People Who Saw Shows That Now Live In Infamy, What Was Your Experience At Said Show? — Page 2

I'm not sure how we are defining "infamy" here. It's a strong word.

I ended up howling with laughter at the first preview of MERRILY; it was such a mess! I saw the last preview and thought, "Well, it still doesn't work, but they have cleaned it up as much as they can."

I thought some of the more broadly farcical scenes in MOOSE MURDERS were really quite good. Unfortunately, the leading lady (Holland Taylor had replaced Eve Arden) had a dry delivery that completely clashed with broadness of the better scenes. (Both Taylor and Arden are/were brilliant comediennes, of course; the fault was in the show and direction, not in the acting.)

I was shocked to find A DOLL'S LIFE just as bad on the stage as it had been on the page before the company left for tryouts in California. To this day, I have no idea what Prince was thinking. I'm not sure he knew either, since I worked some of the auditions and he seemed entirely unsure what he wanted from the cast. But starting a musical comedy with the final scene from Ibsen's play was such a clash of styles, I was scratching my head along with the rest of the audience. Only I knew what to expect, so I wasn't laughing at tragedy.

On the other hand, I loved every minute of PASSION, though I know nobody else who agrees. I found its refusal to pander to "likability" entirely thrilling--and I fell in love with it all over again at a production in Pasadena in January, a run that was sadly cut short by the pandemic. It's akin to watching Grotowski--nobody cares whether you "like" the characters or the story; it isn't even an issue. One interesting change in Pasadena: they made no effort to make Fosca ugly with make-up. When she first entered, I thought "She's too pretty to play the part," but I quickly found her neurosis and neediness just as unappealing as Donna Murphy's unibrow. But in a curious way, it made Fosca more of an agent in her own story; she wasn't just a victim of nature.

Note to Jarethan: I too was uninspired by EVITA in previews. Then I saw it a few weeks later in London and loved it. The slightly broader musical-theater acting by English actors in those days made more sense of the material to me.

Updated On: 5/6/20 at 10:26 PM

Like it always happens with threads like this, most shows mentioned here are not infamous, you just didn't like them much yourself.

Updated On: 5/7/20 at 08:11 AM

ggersten said: "CATSNYrevival said: "Stephen Ward was obviously a subject that was particularly interesting to Andrew Lloyd Webber but had limitedcommercial appeal to West End audiences, and virtually zero commercial appeal outside the UK.It's hard to build a hit show from that. Most people, particularly in America, likely don't know who Stephen Ward was and likelyjustdon't care either. Having said that, there are some lovely tunes. "This Side of the Sky" is a favorite."

Except, who would have thought a musical about Eva Peron would have any appeal to West End audiences or US audiences? Richard Eyre may not be Hal Prince - but he was no hack director. And Christopher Hampton is not a hack book writer. Stephen Ward could have worked - it just didn't.

"

Both Richard Eyre and Christopher Hampton excel with plays. Neither are good at musicals. The art form never fully gets the respect it deserves in the UK (and I am British) and because it hasn’t been taken as seriously as in the States (where it is arguably much more rooted in the culture) the UK don’t breed directors and writers who truly understand the craft, then a big musical comes around and they have nobody to turn to, so they go for a heavy weight play Director and writer who don’t quite understand the needs of a musical and the cycle continues. There are lots of young ‘none name’ creatives doing excellent work in England but the industry will never recognise that sort of talent in a long term commercial sense. You get the glimmers of someone who could really do the job well, people who are staging old fashioned musicals on the fringe who have the potential to really excel in their field but that work isn’t taken seriously - the skill it takes to pull off a musical comedy or big old fashioned book musical is not recognised and so those creatives never get that chance to climb up the industry ladder. England celebrates the ‘serious works’ and has no breeding ground for artful directors of musicals, who respect the form.

ggersten said: "CATSNYrevival said: "Stephen Ward was obviously a subject that was particularly interesting to Andrew Lloyd Webber but had limitedcommercial appeal to West End audiences, and virtually zero commercial appeal outside the UK.It's hard to build a hit show from that. Most people, particularly in America, likely don't know who Stephen Ward was and likelyjustdon't care either. Having said that, there are some lovely tunes. "This Side of the Sky" is a favorite."

Except, who would have thought a musical about Eva Peron would have any appeal to West End audiences or US audiences? Richard Eyre may not be Hal Prince - but he was no hack director. And Christopher Hampton is not a hack book writer. Stephen Ward could have worked - it just didn't.

"

Both Richard Eyre and Christopher Hampton excel with plays. Neither are good at musicals. The art form never fully gets the respect it deserves in the UK (and I am British) and because it hasn’t been taken as seriously as in the States (where it is arguably much more rooted in the culture) the UK don’t breed directors and writers who truly understand the craft, then a big musical comes around and they have nobody to turn to, so they go for a heavy weight play Director and writer who don’t quite understand the needs of a musical and the cycle continues. There are lots of young ‘none name’ creatives doing excellent work in England but the industry will never recognise that sort of talent in a long term commercial sense. You get the glimmers of someone who could really do the job well, people who are staging old fashioned musicals on the fringe who have the potential to really excel in their field but that work isn’t taken seriously - the skill it takes to pull off a musical comedy or big old fashioned book musical is not recognised and so those creatives never get that chance to climb up the industry ladder. England celebrates the ‘serious works’ and has no breeding ground for artful directors of musicals, who respect the form.

Huss417 said: "I would have to give this a lot more thought but three that I saw in person that come to mind. Carrie, Legs Diamond and Moose Murders. I know there must be more as I saw my first show in 1975."

NO WAY you saw Moose Murders??? oh my gosh. Do you remember it, how the experience was, the audiences reaction, do you still have your playbill--sorry, I'm such a dork and I'm not trying to be annoying I'm just so fascinated by that show!

I saw the musical "Platinum" with Alexis Smith and Lisa Mordente twice in Philadelphia before it went to Broadway, where it ran for about a month.

I remember talk about it before seeing it and I think it was supposed to be a big deal for Alexis Smith. (She did get a Tony nomination) Seemed there ere problems with it and I seem to remember talk that it may not make it to Broadway. I also seem to remember the reviews in Philadelphia were not that great. It wasn't the greatest musical but I remember really liking the score and thinking some of it was different for a traditional musical. That may be why I enjoyed it. I was 17 at the time. I do remember reading about its closing on Broadway so soon and wondering if they recorded it.

I was obsessed with the song "Platinum Dreams" in the show. My school was offering free theater tickets so I grabbed one for a night the day after I saw it the first time. That second night Chita Rivera was there to see her daughter, Lisa Mordente. At intermission I was standing in the lobby and Chita came rushing through in a kaftan, didn't see me and knocked me and my soda to the floor. I didn't see her coming (I saw the kaftan!) but when she bent over to apologize and help me, I almost died when I realized who she was. (A few years back when I met her, I told her the story and she remembered it.)

Really wish the show had gotten a recording. I had a bootleg but it was not that great and I can't access it now.

Updated On: 5/8/20 at 05:03 PM

I saw the only (?) two Broadway plays to close in previews:

The final performance of "Face Value" (we didn't know it was the final), and before the show they announced that there would be no intermission (though there was in the program) and a few minutes in we realized why (so no one could leave). What I recall is a messy plot, lame jokes, and Jane Krakowski's character only tapping, never just walking.

The invited dress of "Bobbi Boland." Yow. I was with a handful of people, and we chose to sit a couple rows from the front- but turns out only about a hundred people were invited so we were actually the first row and could be seen by the cast. The play was so trite and unnecessary that it wouldn't have worked in Florida dinner theater. High School Prom Queen and Quarterback now getting older... it's been done, and better. Farrah Fawcett was ok if uninspired and looked like a Malibu Barbie that had been left out in the sun to slightly melt. Knowing we could be seen meant pity laughs and plastered smiles for the way too long piece. When I saw my friend who was working backstage after, I joked "Do you have another gig lined up for when this closes on Sunday?" and little did I know I was right.

The most infamous would have to be "The Blonde in the Thunderbird" but I'd need several cocktails to be able to survive reliving that experience. Just imagine the 'Springtime for Hitler' audience's frozen-in-horror faces for 90 minutes.

Anyone here go back far enough to have seen the Carol Channing vehicle The Vamp? Ethan Mordden's remark--that it's a shame there was no cast recording because it was one of the great weird shows, every choice a wrong one--has made me really curious about it.

joevitus said: "Dollypop said: "Lordy me, how did I forget BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY's with Mary Tyler Moore and Richard Chamberlain? Edward Albee's book was exceptionally talky and leaden and it's true, the audience did talk back to the actors. At one point Moore's character asked the rhetorical question, "What am I to do?" and a male voice from the audience answered, "Go home so we can, too!""

So I've always been baffled--since there was no cast album and other than a book on famous flops, no history of musical theater really covers it--what was such a train wreck about the show? Your comment about the book helps, but were the songs outrageously bad or just mediocre and forgettable? Was the direction and choreography hysterically wrong, or just uninteresting? Were the leads way out of their depth, or just stuck with bad material? This show is a famous ginormous bomb, but I never hear details."





There is, indeed, a cast album. It's a studio recording starring Faith Prince and John Scjneider.