Flops
Flops
Shakenblaken
Swing Joined: 4/1/12
#6Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:04am
There are critical flops.
There are financial flops.
A critical flop is when the critics pan the show en masse.
A financial flops is when the investors don't make their money back.
Sometimes shows are both .. critical and financial flops.
Sometimes a show that is panned critically, runs anyway.
For example... Mama Mia-- a critical flop (which was critically panned) that is a financial success as it has run for years and has companies in many cities.
Then there is Finian's Rainbow- the Revival a year or two ago that was critically praised but it didn't do well at the box office and was a flop in that it didn't make money. So it was a financial flop.
Then there are shows like the original Carrie. It was critically a flop and financially a flop. Other downright flops which are critically and financially a flop were The Pirate Queen, Shogun the musical, Breakfast at Tiffany's or Holly Golightly, Ari, Home Sweet Homer.
Then there are flops that are a shame- like Bonnie and Clyde, Dear World, Mack and Mabel.
philly03
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/20/07
#12Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:21am
There are also "flop-hits" which flop for either financial reasons (Sunset Boulevard - 3 years on B'way) or both financial and critical reasons (Jekyll & HYDE - 4 years on B'way) which managed to find and audience and last for respectable runs.
There are also mega-flops like WONDERLAND ($13 MIL) or A Tale of Two Cities ($16 MIL) which lose pretty much everything of the investment in an extremely short amount of time.
Updated On: 4/2/12 at 12:21 AM
CurtainPullDowner
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/4/04
#13Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 12:38am
Gertrude Stein once said:
A flop, is a flop, is a flop.
If a show can find it's audience it will make it's investment back and become a Hit.
If a show flounders on discounts and half empty houses for years and can't meet it'e nut and drains the producers' money, it is a Flop.
blaxx
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/28/05
#14Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 2:06am
If it doesn't recoup its investment, it's a flop - whether it ran for 35 years or 1 night.
There's no "critical flops" or, as much as you adore a composer, a "flop-hit". That doesn't exist.
This is the only objective way to measure if the Broadway production, as a business, was profitable or not. It is black and white. Everything else is subjective.
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
After Eight
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/5/09
#17Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 7:38am
^
Nope.
It would have caught on with the public no matter what the critics had said.
Oh, and incidentally, who's to say the critics wouldn't have liked it anyway?
Let's face it. Such "speculation" is just sour grapes on the part of bitter snots who can't stand the thought of audiences having a good time.
#18Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 9:02amPerhaps, but that was also an incredibly speculative statement: "It would have caught on with the public no matter what the critics had said."
lupone76
Featured Actor Joined: 12/9/11
#19Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 9:19amHello people, Mamma Mia can be annoying to some but basically it's 2 1/2 hrs of pure mindless entertainment which is exactly what some people are looking for at the theater. It's totally an escape show. Is it Sondheim, or Les Miz absolutely not. For what it is tho it does well and deserves to run perhaps another 10 years. Keeping audiences happy and feeling good.
#20Flops
Posted: 4/2/12 at 9:28am
It's well speculated that had 9/11 not happened that show would probably not be running right now.
It's also well speculated that based on the international appeal and the overnight hit that occurred when the show opened in the West End in 1999, that it would probably do well on Broadway. Which is why it transferred. I don't think the critics or 9/11 had anything to do with its success on Broadway. It's a show that was always going to appeal to women and tourists (and many gay men).
Actually most people seem to agree on that.
Which people? Musical theatre enthusiasts that don't like Mamma Mia? In that case, most people agree that I'm the best sex they ever had. It's been well speculated.
Perhaps, but that was also an incredibly speculative statement: "It would have caught on with the public no matter what the critics had said."
Perhaps, but there is more support for that statement than saying 9/11 is the only reason the show is still running. Mamma Mia didn't open cold on Broadway. It was a smash in London and the pre-Broadway tour was doing well and picking up steam.
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
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