"Fix" a musical by giving it a new team

Here's a game, inspired by a brunch conversation about Beaches this morning...

Who would you hire to improve (or re-do) a flop show?

 

For BEACHES, it seems obvious to focus on creatives with experience doing shows about young women:

• SCORE: Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman (+ a few songs from the movie), with a musical style that tracks the evolution of the decades
• BOOK: Kimberly Belflower
• DIRECTOR: Jessica Stone
• LEADING LADIES: Gracie Lawrence and Helen J Shen (with no separate teenage versions)

 

Set design by anyone inventive who can give us good-looking sand and water in the beach scenes. Costumes by anyone who understands period specificity. Like Beowulf Boritt and Linda Cho.

Put it in a 1,000-seat house (like the Barrymore or Longacre) where an intimate story can thrive. Add 3 people to the onstage cast for greater age/racial diversity and less doubling. Cut the band down to 12. Charlie Rosen can stay on as orchestrator. Bette Midler gets a fat financial offer to be an honorary producer and does a few media appearances.

ALL PROBLEMS SOLVED in a fictional world!

Updated On: 4/26/26 at 08:23 PM

I completely agree with this BEACHES fix.

Shaiman KNOWS how to right for this style and would have been great. If they got WBMW, Think It's going to Rain Today, Otto Titsling and The Glory of Love. It would have completely felt fully realized. I would have been curious what someone like Derek McLane would have done for set design. 

I would love DOLLY the Musical to be fixed by getting Jason Howland or Des Mcanuff to take on the direction, Kristin Chenoweth to take on Dolly (or Megan Hilty a secondly), I would love David Korins for set design, and I love to have a Harvey Fierstein dramaturgical work on the book. 

Just imagine if Sondheim had said yes to GROUNDHOG DAY.

 

EDSOSLO858 said: "Just imagine if Sondheim had said yes to GROUNDHOG DAY.

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To be fair, I don’t think there was anything necessarily wrong with Groundhog Day.

I was thinking QoV with Weidman could be interesting, but Tesori/Kushner would work too

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Theatrefanboy1 said: "I would love DOLLY the Musical to be fixed by getting Jason Howland or Des Mcanuff to take on the direction, Kristin Chenoweth to take on Dolly (or Megan Hilty a secondly), I would love David Korins for set design, and I love to have a Harvey Fierstein dramaturgical work on the book."

Did you mean a different Jason? Jason Howland is the Great Gatsby/Little Women composer? But yes, that show sounds like it has a super weird creative team for what it actually is."

The Prom, with an entirely different ending, where she remains single at the end, she doesn’t get another prom and she simply says “I might not have a girlfriend, or a prom, or a town / but I have MY SELF.” A score written by She and Him (Zoey Deschanel’s musical group), directed by Billie Aken-Tyers and choreographed by Bo Park.

ErmengardeStopSniveling said: "Theatrefanboy1 said: "I would love DOLLY the Musical to be fixed by getting Jason Howland or Des Mcanuff to take on the direction, Kristin Chenoweth to take on Dolly (or Megan Hilty a secondly), I would love David Korins for set design, and I love to have a Harvey Fierstein dramaturgical work on the book."

Did you mean a different Jason? Jason Howland is the Great Gatsby/Little Women composer? But yes, that show sounds like it has a super weird creative team for what it actually is."

Sorry, not Jason Howland... Marc Bruni director of Beautiful: The Carole King Story. 

 

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown with direction by either Michael Arden or Tina Landau.

Please give Time Traveler's Wife to Ingrid Michaelson and Jordan Harrison.

BwayLB said: "Give Xanadu a new book writer"

I couldn't disagree more. The book of Xanadu was hilarious, told a nice, compact story, and used the songs to great comedic effect. Beane took a notoriously sub-par movie and turned it into a joyful, laugh-a-minute satire, and he was absolutely the right person for the job.

Yeah, Xanadu worked because of Beane's (very funny) book which managed to somehow be both sincere and a send-up. 

The Devil Wears Prada

Director/ Choreographer- Christopher Gatelli

Book Writer- Emerald Fennell

Composer- Rachel Bloom

Costume Design- Paul Tazwell

Then write Miranda to have the same vocal range as Desiree in Little Night Music, and you can parade a heaping list of character actresses like they tried to do with Norma back in the 90s: 

Parker Posey, Jane Lynch, Bianca DelRio, Heather Headley

"Big",  a musical about the tension between the freedoms of youth and the wisdom of age, should perhaps have had a writing team with a median age under fifty.