Transfers That Flopped
Transfers That Flopped
#1Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:28am
I was talking to a friend the other night about the "Matilda" transfer and somehow we got on the discussion of shows that planned transfers, there was a great deal of hype and then they flopped but we couldn't think of any.
Has there ever been a show from the West End to NYC and vice versa that was expected to be a hit and wasn't?
#2Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:32amThe first show that comes to mind is Enron. Hit in London (still running I think?) and an absolute flop in New York. My friends who did see it here loved it, but it was a sore spot for Americans, and so it goes.
#2Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:44amThe Woman In White Updated On: 12/29/12 at 10:44 AM
NOB88
Stand-by Joined: 10/21/06
#4Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:58am
Ghost
Hair
The Drowsy Chaperone
"You travel alone because other people are only there to remind you how much that hook hurts that we all bit down on. Wait for that one day we can bite free and get back out there in space where we belong, sail back over water, over skies, into space, the hook finally out of our mouths and we wander back out there in space spawning to other planets never to return hurrah to earth and we'll look back and can't even see these lives here anymore. Only the taste of blood to remind us we ever existed. The earth is small. We're gone. We're dead. We're safe."
-John Guare, Landscape of the Body
#5Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:04amPriscilla would be considered a flop here, yes?
"Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell
sundayclothes2
Featured Actor Joined: 4/10/09
Mattbrain
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/23/05
#7Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:16am
Sister Act didn't recoup, did it
Definitely Taboo and Tanz der Vampire...oh I'm sorry, Dance of the Vampires.
Butters, go buy World of Warcraft, install it on your computer, and join the online sensation before we all murder you.
--Cartman: South Park
ATTENTION FANS: I will be played by James Barbour in the upcoming musical, "BroadwayWorld: The Musical."
SondheimFan5
Broadway Legend Joined: 6/20/10
#10Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:45pmDroswy didn't transfer, nor did it flop...
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
nasty_khakis
Broadway Legend Joined: 3/15/07
#11Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:47pmDrowsy transferred to the West End (with Elaine Paige) and flopped, big time.
metropolis10111
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/06
#13Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:16am
Matilda...
Wait... too soon? I'm just calling it now, the US won't cling to this show.
#14Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:19am
Gotcha. Yeah, lots of musicals seemed to have flopped in the West End: Rent, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and The Producers.
And didn't Chess do well in the West End?
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
#15Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:56amDidnt CHICAGO and AVE Q not do as well in the UK?
"The Spectacle has, indeed, an emotional attraction of its own, but, of all the parts, it is the least artistic, and connected least with the art of poetry. For the power of Tragedy, we may be sure, is felt even apart from representation and actors. Besides, the production of spectacular effects depends more on the art of the stage machinist than on that of the poet."
--Aristotle
--Aristotle
#16Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:01amIt's my understanding that Chess failed here and was a hit in the UK originally.
AEA AGMA SM
Broadway Legend Joined: 8/13/09
#17Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:03am
"Didnt CHICAGO and AVE Q not do as well in the UK?"
Well, if you count a run of 15 years as not doing well then yes, Chicago did not do as well over in London 
#18Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:05amAnd we cannot forget CARRIE. It flopped here after its transfer.
Gothampc
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/20/03
#19Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:05am
Whistle Down The Wind - maybe it had to do with Boyzone not getting enough airplay on "No Matter What".
eta: WDTW played a few venues in the States, but never made it to Broadway even though they had a theater and publicity was already around NYC.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Updated On: 12/30/12 at 01:05 AM
#20Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:57am
And of course both productions of Whistle that played in the US (Hal prince's and the later UK tour) were very different from Edwards' production (which I really enjoyed) in London.
Woman in White was hardly a huge hit in the UK (did it run a year?).
Aspects of Love of course did much better in London. Pippin was a huge flop in the 70s in London (Fosse never seemed to have a ton of success in London--when Chicago opened there in the 70s it wasn't even his production--and didn't do well).
#21Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 2:02amMovin' Out flopped in London.
"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "
#22Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 2:39amDid Blood Brothers ever recoup on Broadway? I know it ran 2 years here but it ran for decades in London...not exactly a horrible flop but not nearly as successful as the West End production.
#23Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 2:51am
Avenue Q ran for five years on the West End :) and I was just going to mention Movin' Out in the UK. Only two months. Ouch.
Fosse only lasted a year in the West End. Ragtime lasted less than. I know it was not a financial hit in the US, but it's a popular show.
"I saw Pavarotti play Rodolfo on stage and with his girth I thought he was about to eat the whole table at the Cafe Momus." - Dollypop
Updated On: 12/30/12 at 02:51 AM
#24Transfers That Flopped
Posted: 12/30/12 at 3:01amRagtime was a closed run though wasn't it, at the Donmar? Or was there an open ended West End run?
Videos