How Did 'Something Rotten' Become a Hit?

There's no shade to this. I saw it and really enjoyed it. But it seemed to be successful right out of the gate. Why is that? There's no name recognition. No stars attached. Basically, everything you expect them not to do. The compares aren't well known, etc. Yet somehow it's managing to become a hit. It's not like it really struggled to find an audience. I look back on other things like Bullets Over Broadway, which I would have thought would have been a major hit, or at least ran a year, and had a successful tour, but now it crashed and burned and is going out non-union. Are producers finally realizing that people want to see fresh, new ideas and not old movies made into musicals?

Yeah, it's got strong word of mouth. We will see how it fares after the summer, though. That theater is huge.

That is an interesting question. You would think it would have needed to time to build word of mouth, like GG. It seems like Gent's guide and Something Rotten are comparable, in terms of no stars, yet it took Gent's Guide so much longer to become a hit.

It's because it's easy. It basically took all the things that work for a successful musical did it themselves. I don't see the show pulling the numbers it's currently making in a few months because I think the show is overrated. The score is crap and it thinks referencing other musicals is original. This show basically says: "here's a musical reference, you've heard of this show, isn't it funny? It may be a well directed, pretty show but the concept and material are just crap. It'll probably last a few years, and then will be completely forgotten.

If we knew producers would pay us a fortune.

Originality isn't the key here. Amazing Grace and It Shoulda Been You and aren't/weren't hits.

Aladdin and Kinky Boots and Hedwig are retreads and hits...

btw: it is doing well but not a hit yet...

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 12:49 PM

If you ask me, there's just no such thing as a 'sure thing'. There some shows that people question as to whether or not they would find an audience that most of the time succeed. And there are other shows that people feel so confident about that most of the time end up flopping.

"Aladdin and Kinky Boots and Hedwig are retreads and hits..."

Not sure I would put Kinky here. I mean, the story was real and turned into a movie, but making it into a musical is a pretty big change to label it a retread.

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 12:59 PM

No stars?

Christian Borle & Brian D'arcy James ain't chopped liver. Neither is Brad Oscar

The score, despite its naysayers, is a lot of fun. The marketing team is the best & the story is fresh & original. Better ask this question re BOM.

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 01:02 PM

Mr. Roxy, in no universe are those 3 "stars" in the sense of Bradley Cooper in Elephant Man. They might be well known to us theatre folk, but no one cares that they're on the stage.

It seems like the idea to sell the previews at a discount was key.

Aladdin may be a stage musical based on a film musical, but Kinky Boots is based on a fairly obscure film from England (that I only knew about because someone had gotten me a DVD for my birthday in 2009) and Hedwig is a revival that had played off-Broadway 15 years ago; not exactly a retread of proven commercial material in either case.

The OP premise was originality was the key. No amount of obscurity negates that those aren't. Hedwig had enough fanfare to get it made into a highly decorated movie in 2001, which is how I first became aware of it.

Bridges should have succeeded. The problem was the story. People remembered the movie and it downer of an ending. They opted for happy go lucky fare instead.

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 01:22 PM

The themes and jokes in SR also pander to their target audience. Theatre-goers eat up jokes about the theatre, and that along with great musical numbers that keep you entertained and laughing about one of your favorite subjects makes for a fun night at the theatre that you're going to tell your friends about.

Maybe broadway loves shows that references broadway. The Producers, Urinetown, Spamalot, Book of Mormon, and The Drowsy Chaperone all reference broadway or other shows. Maybe Something Rotten is keying in on the narcissism of the broadway audience or the smugness to get the "in" jokes.

Although, [title of show] and The Last Five Years didn't become hits based on that premise...

Updated On: 8/11/15 at 01:45 PM