Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

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Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/12/14 at 11:07pm

Oftentimes, you run into a cast recording of a flop that sounds absolutely brilliant. The score and the performers are on point and you wonder why didn't it work on stage? I'm not talking about under-appreciated shows that the critics at least respected. I'm talking about shows that were doomed both critically and commercially solely by its execution.

What shows do you think could have been more successful had a different production team (director, choreographer, book writer, etc.) undertaken the project?

I have not seen this show live, but Taboo is often cited as a show that was doomed by a producer. To me, Boy George's score is still one of the best scores I've heard, but from most accounts, the Broadway production was simply a mess. Maybe the show could have done better (at least critically) had it been helmed by a different team.

The original Carrie I heard was just over-produced and over-choreographed. I don't know if the revival fared better.

"I've got to get me out of here This place is full of dirty old men And the navigators and their mappy maps And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes While you stare at your books."

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/12/14 at 11:19pm

The Off-Broadway revival of Carrie did go well with some critics still finding some flaws in the new book, but for the most part it fared much better than the original ever did which was a conceptual and a horribly designed disaster that was doomed from the start.

Moose Murders is a fantastic example of a show that left critics and audiences baffled to the point where it became legendary for all the wrong reasons, and I don't think it could be given a second chance on Broadway, not in a million years.

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/12/14 at 11:23pm

I read once that Fosse's Big Deal was an example of a director with unchecked power being way too self-indulgent without having anybody telling him what he needed to do to make the show work. I don't know if that show would ever work, though.

"I've got to get me out of here This place is full of dirty old men And the navigators and their mappy maps And moldy heads and pissing on sugar cubes While you stare at your books."

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/12/14 at 11:35pm

I don't know, Musical Master. You may well be right about MOOSE MURDERS, but I remember some of the more farcical scenes being absolutely hysterical.

But they hired Eve Arden (and then replaced her with Holland Taylor). Both are brilliant, but their dry delivery is at total odds with the broad comedy of the rest of the play. They underplayed while the supporting cast overplayed. This was not a help when a man appeared dressed as a moose!

Perhaps a different team (i.e., different director/producer) could have guided the playwright and cast to a more consistent tone, one that would have been less confusing to the audience.

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/12/14 at 11:45pm

Odyssey or Home Sweet Homer - Mitch Leigh trying to reclaim the La Mancha magic but lots of other egos involved. There probably is a good musical in the story, but this wasn't it.

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/12/14 at 11:47pm

^^It's neat that you were the one of the few who have witnessed it originally, but to me, when something tries to be a satirical farce without an edge or rhyme or reason, it doesn't work no matter what different director or producer could do. But I guess we have a different ideas of what a farce is, but I find it an interesting subject to talk about regardless of how I feel of Moose Murders.

Updated On: 7/12/14 at 11:47 PM

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/12/14 at 11:57pm

"Big Fish" hands down. for a piece centered around the art of story telling; the creative team did not know how to tell a story.
I've also always loved the thrilling tale of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", and feel that there could have been SO much potential for something amazing!

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 1:24am

I agree about "Big Fish." I'm not sure the songs were up to par, but they weren't terrible. I think the whole concept was just wrong. It felt too by-the-books for such a whimsical show.

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 2:48am

The woman in white and possibly love never dies if a new book writer, designer and director came on board

#10

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 4:29am

Woman in White could be a great musical - with a new composer.

"Sticks and stones, sister. Here, have a Valium." - Patti LuPone, a Memoir

#11

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 5:31am

ROAD SHOW is a very competent score and could work really well if it had a solid book.
I really like JERSEY BOYS, but I think a smaller production would work better than the one currently on Broadway.
MY VAUDEVILLE MAN would work in a full scale production really well, but it never got one
QUEEN OF THE MIST as I said in a different thread, has the possibility of being really good if it had a solid production instead of the crappy one we got in 2011
Same with THE WILD PARTY but I've already explained that on this board a whole lot.

BIG FISH would have been freaking amazing if a competent composer wrote the score and everything about the production were changed...

Anything regarding shows stated by this account is an attempt to convey opinion and not fact.

#12

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 7:31am

Yes, the production team on Jersey Boys really screwed the pooch. Best Musical, 13th longest running show on Broadway, shows all over the world, millions and millions of dollars made. Yes indeed, that show doesn't work at allllllllllll.... Sorry I slipped on my sarcasm.

#13

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 8:16am

Xmas in Las Vegas was an absurdist take on the American dream. The script was not altogether successful, but it had interesting things to say. Perhaps if it had had a director and cast with a better handle on the material, it could have come off better. The design element was also uncertain as to mood. The hotel room was realistic, while the gambling scene --- the one scene that worked --- was expressionistic.

Design can play a large part in the success or failure of a show. It creates mood, and the mood has to be right. Zorba was a relentlessly dark and gloomy show, and some good songs were sunk in the mire. It needed something to counterbalance the gloom, but the set only reinforced it, which made the evening seem even more oppressive.

Coco was a cold show with some witty dialogue by Alan J. Lerner. Its music was pallid. It desperately needed warmth. Unfortunately, Cecil Beaton's sets and costumes were cold as well, to the show's detriment.

Sometimes the design is so right and beautiful, it shows up the aspects of a show that are not right. The sets and costumes of Goodtime Charley were gorgeous, and perfectly captured the spirit of the period. Everything else got it wrong, and was made to look even worse by comparison.

Many here have mentioned that the design for Merrily We Roll Along was a shambles, and it was. But so was the show itself, so it wouldn't have made any difference if the sets had looked like a million dollars.

#14

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 10:51am

"Merrily We Roll Along" (the original with the high school kids)

#15

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 1:01pm

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#16

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 1:08pm

Women on the Verge...GREAT score, killed by a really misconceived production.

#17

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 5:56pm

Thanks AfterEight. I agree abt the ability of design to counterbalance the tone of material.

#18

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 8:40pm

Odyssey or Home Sweet Homer - Mitch Leigh trying to reclaim the La Mancha magic but lots of other egos involved. There probably is a good musical in the story, but this wasn't it.

You probably already know it, but for those who don't, see THE GOLDEN APPLE for a much better musicalization of Homer.

#19

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 8:49pm

I agree about Women on the Verge. I love the score, but the production was a chaotic mess.

#20

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/13/14 at 8:52pm

MMaster, without negotiating a definition for "farce", let me just say some scenes had an exaggerated (heightened) reality while the leading lady (I saw Holland Taylor, who--to be clear--was wonderful in her own right) was underplaying the central role. The contrast did both styles no favor and repeatedly interrupted the rhythm of the humor.

And yet I recall some of the more exaggerated scenes as some of the funniest I had ever seen. AND I became a lifelong fan of Miss Taylor. It was simply a case of oil and water, which is why I invoke it here as a show that might have been saved by a better team.

But I must admit that 35 years ago I wasn't thinking about how I would describe the show in the next century.

#21

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/14/14 at 12:22am

Women on the Verge- The score is a gem, but the broadway production was poorly directed and overproduced. It didn't help that the book was a hot mess. The show really could have been one for the ages.
Anyone can Whistle- The score is fantastic, but the book is awful. Love every song. The show really needs a better book.
Merrily We Roll Along-A real heartbreaker. Again, I love the score, but the show does not work. Unless it has great casting and solid direction, it is emotionally hollow. The characters are more like placeholders than sympathetic people.
In the Heights- The score is tuneful, but the book needs work. The show has its heart in the right place, but ultimately, it only works with right people.
If/Then- While I loved the show, it really does need work. The score is fairly bland, but does have a few gems. The book needs much work.
Heathers- The score is tuneless, the book is a mess, and the current direction is off. While I enjoyed it, the current version feels much more like a fringe show with some promise.
Holler if ya Hear Me- This is a show that should have been amazing. The score and book are weak, but the show has a great concept. The production really needed an out of town tryout to succeed. Tupac deserved much more than this show gave him.
Pippin- The original production only worked because of Bob Fosse. The show really has no point. What should we take away from the show? What is the whole meaning of it all? The score is uneven, with some strong songs and some real clunkers. The current revival uses spectacle to cover up the weak material. The dance is completely unintergrated at times. This show could have been great.

Updated On: 7/14/14 at 12:22 AM

#22

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/14/14 at 1:02pm

For me, LEAP OF FAITH was sadly over-produced when a less physically imposing production might have kept its heart. I like to think that a unitary production in a gospel tent ("Pippin Goes Gospel" type of thing) would have been interesting. And simple. One of the incredible things about SCOTTSBORO BOYS was how little physical material was actually on stage, and yet it seemed very vivid.

#23

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/14/14 at 2:33pm

Carrie
Aida
The Witches of Eastwick (West End)
Jekyll & Hyde
Dance of the Vampires

I love the film of Women on the Verge and I thought the stage production was quite faithful to the Almodovar style, so I thought it was wonderful the way it was.

"What can you expect from a bunch of seitan worshippers?" - Reginald Tresilian

#24

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/14/14 at 2:44pm

Women on the Verge had potential but the supporting characters were more interesting (and had better songs) than the female lead. Otherwise, the production itself was good.

Aspects of Love might have been better with a different production team. Maria Bjornson was perfect for Phantom but Aspects came out looking dark. It didn't capture the majesty of the Pyrenees.

#25

Shows that Would have Worked with a Different Production Team

Posted: 7/14/14 at 2:54pm

Big Fish
The Little Mermaid
Bullets Over Broadway

A little swash, a bit of buckle - you'll love it more than bread.

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