Jukebox Musicals: Scorecard

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/9/05 at 8:14pm

So every producer with rights to a well-known song catalogue has that glimmer of "Mamma Mia" in their eyes. I keep thinking that with jukebox failing after jukebox failing, soon enough a "5% of Jukebox Musicals have been successful" will overshadow the "You can make the next Mamma Mia!" and we'll stop seeing those.

Although as I added it up, the percentage didn't seem anywhere near that low. Off the top of my head (and by "success" I mean financially or acclaim)...

- Mamma Mia: Success.
- Movin' Out: Success (a ballet, but still)
- We Will Rock You: Success
- Good Vibrations: Failed.
- All Shook Up: Buzz seems to say this will fail.
- The Look of Love: Failed
- Tonight's The Night: Failed?
- Jailhouse Rock: ?

What else am I forgetting in recent history?

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/9/05 at 8:23pm

Is We Will Rock You really a success? I know it's playing Vegas, but has it recouped in London?

I know "Our House" using the catalogue of 80s group Madness closed at a loss after rather short run.

Tonight's The Night, the Rod Stewart Musical, also flopped in London.

[AnothaPartofMe]

Posted: 2/9/05 at 8:23pm

What about these (including some older catalogue shows)...

GEORGE M! (George M. Cohan), CRAZY FOR YOU (The Gershwin's), SWINGING ON A STAR (Johnny Burke), and THE BOY FROM OZ (Peter Allen)

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/9/05 at 8:24pm

Updated On: 2/9/05 at 08:24 PM

[zippyjen]

Posted: 2/9/05 at 11:29pm

I am not sure whether or not we will rock you recouped but i would consider it a sucess. weren't there some other jukebox shows in london besides the rod stewart one?

[Chevstriss]

Posted: 2/9/05 at 11:41pm

WWRY has recouped many times over. It is also doing well in Australia, Moscow, Spain, and Cologne, where it is breaking all box office.(germany that is). don't ask me why or how.

Vegas seems to be the only place its floudering.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 2/9/05 at 11:41pm

This i snot enough! We need more! Michael Jackson. WHo's writing that show? Will he?

[LightMyCandle125]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 2:41am

you forgot the who's tommy.

[camthom]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 2:44am

Smokey Joe's Cafe worked pretty well.
AND-I've heard that All Shook Up is going to be far from the flop that GV is. Not to mention the fact that critics will obviously compare the two - and with the bloodbath that was GV, there won't be a choice but for ASU to do better. Perhaps my logic is questionable...but that's how I see things turning out. Updated On: 2/10/05 at 02:44 AM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 2:47am

Not really. Tommy always had a story and was written first as a concept album and then as a rock opera for film, just not for the stage. As such, it's not a jukebox musical -- a collection of random pop hits, never intended to fit together in a narrative context. Tommy the musical was simply an adaptation of Tommy the movie and concept album.

Updated On: 2/10/05 at 02:47 AM

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 3:15am

I loved "Our House". I found it artistic, interesting, inventive, fresh, honest, heartfelt, etc... A jukebox musical that 100% won me over.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 3:44am

Its funny, but a LOT of people seemed to really love Our House. I only know Madness for that one song (they apparently were much bigger in the UK), but I sorta wish I had seen it.

[superwoman108]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 8:43am

The Buddy Holly Story.....big success in London a while ago

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 8:52am

Buddy ran here too- but I do not know if it was a success. I saw it and found it rather flat.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 9:53am

Buddy flopped on Broadway, but did pretty well on tour. There was also Play On, which flopped on Broadway and Return to the Forbidden Planet, which was pretty successful in the UK, but flopped Off-Broadway. And if we're counting biographical musicals, there was also the flop Jerry Lee Lewis musical in London called Great Balls of Fire. I believe there is a 5-track CD from the show floating around out there.

Swinging on a Star and Smokey Joe's Cafe were reviews, not a book shows. Crazy For You had music that was previously written for book shows and most of its score and much of its plot came from Girl Crazy. It was more of a revisal than a jukebox musical. I know there was a semi-biographical musical called Elvis: The Legend Lives! that ran briefly on Broadway and toured under the name Elvis!

[joeyjoe]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 9:57am

aren't shows such as Ain't Misbehavin', Jelly's Last Jam, Eubie!, et al, considered jukebox shows? or would they be considered revues?

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 10:08am

A friend of mine in London said We Will Rock You, although not a critical success was making a killing.

I can't wait until we run out of bands in the jukebox and have to write musicals again. That will be a great day.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 10:14am

Jelly's Last Jam was a book show with music by Jelly Roll Morton and "additional music" by Luther Henderson. Ain't Misbehavin' and Eubie! were reviews.

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 11:47am

I was going to say that I wasn't counting revues originally, but then again I suppose I'm counting ballet, so...

Somehow, I'm actually interested to see We Will Rock You, as awful as it sounds. But that's probably because I see practically anything.

I'm also interested to see what the heck they come up with for this "The Wall" musical... although I wouldn't say that's Jukebox the same way I wouldn't say Tommy is...

[bwayballerina]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 11:50am

Somehow I think All Shook Up will turn out okay. Yes, all of the music was once recorded by Elvis, but it was written by a bunch of different people. So it won't all sound the same like Good Vibrations. Also, I've heard that the plot was developed before/during the song choosing process, so it wasn't exactly like the book writers had to fit a bunch of totally unrelated songs together.
Oh, and a friend of mine saw ASU in previews in Chicago and loved it. And she isn't even a diehard Elvis fan.

[umgeoboy]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 11:52am

mister matt did return to the forbidden planet really flop offbroadway it had a decent run and when is aw it was always full.

[Jamie Hat]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 12:40pm

it would be hard to impose a feel-good story into The Wall indeed...

[Unknown User]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 1:18pm

Although I'm sure they could impose a feel-high story into it.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 1:20pm

It was my understanding that Forbidden Planet had a mediocre run and did not recoup at the Variety Arts Theatre, but there is little info on the run available on the internet and I could be wrong. I know it was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle award, yet lost to Song of Singapore (both of which I saw in London in 2001). I'm quite surprised that the show has never found its way to Vegas. It's a perfect show for the Vegas atmosphere and far more intelligent than the likes of Notre Dame de Paris or We Will Rock You.

[umgeoboy]

Posted: 2/10/05 at 1:24pm

cool thanks for the info...everytime i saw the show it was packed and the audience always loved it. It would be the perfect show for vegas.