Shows that Toured For a Pre-Broadway Tryout

I know for a fact that Sweet Charity did it, and Jekyll & Hyde did it. If I'm not mistaken didn't Gypsy do it as well?

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Updated On: 6/1/09 at 10:47 PM

Why don't more shows tour for a pre-broadway tryout. Tours make a whole lot of money.

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I know that Martin Guirre sp? and Dirty Dancing both billed their tours as a pre Broadway tour but never ended up going to Broadway.

I would think it would end up costing more money for a show to tour. What with having to pay to move the sets from city to city and paying and room and board for the cast plus renting a space etc etc. I would think that if you do all the math tours can be more pricy then a typical one city out of town try out.

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Mamma Mia! toured a few cities in the US before going to Broadway.

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If I'm not mistaken, I believe the 1999 national tour of EVITA (starring Natalie Toro, Raul Esparza, and Raymond Jaramillo McLeod) was intended to go to Broadway, but for whatever reason it never made it. I seem to recall reading about the possible Broadway-bound transfer in my Playbill.

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Yes -- the EVITA tour in '99 with Natalie Toro et al was supposed to go to Broadway ... don't know why it didn't? One of my favourite casts of EVITA ever!

Also: Looks like WONDERLAND: ALICE's NEW MUSICAL ADVENTURE may as well -- or is playing atleast two out of towns back to back (and if this one goes to Broadway!).


Let's not forget WHISTLE DOWN THE WIND's 2007-8 National Tour that got cut extremely short with the lovely Andrea Ross that was "maybe" for Broadway (but the producer def wanted to bring it here).

Prior to the mid-70s, MOST shows did a pre-Broadway tryout in more than one city. "Hello, Dolly" was in such bad shape in its first stop in Detroit, no one thought it would make it to Broadway. In DC, "Forum" was DOA. "La Cage" opened in Boston to no advance whatsoever in the dead of August. But these out-of-tryouts gave the creative team the ability to fix and hone their shows away from the glare of the NYC press.

Then, in the mid-70s, as costs started to escalate, the new economic model was to produce a show that toured the country for about a year before going to NYC, thereby paying off its costs and insuring a "hit" even before arrival. "Lorelei" with Carol Channing and the aforementioned "Home Sweet Homer" were the most notable of these -- and proof that model did not work.

"Sweeney Todd" was one of the first really high-profile shows to do its complete preview period in NYC ... mostly because the set was so big it couldn't be moved.

Now, even if shows wanted to emulate the old models, it wouldn't work the same. The Internet has changed all that.

Its a common thing here in the UK

We dont have out of town try outs as such (i think the last ones was Mary Poppins and Imagine This, the latter was a huge flop) even though we used to a lot.

Now shows will tour and always have 'Prior To The West End' and the posters etc.....but of course not all make it there.

Footloose toured the UK in 2004 with the west end tag on but never made it, then reworked the show and toured in 2006 and it went in.

As is Flashdance and as did Calender Girls, Shout many others.

Yet shows like Jekyll and Hyde, Godspell, Wedding Singer all closed on the road.

Of course many West End shows just head straight in to London

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Updated On: 6/2/09 at 11:54 AM

FOSSE did a small pre-Broadway tour after it World Premiered in Toronto. At that time the show's full title was FOSSE: A Celebration in Song and Dance. I have a few friends who were involved with FOSSE since its workshop period so I know quite well the show's progress en route to its Broadway arrival in late December 1998.

The show ended its World Premiere run at the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in Toronto on August 29, 1998.
The tour then played Boston's Colonial Theatre starting in September 8, 1998.
After Boston the tour played its final spot (where most of the show's changes took place) at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles from October 9 thru December 6, 1998.

Numerous cuts to the show were done during the show's Los Angeles run, especially the 2 show-stoppers: "The Alley Dance" (from MY SISTER EILEEN) and "Beat Me Daddy, Eight to the Bar" (from BIG DEAL).

The show began previews at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City on December 26, 1998 and opened on January 14, 1999. The show also endured additional trims and cuts during its entire run on Broadway before it closed on Saturday August 25, 2001.

The original FOSSE Broadhurst Theatre marquee on Broadway and before the logo changed:

I really wouldn't call that a tour, though. When I think tour, I think several cities. Did Fosse play Boston and LA simply to wait out a Broadway house or was there some other reason for it? With a production in Toronto, it seems rather odd that it played a few cities before Broadway.

MAMMA MIA!, but aside from Louise Pitre and Tina Maddigan from this US Tour, a entirely new cast opened on Broadway

That's odd. When I saw the pre-Broadway tour in Chicago, it starred Dee Hoty.

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The original production of OLIVER not only toured first but also recorded and released the original cast album way before the Broadway opening making the score familiar to many in the NY audience.

The revival of GOOD NEWS with Alice Faye wisely toured extensively before opening on Broadway where it got poor reviews and only played a few weeks. Actor John Payne opted to do the tour only and his role was played by Gene Nelson on Broadway.

I believe LEGENDS with Mary Martin and Carol Channing was slated to end its tour on Broadway but folded after Martin decided not to play it in NY. One of the funnier parts in the book written about the perils of the production was when Ann Miller volunteered to replace Martin which prompted Carol Channing of all people to reply, "Not Ann Miller, she's such a joke!".

I saw this in Los Angeles, (part of the Civic Light Opera season) and concur that Diener was not good. Ok, I was a teenager at the time - but my memories of the show -- limited as they are -- are not favorable. There was some song like "tomorrow, tomorrow" which had a riff that stuck in the head. Diener has some line about Odysseus wearing a wig like "Where did he get that hair?" which was supposed to be funny because Brynner was famous for having a shaved head. I remember reading the program notes by Erich ("Love Story") Segal, who was at the time credited with the book, about having had the first part of the Odyssey in the show and there was a Cyclops puppet/set somewhere in Philadelphia. The version I saw started with Odysseus leaving Circe and his sailor/pigs.

This was a Mitch Leigh/Joan Diener production trying to recapture the LaMancha magic and not succeeding.

I think Mack and Mabel also had some out of town tryouts in either Los Angeles or St. Louis. My parents saw it in one of those places. And the San Diego Old Globe has been premiering musicals and transferring them to Broadway for probably 20 years.

Of course, Broadway plays seem to routinely open elsewhere. Sam Shepard had lots of early versions of his plays at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco. Mamet's plays would start in Chicago.

Updated On: 6/2/09 at 10:23 PM