God help them....

[skies]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 1:43am

....when their star leaves musical.

Shows that are carried alone by star wattage and not much else for their financial success.

"The boy from Oz"-Hugh Jackman

and from waay back....

"Coco " starring Katharine Hepburn

Updated On: 6/1/15 at 01:43 AM

[ClumsyDude15]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 2:00am

The Boy From Oz from the get go was a star vehicle for Hugh Jackman. 

[Mr Smith]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 3:07am

"The Boy From Oz from the get go was a star vehicle for Hugh Jackman. "

 It was a tony award 

[Mr. Nowack]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 3:21am

Many would argue IF/THEN falls in this category. In fact without Idina the show might not have even been made.

REDHEAD was recently discussed here and seemed to fall into this category.

[wildcat]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 3:21am

That's not entirely true. Hugh didn't create the role in Australia and the original star Todd McKenney was only passed over for the Broadway production when Hugh, by then a name performer in the U.S., became available.

[RingOfKeys2]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 4:20am

Radcliffe in H2$. 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 4:24am

But it certainly did pretty well without him.

[RingOfKeys2]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 5:03am

^ But it didn't stay open. 

[NoName3]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 5:36am

The original Chicago didn't last without Gwen and Chita.  Although I thought that production was infinitely better with their replacements, Ann Reinking and Lenora Nemitz, and the changes from the tour that were put in for them.  No one agrees with me.

https://forum.broadwayworld.com/readmessage.php?thread=931974

 

Updated On: 6/1/15 at 05:36 AM

[tazber]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 5:44am

"Radcliffe in H2$. "

Darren Criss sold out every performance he was in and brought in some of the highest earning weeks the show had.

 

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 10:06am

It ran one week shy of a year.   Seeing how a year to 18 months is about average for a revival, there is no shame in this - it was a success.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 10:43am

"The producers" were so dependent on lane and Broderick that they brought them back.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 10:57am

Then explain how it ran for SIX years?

[GreasedLightning]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 11:13am

"It ran one week shy of a year.   Seeing how a year to 18 months is about average for a revival, there is no shame in this - it was a success."

 How to Succeed? It ran from March 2011 to May 2012. A year and two months. 

It's funny, because back then Darren Criss sold out the houses and Nick Jonas couldn't keep the show afloat. Nowadays, just three years later, Criss is struggling to fill a (smaller) house at Hedwig (with a different demographic, of course) and I think Nick Jonas would pack 'em in considering his recent rebirth in the pop music scene. 

[RaisedOnMusicals]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 11:21am

The revival of A Little Night Music starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Landsburry was doing incredibly well at the box office (setting house records) until they left the show and were replaced by Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch.  Even though many thought that the replacement cast was at least equal to if not superior to the original cast, sales plummeted and the show did not sustain much of a run with the new cast.

[skies]

Posted: 6/1/15 at 11:35am

I think there is a difference from an evergreen show that gets revived  (ala How to Succeed; A little night music, etc ) as opposed to a show that in and of itself probably wouldn't justify a BW run without the star mounting.  Sure some stars can goose a show, but it doesn't mean the show can't do well on it's own.  "How to Succeed" was successful in 3 mountings on BW so far with  3 stars (Robert Morse, Matthew Broderick, Daniel Radcliffe).

A revival can falter, but there are reasons such as the score, the book, etc that can make it work even without star power.  It's not like Showboat falls into this category even if it flopped next time it was on BW.

Something like "Coco" from all accounts (the Tony number on Youtube is howlingly bad) was just a star vehicle to see Ms. Hepburn and has rarely,if ever, been revived anywhere.

Updated On: 6/1/15 at 11:35 AM