Train Wrecks You Wish You'd Seen- Page 3

[justme2]

Posted: 2/26/06 at 10:47pm

I wish I could have seen The Best Little Whorehouse Goes Pubic.

Just reading the reviews and reading about scenes of "middle aged men with their pants at their ankles singing about call girls who were spread eagled in lucite boxes representing computers..." wasn't enough!

[VivaBohemia]

Posted: 2/26/06 at 11:44pm

I actually saw Annie 2 when it toured the Kennedy Center...Of course I was like, 7 and loved it, but I coudnt tell you now how I would feel...I hardly remember seeing it, I just know my ticket stub is somewhere in the depths of my scrapbook lol.

[TheaterAddict7652]

Posted: 2/26/06 at 11:53pm

In My Life, Carrie and Thou Shall Not- mostly because I wish I could have seen Norbert's performence

[InfiniteTheaterFrenzy]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 12:22am

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG WAS NOT AND IS NOT A TRAIN WRECK IT IS A BEAUTIFUL PIECE OF ART

that said, i wish i'd seen ALL OF THEM!!!! after Chris J Hanke's performance at FLOPZ tonight, most prominently, I wish I'd seen Marilyn: An American Fable

I also would've loved to see Via Galactica and Dude

[gavrochegirl]

Posted: 2/27/06 at 12:25am

Definitely In My Life.

[Wanna Be A Foster]

Posted: 1/2/07 at 10:36pm

The Train Wreck I wish I'd NEVER seen is my daughter-in-law.

Hold up. You have children, Dollypop?

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 1/2/07 at 10:54pm

Merlin
The Wind in the Willows
Rue in Wicked
Once Upon A Mattress revival
Breakfest at Tiffany's
High Fidelity
Suzzane Somer's show

I'm sure there are more I can't think of...

EDIT: Macbeth w/Kelsey Grammer. I forgot that one.

Updated On: 1/3/07 at 10:54 PM

[D2]

Posted: 1/2/07 at 10:55pm

Anyone Can Whistle

[SirLiir]

Posted: 1/2/07 at 11:38pm

High Fidelty was far from a train wreck.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 1/2/07 at 11:50pm

Well, it closed very fast so I counted it. :)

[iliketheater]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 3:36am

In My Life... I'm not sure why (besides one the leads being a very nice guy who graduated from my high school).

[samcd3]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 3:49am

would have loved to see peter allen in 'legs diamond'

[Radioactiveduck]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 4:20am

I loved Dracula...but my God it was terrible.

I love the concept of a musical about Carrie, but I heard it was dreadful.

[Bruce Memblagh!]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 5:07am

Carrie

Dance of Vampires

Which Witch

and High Fidelity - which I actually did see and my god that was just appalling in almost every sense.

[ICEcreamAssassin]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 5:17am

Carrie
Dance of the Vampires
Dracula
Once Upon a Mattress revival

Posted: 1/3/07 at 6:52am

What was Here's Where I Belong? I've never heard of it

A lot of ones have been mentioned already that I woulda loved to have seen... Some I haven't seen mentioned

Shogun the Musical!
That musical about thre Holy Shroud paid for by born agains starring Dean Jones (Something about Light?)
Raggedy Ann sounds fascinatingly bizarre. the sing songy Joe Raposo songs from the animated version with all teh fairy tale trappings but also odd Freudian nightmare elements involving child abuse, images of the little girls mother being hung froma nigthmare tree, etc.

E

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 8:24am

HERE'S WHERE I BELONG was, if you can believe this, a musical of Steinbeck's "East of Eden". The material had possibilities, but it was in completely the wrong hands and never stood a chance.

IMHO, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE is hardly a trainwreck. It had a solid concept, great direction, and impeccable performances and design. What it *didnt* have was that "audience friendly" quota that a show has to have to succeed. It was in three acts, and the first act ended with the cast pretty well insulting most of the audience by mocking their applause... not the best way to send folks out for a drink, but not a trainwreck element.

I've seen more than my share of them, actually, but the one I wish I'd seen was MATA HARI, which was apparently so bad the audience stayed to see how much worse it could get. The script is at the Lincoln Centre library, and I spent a hysterical three hours reading it. According to legend, it surpassed the audience's wildest hopes of so-bad-you-cant-take-your-eyes-off-it theatre, with scenic changes that left the crew visible, error-filled choreography, and a final scene that had everyone leaving in gales of laughter: the actress playing Mata rising from the dead and standing because she thought the curtain had come down (which, natch, it hadnt). Like CARRIE, this was one of those utterly WTF evenings.

[NathanLaneStalker]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 8:29am

I've only seen a few horrible shows. I saw Dance of the Vampires...horrible. But Michael Crawford was great.

I saw The Odd Couple revival. I personally LOVED it but Matthew's performance sucked...badly...I couldn't beleive how bad he was. They should've gotten Mark Linn-Baker.

Tarzan was bad but far from a train wreck.

Posted: 1/3/07 at 9:15am

Interesting--I didn't realize it was a musical of East of Eden--like you said not necesarily a bad idea but the fact itself that they named it Here's WHere I Belong makes you think they probably started off on the wrong note... Was it Terrance McNally's first musical? And Alfred Uhry did the lyrics? I don't recognize the composer's name though I know he did Robber Bridegroom with Uhry a show I always intended to find out more about--but with those names you'd think it would at least be slightly more sucessful...

I agree about ANyone Can WHistle--while I don't think the book (which I've read but never seen performed) was truly ahead of its time as some fans claim it's definetly solid (if unconventional for the time) and it sounds liek the direction and choreography--and of course performances--were more than solid. I guess some people realized too--you didn't see most "infamous flops" of the 60s being recorded by major producers.

(having seen the video of Merrily We ROll Along that Lincoln Center hosts of the original production--far from a great documentation but--even the ugly physical production they ended up with likewise doesn't make the show a true trainwreck IMHO--much of it still works very well)

Would Illya Darling fit into this category? Wasn't there a RUssian themed show that closed outa town which I believe both Loesser and Fosse were involved with in the 60s?

SOme shows I guess are trainwrecks partly or even only just because of such high expectations because of who's involved (ie Fosse's Big Deal).

ALso the majority of these I think are musicals partly because a bad play (unless truly insane sounding like Moose Murders) is usually just boring--but a bad musical is often spectacularly bad.

E

Posted: 1/3/07 at 9:15am

Interesting--I didn't realize it was a musical of East of Eden--like you said not necesarily a bad idea but the fact itself that they named it Here's WHere I Belong makes you think they probably started off on the wrong note... Was it Terrance McNally's first musical? And Alfred Uhry did the lyrics? I don't recognize the composer's name though I know he did Robber Bridegroom with Uhry a show I always intended to find out more about--but with those names you'd think it would at least be slightly more sucessful...

I agree about ANyone Can WHistle--while I don't think the book (which I've read but never seen performed) was truly ahead of its time as some fans claim it's definetly solid (if unconventional for the time) and it sounds liek the direction and choreography--and of course performances--were more than solid. I guess some people realized too--you didn't see most "infamous flops" of the 60s being recorded by major producers.

(having seen the video of Merrily We ROll Along that Lincoln Center hosts of the original production--far from a great documentation but--even the ugly physical production they ended up with likewise doesn't make the show a true trainwreck IMHO--much of it still works very well)

Would Illya Darling fit into this category? Wasn't there a RUssian themed show that closed outa town which I believe both Loesser and Fosse were involved with in the 60s?

SOme shows I guess are trainwrecks partly or even only just because of such high expectations because of who's involved (ie Fosse's Big Deal).

ALso the majority of these I think are musicals partly because a bad play (unless truly insane sounding like Moose Murders) is usually just boring--but a bad musical is often spectacularly bad.

E

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 9:47am

Kelsey Grammer in MACBETH, which was scheduled for Broadway but closed out of town (I think in Boston).

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 9:52am

I'm laughing at how many of these I worked on.

Yes, I can laugh now.

[D2]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 9:54am

Kelsey Grammer's "Macbeth" did open on Broadway and lasted a week and a half.

Trainwreck or not, I wish I'd seen the original "Anyone Can Whistle." It was regarded as a train wreck at the time, although it has gained in reputation ever since.

[Dirty Rotten Scoundrel]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 9:54am

"In My Life" and "Carrie."

I saw "Dance of the Vampires" and actually kind of enjoyed it. I also saw the great Rob Evan go on the one time that Michael Crawford was out.

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 1/3/07 at 9:59am

Holy Cow! I can't believe the MACBETH made it to New York.

Similarly, having seen it in Boston, I was shocked when WAIT UNTIL DARK actually opened on Broadway with Marisa Tomei and Quentin Tarentino. What a mess! To quote John Guare, "It was an all-time low in a lifetime of theatre-going."