to date.  The version I  first saw in NYC included a lot of changes, none of which represented much of an improvement over the original. I really don't remember much of a difference between the first NYC version and the ultimate version.

First of all, I always loved the show, flaws and all, for three reasons: Jerry Herman, Angela Lansbury and Angela Lansbury; but, it was not a show that appealed to a lot of people...my parents hated it.  The story was a little too precious, the production was a little too big for the story (it should have been scaled / marketed as an intimate musical and it was scaled as hybrid (intimate story with periodic oversized production numbers), and it died every time Lansbury was off-stage.  

There were some really stupid numbers, e.g., The Spring of Next Year, sung by the bad guys, was focused on how Paris would be filled with oil derricks by the next year; and, in fact, the title number.  I loved the tune, but it was so stupid in the show, 'someone is hurting you, dear world'...'please take your medicine, dear world' that it made you cringe, despite a nice melody.

But Lansbury was so terrific in the lead, and got great support from Jane Connell and Carmen Matthews in particular, that they made me forget it was very twee and really wrong-headed vis-a-vis scale and concept.  

So, this would be somewhere on my list of musical flops, but not too close to the top.  At the very top -- and I am defining flops based on limited performances vs. returning their investments (e.g., Follies and Ragtime should not be evaluated against Drat! The Cat...they were at least seen by at least half-a-million people each) -- are shows like

-- Darling of the Day

-- Drat! The Cat

-- Maggie Flynn

-- The Scottsboro Boys

-- The Visit

-- Shuffle Along

-- King of Hearts (some great numbers and some of the best sets I have seen to date)

-- Cyrano (the version with Christopher Plummer)

-- Marilyn (the London musical, not the Broadway one, which was terrible).

 

Flops mentioned here that are IMO best forgotten in their original incarnation:

-- Prettybelle...a really bad show with once again a magnificent Lansbury and maybe three good songs.

-- Merrily We Roll Along...so bad that it was not even apparent that the score was great until the album was released

-- Smile...awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, awful, etc.

-- Whorehouse...I was embarrassed for the cast.  Hated every second of it.

 

[markypoo]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 9:19am

I saw Dear World at a preview in January 1969.  The Sewerman had a song that was later cut called "Have A Little Pity".  Kurt Petersen's character had a number called "I Like Me" that was probably cut to make room for the "Each Tomorrow Morning" reprise.

I was 13 - and seeing Angela Lansbury live on stage - and at the Hellinger!

[Cora Hoover Hooper]

Posted: 7/14/17 at 11:13am

Thanks for both of your insights on Dear World. I'd heard all the tinkering didnt really help the show and it was better before all the changes. At least Lansbury's performance is preserved on the cast album.

Someone told me that the title song (not the best in the show, that's for sure) was originally sung by a child as a solo and was not the big production number in the show when it opened.

Updated On: 7/14/17 at 11:13 AM

[CoolDogeGuy]

Posted: 7/16/17 at 11:59pm

asoftplacetoland said: "What went wrong for Amelie? I found the soundtrack to be pretty enjoyable."

 

I KNOW RIGHT! The score is beautiful (well, to me)!