The 2 Reasons 9 to 5 Failed — Page 2

dramamama--- I didn't mean to imply that 9 to 5 deserved more air time (although they could have performed instead of the Mamma Mia touring company lol). Even if the Tony's are 99% theatre fans, its the closest to national exposure that shows get and 9 to 5 didn't take very good advantage of the time that they had. I just wonder if they had more air-time if the show would have had a little bigger boost during the summer.

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I could have done without ANY of the touring companies performing. I thought they were all atrocious.

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Jersey Boys was fine...but forgettable. Mamma Mia was a friggin trainwreck. Legally Blonde should have been called 'Legally Bland'.

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Here are two reasons why the show failed:

1.) The source material is garbage. I saw the movie when it came out in 1980 and knew I was watching something that was hackneyed, corny, obvious and trite. Fonda, Parton and Tomlin were the only reasons to see it. The TV series of the same name was gone in a minute just a couple of years later.

2.) The execution was awful. Overproduced, undersung and very poorly written, this show had no chance. Dolly Parton is a fine songwriter, but that doesn't qualify her to score a BW show. Most of the songs are crooned in a pop-country manner that has nothing to do with what the show is about.

The set and the technical aspects of the show are the biggest reason the quality failed.

Because everyone involved was so busy trying to address all the mechanical problems going on during the run in LA, they did little to no work on the actual show while they were there.

During the big interim between the final performance at The Ahmanson and the start to previews in New York, the design flaws again overshadowed the issues that needed to be addressed with the book and score. At the very end of the pre-production process, Dolly came in with several new songs that replaced the ones that were the biggest problems in LA, but by then the structure of the show was already negated to the point of no return.

The preview period in New York was as underutilized as the one in LA, and the show opened to dismal reviews and disappointing box office returns.

All of that aside, the biggest problem from the project's inception was that there wasn't an effort made to make the theatrical adaptation its own separate entity. As Michael Reidel pointed out, the most successful screen-to-stage musicals have been the ones that have payed homage to the films they're based on while still establishing themselves as a unique experience, which was far from the case with 9 TO 5.

By hiring the film's screenwriter to adapt the book and its star to write the score, the decision was simultaneously made to basically lift the movie and put it on stage. Why would someone pay top ticket prices to watch something they could rent for a few dollars? Had there been bold choices made to set the musical apart as something new and innately theatrical, the success many thought would be inevitable may indeed have happened, but the lack of said decisions is ultimately responsible for the show's commercial failure.

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I personally think a HUGE reason the show failed was due to advertising and marketing..

I live in the Bronx and I see alot of ads for shows such as billy elliot, toxic avenger, mamma mia, etc.. all on bus ads and posters and train ads.

I have NEVER seen a 9 to 5 poster or ad anywhere over here.. I didnt even know about the show until I saw the posters in Time Square.

I personally enjoyed the show and I thought it could have the possibility to be a big hit (even if not critically) but they did nothing to advertise it outside the theatre district and I saw ONE commercial at like 1130 at night once..

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Some of the songs are very catchy i have to say, but yeah some of them are very bland and boring.

i really tried to love it but it never really got me. it's a nice feel good show, but no depth to it, or nothing really special about it at all

If you think "Always A Woman" is bad then be happy that you never had to listen to the one it replaced "Mundania". Talk about an awful song where Marc did nothing but twirl in his harness at least this one had the gospel ensemble to interact with him and take the focus off of him hanging in mid-air. Tried to find it at You Tube but no luck. Just take my word even if this song is bad "Mundania" was worse.

I actually liked Mundania a lot. I didn't on the first try, but after few listens I got into it.

I'm wondering if Dolly would have been better off doing a jukebox musical and wrapping a lame story around her hits. That might actually work better and fill seats. The energy in the audience when the song 9 to 5 start playing is palpable and then just sort of falls away. Maybe a musical of the Dolly Catalgoue with some amazing dance numbers would have been a hit.

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I know! Pot, an affair and M&M's as some random lady chews on a pen? Way to sell a show! No wonder...

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