SomethingPeculiar said: "Of your list: Bronx Tale,based on the notoriety of the source material, the mixed reviews, 0 Tony noms, and not a ton ofbuzz. Though I would imaginethe name Robert DeNiro helped attract some audiences.
In recent years: Kinky Boots. Itarrived as the underdog to Matilda and itssource material wasn't very well-known. It wonBest Musical (which surprised some people), and then it managed to find a broad audienceand run more than 5 years/2,000 performances and counting."
I agree Kinky Boots has had a great run, but I didn't include it because it won a slew of Tonys including Best Musical. The run has been very impressive but I don't think it would still be running today without that Best Musical Tony, that really helped it catapult into being a huge hit.