Transfers That Flopped

#1

Transfers 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?

#2

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:32am

The 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.

#3

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:44am

The Woman In White

Updated On: 12/29/12 at 10:44 AM

#4

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:58am

Ghost?

#5

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 10:58am

Ghost
Hair
The Drowsy Chaperone

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"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

#6

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:04am

Priscilla would be considered a flop here, yes?

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"Get mad, then get over it." - Colin Powell

#7

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:16am

Festen

#8

Transfers 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.

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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."

#9

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:47am

Enron closed a while ago in London.

#10

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:49am

Rebecca.

#11

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:45pm

Droswy didn't transfer, nor did it flop...

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"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

#12

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:47pm

Drowsy transferred to the West End (with Elaine Paige) and flopped, big time.

#13

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/29/12 at 11:56pm

Taboo

#14

Transfers 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.

#15

Transfers 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?

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"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

#16

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/30/12 at 12:56am

Didnt CHICAGO and AVE Q not do as well in the UK?

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"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

#17

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:01am

It's my understanding that Chess failed here and was a hit in the UK originally.

#18

Transfers 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

#19

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/30/12 at 1:05am

And we cannot forget CARRIE. It flopped here after its transfer.

#20

Transfers 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.

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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

#21

Transfers 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).

#22

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/30/12 at 2:02am

Movin' Out flopped in London.

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"There’s nothing quite like the power and the passion of Broadway music. "

#23

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/30/12 at 2:39am

Did 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.

#24

Transfers 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.

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"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

#25

Transfers That Flopped

Posted: 12/30/12 at 3:01am

Ragtime was a closed run though wasn't it, at the Donmar? Or was there an open ended West End run?