Flops of the season.

SomethingPeculiar said: "If I recall, shows now have to play beyond Opening Night for insurance/investment purposes. (Hogan or someone can explain more eloquently.) If a show was reallydoing poorly with no chance of improving, they'd stumble through opening, and post closing soon after, giving the actors the proper required notice.

TKTS in the first week of previews is not a sign of failure. It's better to sell seats than leave them empty, and it can help build buzz.Not many shows are sold out in the first few weeks.

Ain't Too Proudhas a lot of great reviews coming out of its out-of-town tryout, and is supposedly one of the better jukebox musicals in years. Reviews/buzz could help it. Previews also don't start for another few weeks. You also might not be the target for its advertising.

We've already had 2 flops (Gettin the Band and Head Over Heels), one on its way to flopland (King Kong), and possible another yet to open (Beetlejuice). And some question-marks (Be More Chill, The Prom, etc). Let's see what happens over the next 10 weeks."

Not sure of any reason to keep it running until opening night, but I've heard of shows staying open longer for licensing and stuff.

Also, agree re. TKTS. Shows are often up there during previews!

I see "Ain't Too Proud" ads all over town.

SomethingPeculiar said: "If I recall, shows now have to play beyond Opening Night for insurance/investment purposes. (Hogan or someone can explain more eloquently.) If a show was reallydoing poorly with no chance of improving, they'd stumble through opening, and post closing soon after, giving the actors the proper required notice.

TKTS in the first week of previews is not a sign of failure. It's better to sell seats than leave them empty, and it can help build buzz.Not many shows are sold out in the first few weeks.

Ain't Too Proudhas a lot of great reviews coming out of its out-of-town tryout, and is supposedly one of the better jukebox musicals in years. Reviews/buzz could help it. Previews also don't start for another few weeks. You also might not be the target for its advertising.

We've already had 2 flops (Gettin the Band and Head Over Heels), one on its way to flopland (King Kong), and possible another yet to open (Beetlejuice). And some question-marks (Be More Chill, The Prom, etc). Let's see what happens over the next 10 weeks."

Summer also flopped x

n2nbaby said: "Summer is not from this season."

It flopped during this season

Haha, me too! :)

WhizzerMarvin said: "I believe the last show to close in preview was Bobbi Boland (7 previews) in 2003.

Other shows of note to close in previews:

Senator Joe (3) 1989

Truckload (6) 1975

Face Value ( 1993

And probably my favorite, Me Jack, You Jill (16) 1976

I have a glorious audio of Me Jack, You Jill and some of it takes place in a theater. At one point all the lights in the onstage theater go out and one of the characters says, if you don’t turn on these lights, I’m going to close the show, to which the audience starts clapping and jeering the proceedings! It’s the closest I’ve ever heard to an audience mutiny. At one point, the windowcard was hanging in Joe Allen.

I thought I was a theatre geek. I remember Bobbi Boland...saw it at the Cort and thought it was pretty bad, but I'd seen some shows even worse before (and since),e.g., The Leaf People, We Interrupt This Program, Checking Out. I remember Senator Joe (didn't see it), don't even recall the other two.

Updated On: 2/16/19 at 12:47 AM

Be More Chill may very well flop once the audience drys up in a few months, but just because there is a hand-full of seats left each night does not mean this is a massive disaster the same way we see with other shows time and time again. Proof will be in the grosses, but I suspect there will be a decent start for this song.

David10086 said: "Impossible2 said: "Summer also flopped x"
Don't know if I'd be quick to add it to this list... I know it probably didn't make back all it's money, but looking at the production it didn't look like there was much money invested, either. Also, it had a decent run of eight months, and was in the "million dollar club" the first few months of it's run. Granted it didn't sustain that box office past June, but I don't consider it a flop like "Margartiavile" or "Head Over Heels". (Just my two cents)."


Flop = an unprofitable show, or a show that is poorly received by critics. Summer (A) did not recoup, (B) got bad reviews, and (C) only got 2 Tony nominations and did not win any. That all adds up to a flop.

The show cost $12 million to produce, in addition to its weekly operating costs. Perhaps it returned a little bit of money to investors at the end of the summer, and it wasn't as reviled as colossal failures like Gettin' the Head Over Margaritaville, but that still doesn't change the fact that the investors lost money.

Look. I know Be More Chill isn't everybody's cup of tea, and believe me it is far from my favorite show of all-time. But come on...do you honestly think it's gonna flop so bad that it closes during previews or right after opening night? We'll see how much staying power it has in the long run, but I guarantee you it'll be more than that.

Andres_123 said: "Be more chill is actually selling really well, todays 2pm performance only had two seats left. It’s first preview along with Thursday’s and Friday’s show didn’t sell out but had two to five seats left. I truly don’t believe this show will close right after it opens I see it lasting till at least January of 2020."



Tons of papering is being done, and anyone who shows up for rush gets in --- both great ways to show 100% capacity, but lousy ways to keep a show running. One of the lead producers of this show is former Davenport disciple Jennifer Ashley Tepper --- and Ms. Tepper appears to be borrowing liberally from the Davenport playbook.