Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway? — Page 2

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#26

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/10/16 at 10:41am

GreasedLightning said: "MarkBearSF said: "gleek4114 said: "If I recall correctly, Lestat made more money in San Francisco than any other tryout in that area up to that date (including Wicked). I'm not sure if that is still true today, but we all know how Wicked did on Broadway in comparison to Lestat..."

It DID get a big pre-sale, largely based upon the WIcked experience. However, the stench of a horrible flop was quickly evident at the Curran. It was anything but a hit in SF.

"So people bought tickets to a completely different production before it even started performances solely based on the last tenant of the venues success story? Which had no correlation or connection whatsoever to this new, incoming production? Seems silly to me. You'd think San Fransicoans would know better. "

*San Franciscans

I really don't remember this being the case, but I don't remember it not being the case either. I think people were very excited about another new show coming that could be just as good/as big a hit as Wicked. Not to mention the solid cast, and intriguing-at-least creative team.

I was at what I think was Jack Noseworthy's final performance. Lestat was an experience, that's for sure.

"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt

#27

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/10/16 at 12:53pm

Sunny11 said: "In New York they made over a million dollars a week for the first 6 months and ran 17 months, not exactly a flop."

I don't believe it ever recouped it's investment. So I'd define that as a flop.

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#28

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/10/16 at 7:32pm

Young Frankenstein?

Little Mermaid?

if/Only?

Didn't The Addams Family have a successful try out in Chicago?

#29

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/10/16 at 7:52pm

These days almost all new musicals do their out of town tryouts in conjunction with a not-for-profit theater that has a built in subscription base, so you can't really equate this in the way it was back in the golden era of Broadway when shows would go "out of town" for a try out and then come straight into New York City (or not if they flopped out of town). When shows play a not-for-profit they are usually desiged to lose money and then that becomes a developmental cost for the production after it moves to Broadway.

Are you asking if they were shows that got great *reviews* out of town and then came into New York and flopped anyway? Sure. And there are lots of shows that open with a very big advance, due mostly to group ticket sales, that end up flopping because ticket sales for groups have the option to pull out if the reviews are bad.

I think historically the best examples of shows that did well out of town (financially) and then flopped on Broadway were starring vehicles like Home Sweet Homer that starred Yul Brenner. I seem to remember reading that The Baker's Wife also started auspiciously out of town and as bad word-of-mouth spread, each city on his tour had less and less audience. That of course was a star vehicle for Topol.

Updated On: 12/10/16 at 07:52 PM

#30

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/10/16 at 10:28pm

Didn't The Addams Family have a successful try out in Chicago?

Yes and it recouped on Broadway largely due to Lane and Neuwirth.

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

#31

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/11/16 at 4:26pm

Not sure it did recoup, but came very close?

#32

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/11/16 at 5:32pm

I recall that as they neared their closing, and were prepping to send out the tour with some big changes to the script and score, it was mentioned that the show was very close to recoupment. It was said that the show would probably still close on Broadway at a minor loss, but would be able to recoup through the tour and licensing.

#33

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/13/16 at 11:22pm

Gigi at the Kennedy Center I believe was very successful but not on Broadway...

#34

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/14/16 at 4:58am

Philadelphia used to have an odd habit of getting enthusiastic over shows that would then fail when they got to New York.

That was true of Flahooley, and when Oh Captain! played the town, they had to call the cops out to keep order outside the theatre for crowd control, so keen was the demand for tickets.

#35

Shows that are successful out of town but flop on Broadway?

Posted: 12/14/16 at 6:46am

ukpuppetboy said: ""Not exactly an out of town tryout, but American Psycho was a hit in the West End and flopped on Broadway this past summer."

American Psycho in London played a very limited (but sold out run) in a well respected north London producing venue with a loyal fan base and membership. The short run was pretty much sold out before it opened so I'd say it's very debatable that it can be quantified 'a hit' and it is not true it was produced in the West End. The fact that it didn't transfer in actually probably further calls into question it's real success here either.

"

Actually the show for pretty good reviews in London but it seems like New York was always planned next.

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