London Loved It/New York Hated It- Page 2

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/30/25 at 5:38pm

everythingtaboo said: "

There was a period of transfers that were well-received in London, but underwhelmed critically or commercially here. I recall Jumpers andEnron, to musicals like The Woman in White,American PsychoandTaboo."

Woman in White was a baffling transfer as it was always struggling in London (and got very mixed reviews) ultimately running a year and a half (and I kinda have a soft spot for the show, so take little pleasure in that :P )

American Psycho seems to be the Almeida curse that Tammy Faye suffered from as well.  Don't get me wrong, I think it's a MUCH better and more interesting show.  But in both cases the shows got great reviews and had sold out limited engagement runs in the TINY (300 seats?) Almeida and then, I guess call it producers' hubris, the decision was that the next move should be a big Broadway production.

(I guess Taboo suffered from that too--the DVD of the London production shows how reliant it was on being a VERY intimate production.  I assume for Broadway there was a concern maybe that they had to really exaggerate and play up things like the 80s London club scene for whatever reason and, God love Charles Bush but he wasn't a great fit for the sincerity of the show, although I'm sure he was just doing what he was asked to, by camping it up.)

 

[Timon3]

Posted: 12/30/25 at 6:18pm

Just popped in my head and that big Thanksgiving Turkey being Chess well up to 2 months ago, this a test production is someone’s Else’s Story!

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/30/25 at 9:38pm

Chess of course is an obvious example--but not only was the Broadway version a different production, it was a vastly different text as well.  Does that make a difference?  (I suppose that's true of Taboo as well.)

[rosscoe(au)]

Posted: 12/30/25 at 11:13pm

I’m at a loss why Blood Brothers is so beloved, it’s truly awful in every way 

[TBFL]

Posted: 12/30/25 at 11:47pm

Coming the other way, 2 shows that lasted less than 2 months in the West End, Spring Awakening and The Drowsy Chaperone. Not even Elaine Page couldn't sell tickets for that. I dont recall it having much publicity before it opened.

[Call_me_jorge]

Posted: 12/31/25 at 1:43am

TotallyEffed said: "I can’t be the only one who thinks Kinky Boots is trash."

I think Kinky Boots is only trash in the context of all the succeeding Jerry Mitchell helmed musicals. He’s reused his entire bag of tricks from Kinky Boots on every one of his other shows that KB begins to feel derivative.

It never really made sense to me that Groundhog Day, American Psycho, and Tammy Faye would transfer to Broadway following limited runs at non-profit London Theatres. It’s like if Hamilton were to have skipped Broadway to open on the West End following its sold out engagement at The Public.

[EricMontreal22]

Posted: 12/31/25 at 2:12am

Jeffrey Karasarides said: "The Trevor Nunn-helmed revival of Oklahoma!.

When it was in London, it received a ton of acclaim. Although when it eventually came to Broadway, it wasn't as well received."

Yeah, I always wondered why this was such a non event.  I had seen Patrick Wilson in the tour of Carousel, I guess almost five years before he played Curly on Broadway--and he was terrific.

[Owen22]

Posted: 12/31/25 at 8:38am

walnutoraroach said: "Glenda Jackson DID doKing Learat the Old Vic directed by Deborah Warner in 2016, but the Broadway production was completely unrelated (and directed by Sam Gold). I actually saw both and really hated it at the Old Vic and (in the minority, I know) loved the Broadway revival. Specifically, I thought that Jackson was terrifically more moving and persuasive in the Gold production and that, weird as it was, it got out of her way and allowed her to command the stage in a way she hadn't been able to in London. Nothing has stuck with me about the Old Vic production except seeing Harry Melling (Dudley Dursey) as Edgar and the moment where Regan chucked Gloucester's eye into the audience!"

Let's hear it for the minority that loved Gold's production!!! (I also preferred it to the Old Vic).

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 12/31/25 at 9:23am

TotallyEffed said: "I can’t be the only one who thinks Kinky Boots is trash."

 Between the two, it's certainly the one that's actually written at a small child's reading level. 

[lilpunkin]

Posted: 12/31/25 at 11:09am

Tammy Faye’s West End run at the Gillian Lynne to be cancelled due to the lead’s unexpected pregnancy, so time wise they had to skip it and continue straight to the Broadway transfer. The plan was always West End then Broadway but the Broadway dates were fixed far in advance so there was no time to squeeze in a rescheduled West End stint.

 

In hindsight only one of about a dozen unexpected mishaps that happened.

[Timon3]

Posted: 12/31/25 at 1:16pm

Famously you had Carrie which was such a belly flop they based a book on it.

Also Five Guys Named Moe

Blood Brothers was a good show, wonder if it would’ve done better if Frank Rich liked it, but……..

 

[TBFL]

Posted: 1/1/26 at 12:10pm

Carrie didnt play in London, it was on in Stratford-Upon-Avon and it also got terrible reviews there 

[Timon3]

Posted: 1/2/26 at 8:18pm

TBFL said: "Carrie didnt play in London, it was on in Stratford-Upon-Avon and it also got terrible reviews there"

You are dead right, it only played Stratford Upon Avon (RSC).

One that sprung to mind for no other reason that I’m in London right now and saw at the Bridge Theatre, Into the Woods which a production came from the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre and transferred to Cemtral Park, Delacorte Theater. I saw both and both were dreadful.

[blug]

Posted: 1/2/26 at 10:04pm

David Hare's howlingly pretentious The Secret Rapture got raves in London (with a rave from Frank Rich) and pans in New York (including Frank Rich).  I don't think it's ever been revived and good riddance.  Similarly, his Amy's View got panned here.

New York audiences didn't know what to make of Stanley, starring Antony Sher.

The OG run of The Rocky Horror Show didn't pan out too well.

Lucy Prebble's The Effect was well received here, but didn't really get raved as one of the best plays of the last 20 years, which it is, IMO. 

Caryl Churchill's fantastic Serious Money was a hit off-Broadway but then flopped on Broadway with some bad star re-casting. 

Festen also flopped with some bad star casting.

The Graduate was tolerated in London, not so on Broadway.

Star re-casting also ruined Anthony Page's 2001/2003 transfer of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.  

[joevitus]

Posted: 1/2/26 at 10:07pm

Doesn't exactly count, but the original production of West Side Story did much better when it opened in London than it had in New York, though New York certainly didn't hate it.