The Best Flop you've seen

[Bwaynerd]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:55pm

The best flop I've seen is 13

[threetwoone]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:56pm

Shrek I suppose. How I love that little (well, big and inflated, overbudget..) show.

[Bwaynerd]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:57pm

Yeah! Shrek wasn't bad at all

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 6:59pm

Define "best."

If by "best" you mean a production that I actually thought was good and loved then I would say Side Show.

If by "best" you mean one that is so horrible that it provides you with stories to tell for years about then I would say Dance of the Vampires, closely followed by Lestat.

This is just drawing from shows that I actually saw in the theatre, excluding bootlegs and shows that I've only discovered through cast recordings.

[Bwaynerd]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:02pm

By best i mean a show you saw, loved, but then closed in the matter of about a year or less. Tha's what i mean by "The Best Flop You've Seen"

[nealb1]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:04pm

"The Pirate Queen"

The revival of "42nd Street" was a flop in terms of never making back it's initial investment - even though it won 2 Tonys (Revival & Actress), and played for over 3 & 1/2 years.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:07pm

Lennon -- saw it twice in San Francisco.

[kchenofan]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:13pm

I really liked 9 to 5 and wish it had a longer run.

[Gypsy9]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:15pm

1958's GOLDILOCKS, starring a wonderfully caustic Elaine Stritch and Don Ameche, with excellent co-stars Pat Stanley and Russell Nype. The superb choreography was by Agnes DeMille and the very likable score is by Leroy Anderson and Walter & Jean Kerr. It lasted about 5 months and was the first musical to play the totally refurbished Lunt-Fontanne, formerly the Globe.

The CD is still available on Amazon.com. It is worth getting.

[fscmocsgal]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:25pm

I really liked 9 to 5 too! Saw it in NYC - <3d it. Can't wait until it comes to Tampa!

[philly03]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:34pm

A Tale of Two Cities, which I still think is one of the best beautiful adaptations of a Dickens novel, and certainly one of my favourite musicals,

Could you imagine if some of these opened during this season!?

[bandit964]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:36pm

Passing Strange

[kazacalo]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:45pm

Taboo!

[B3TA07]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 7:53pm

Grey Gardens.

[Liz7]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:00pm

The Scarlett Pimpernell

[mormonophobic]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:04pm

LaChiusa's The Wild Party. I totally understand why it flopped, in the sense that it is this strange musical that goes everywhere in one night. Everything from the score to the blackface to the party itself is so layered and turned up to such a frenzy that it's no wonder audiences didn't exactly embrace it. Even today, many theater fans prefer the "simpler" of the two Wild Partys, with one person recently saying "This musical is such a trainwreck."

Yet it still stands as one of the best shows I've ever seen, the best performance by a leading female in a musical I've ever witnessed (as the last notes played over Toni Collette's horrified expression, my jaw literally [yes, literally]dropped), and my favorite flop. Plus just look at all the actors of today that were in the cast: Toni Collette, Mandy Patinkin, Norm Lewis, Eartha Kitt, Marc Kudisch, Sally Murphy, Leah Hocking, Tonya Pinkins...all on display, all get their own numbers/story-lines, and all showing such great promise for a wild party.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:07pm

Caroline, or Change

I wish I could have been fortunate enough to see Goldilocks. It's one of my favorite scores and I've always dreamed of a revival with perhaps a brushed up book (and the lyrics to Pussy Foot would probably need to be changed). Could we try this one just once before we see Grease, Gypsy or Fiddler again?

[AC126748]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:11pm

I truly loved AMOUR, CAROLINE OR CHANGE, PASSING STRANGE, and WELL.

[CyCoSpAz2]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:15pm

A Tale of Two Cities [2]

[Scott Briefer]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:18pm

Big Deal
Is There Life After High School
A Class Act
A History of the American Film
Somethings Afoot
Taboo

I loved all of these flops. Saw many many more, but these are the ones that fall into the brilliant failure category.

[ABB2357]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:21pm

For artistic failures, DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES and (of course) THE FIRST WIVES CLUB. As far as shows that were critically respected by flopped commercially, CAROLINE OR CHANGE and PASSING STRANGE.

[[e-mail]]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:26pm

9 to 5 was excellent. great talent, hilarious script, and such catchy songs. its really too bad it closed, i think if it had opened at another time it would have survived. i mean, it opened and ran last summer, when over 10 shows were grossing over 1 million every week. it couldn't compete with shows like Hair etc. sad excited for the tour, but i dunno if they can match the magic of the original cast.

[amoni2]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:29pm

Taboo too

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:50pm

Every Sondheim show besides the 2005 Sweeney revival.

[Here I Am]

Posted: 5/21/10 at 8:52pm

The Story of My Life was one of the biggest flops I've ever seen and also one of the most beautiful shows I've ever seen.

The Pirate Queen had it's problems, but the score was great (for the most part) and most of the cast was sensational. I actually enjoyed it a great deal.

I found Young Frankenstein hilarious and the music charming.

Amour was really smart and the music was lovely.

9 to 5 was so much fun. The songs and book, while not changing the coarse of musical theatre, were really clever and really well done. The cast was also excellent.

And please don't stone me for this (lol), but I absolutely loved Shrek.

Updated On: 5/21/10 at 08:52 PM