Under Appreciated Off or Off Off Broadway Musicals

[missthemountains]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:17pm

I love Broadway flops dearly, but I love the world of Off-Broadway and Off-Off even more. What are some musicals everyone can think of that are either flops (hard to quanitfy that term in the Off Off Broadway or Off Broadway realm, so I'm willing to cast a wide net), have big cult followings or are just under appreciated but haven't been on Broadway yet?

Ones that come to mind that I would say are cult classics but not flop-status are: Children Of Eden, Zanna Don't! Lazarus, Forbidden Broadway, Naked Men Singing, Alter Boys... ones more in the flop category might be Kid Victory and Cleopatra (dear god that was dreadful). Also Tommy Tune's The Club, Mail ...these are among more obscure ones and fall more into the under appreciated realm, as do most musicals on this list. There's a gay themed musical from the 80s that had a scene on the back of a truck I recall but I can't remember the name. 

Updated On: 2/1/21 at 03:17 PM

[missthemountains]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:20pm

Found it. It's called Lovers (1973). Others that come to mind: Yank!, A Strange Loop (hasnt played Broadway ~yet~), Minskys, Heathers, Bat Boy, Dogfight, Fly By Night, Zorro, Last Five Years, Far From Heaven.

Updated On: 2/1/21 at 03:20 PM

[KMadd25]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:22pm

I recently saw the filmed off-Broadway version of Daddy Long Legs. Such a cute musical, and it has a couple of really sweet songs.

[Alex Kulak2]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:25pm

Murder Ballad is a rock opera from a few years ago that I co-directed at college. It’s one of the few “rock musicals” that doesn’t sacrifice the raw emotive sound of rock music to sound more “musical theatre-y”. It’s a straight-up rock concert with a plot, and I wish it got more attention.

I found out after the fact that several of the songs had been written by the composer back in the 90s, which technically makes it a half-jukebox musical, but it doesn’t sound like it at all. The songs fit perfectly to further the plot and develop character.

Updated On: 2/1/21 at 03:25 PM

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:44pm

Sadly, many of my favorite underrated Off-Broadway musicals are underrated partly because they never received a cast-album, and therefore never got much attention outside of their initial run. Many (probably most) of them had very flawed books, but enjoyable scores that never got professionally recorded in full. For me, the biggest examples are:

--Brooklynite 

--Futurity (luckily there's a concept album with most of the songs) 

--Beast in the Jungle (not technically a musical, but falls under a similar umbrella) 

--Invisible Thread 

--The Lucky Ones 

Updated On: 2/1/21 at 03:44 PM

[ARTc3]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:49pm

Trixie True Teen Detective.

[ARTc3]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:49pm

Trixie True Teen Detective.

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 3:56pm

"Heathers" - I thought this one was eyeing Broadway. Even with a minimal set I thought the book and score were enough to carry the show Off-Broadway. I heard that they were actually focusing on that for the off-Broadway run.

"Nevermore - The Imaginary Life and Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe" - I loved this show and saw it a few times. It deserved to run longer than it did. Such an interesting evening of theater. So glad they recorded it. I own the cast recording and even the re-mix cd's they did.

[Sutton Ross]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 4:01pm

Alex Kulak2 said: "Murder Ballad is a rock opera from a few years ago that I co-directed at college. It’s one of the few “rock musicals” that doesn’t sacrifice the raw emotive sound of rock music to sound more “musical theatre-y”. It’s a straight-up rock concert with a plot, and I wish it got more attention.

I found out after the fact that several of the songs had been written by the composer back in the 90s, which technically makes it a half-jukebox musical, but it doesn’t sound like it at all. The songs fit perfectly to further the plot and develop character."

I loved Murder Ballad, I went like 5 times. Will Swenson, Caissie Levy, Rebecca Naomi Jones and John Ellison Conlee. Good Lord, that cast. I enjoyed when Will sat on my table multiple times. It was sexy with a great rock score. 

[FosseTharp]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 4:29pm

Bat Boy, The Adding Machine, Bernarda Alba, Burnt Part Boys, Murder Ballad, Thrill Me, A Man of No Importance, and Ruthless! Are some that come to mind.

[missthemountains]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 5:01pm

These are all really good. Another one that comes to mind is Erin Markey's A Ride On The Irish Cream. Some others that run the gamot to cult classics, flops, under appreciated musicals: Cambodian Rock Band, Scottland, PA, Reanimator: The Musical, It Came From Beyond: The Musical, The Musical About Star Wars, Caligula, White Noise.

[HogansHero]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 10:05pm

I also loved Murder Ballad. Saw it twice. I'm surprised it hasn't been done more.

[JBroadway]

Posted: 2/1/21 at 11:18pm

I saw Murder Ballad in London in 2016. The cast featured Ramin Karimloo and Kerry Ellis, though I saw Kerry Ellis' understudy. The narrator was played by the incredibly talented Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, who gave another fantastic performance as Kate in The Wild Party later that same season. 

I didn't care for the show as much as you guys did. I had a ton of issues with it, though I think a lot of them could be blamed on the direction (it was not the same director as the original NYC production). But even so, there was a lot that liked about it. I remember finding "You Belong to Me" to be a thrilling number. It's an interesting story, and the ending caught me way off guard. 

[ELFcubed]

Posted: 2/2/21 at 12:32am

Going back a bit further, Spitfire Grill is lovely with a really nice score. Simple show, with some heartfelt performances, surely wouldn't have been a hit on Broadway. 

I only learned about it after being cast as the Visitor in a local production a while back. So happy to have a cast recording to listen to! 

[Ravenclaw]

Posted: 2/2/21 at 2:09am

Two Joshua Schmidt scores (Adding Machine and A Minister's Wife), two LaChiusa scores (See What I Wanna See and Giant), and two Ahrens/Flaherty scores (A Man of No Importance and Dessa Rose) are among my favorites of the past 20 years. I also have a fondness for Maury Yeston's Death Takes a Holiday. I understand why each of these shows may be "challenging" for a general audience, but I love them dearly and would travel quite a distance to see good productions of them.

[FosseTharp]

Posted: 2/2/21 at 6:40am

missthemountains said: "These are all really good. Another one that comes to mind is Erin Markey'sA Ride On The Irish Cream.Some others that run the gamot to cult classics, flops, under appreciated musicals:CambodianRock Band, Scottland, PA, Reanimator: The Musical, It Came From Beyond: The Musical, The Musical About Star Wars, Caligula, White Noise."

 

Wasn’t  “White Noise”  that show written partially by Pasek and Paul about those two MAGA-esque Nazi girls folk band?  Produced by Whoopie Goldberg I think? Or am I crazy and mixing a few things up?...

 

[Wee Thomas2]

Posted: 2/2/21 at 9:27am

They made the film "Marty" into a musical and it played "Pre Broadway" at the Huntington theater in Boston


Rupert Holmes did the book, John C. Reilly played the title role.  We saw it twice and still look forward to it making it to Broadway some day

[Islander_fan]

Posted: 2/2/21 at 10:07am

I really loved Murder Ballad. I know that it started off at one of the smaller MTC venues at City Center with Karen Olive playing Sarah (she’s on the cast album.) However, when it was moving off Broadway to Union Square Theatre, it was around the time that Olive took a break from Broadway. I remember reading an interview where it said that Will Swenson suggested that they cast Cassie Levy for the transfer and that was a great move. 

And, I agree about the score. I loved how it sounded more traditional rock and roll rather than a theatre rock sound, for lack of a better term. Also, the set was amazing. I remember watching the red carpet opening night video and even the cast was amazed by it. Swenson said something along the lines of how he had gone to that theatre for auditions, thought it had seen far better days, Yet he was surprised as to how well the set was. It was a full on downtown club set, people able to get drinks at the bar pre show. Those sitting on tables had some chairs and tables marked off for actors to stand on. I sat there a couple of times and it was cool to look up and see one of the actors standing at your table while preforming. God, I miss it so much, and, the album is on constant rotation for me. 

 

 

[Owen22]

Posted: 2/2/21 at 12:01pm

I recently mentioned this show in another thread.  RADIANT BABY the Keith Haring musical. 

[chrishuyen]

Posted: 2/2/21 at 11:56pm

As for some newer ones, I thought Puffs was absolutely charming (at least to Harry Potter fans) and Emojiland was surprisingly poignant.  Darling Grenadine was also a "didn't blow my mind but I still occasionally think about it" kind of musical, and same with The Other Josh Cohen.  I don't know if Soft Power can be considered "underappreciated" seeing as it was a Pulitzer finalist, but I love it all the same and hope more people discover it, and Fairview as well.  For the more obscure, Das Barbecu is such fun and I wish there was a bigger following behind it because I seem to only have found 3 people who've heard of it.

[Owen22]

Posted: 2/3/21 at 12:27am

HogansHero said: "I also loved Murder Ballad. Saw it twice. I'm surprised it hasn't been done more."

 I have seen Murder Ballad twice more since the Off Broadway production. Once in Chicago and another time in London.

[Owen22]

Posted: 2/3/21 at 12:33am

I have also seen a London and an Australian production of the musical version of Little Miss Sunshine. There was something off about the 2nd Stage version. Part of it was casting but a lot of it was direction. But the other two productions really made me appreciate the show. What was missing from the New York version was no one was really rooting for the family the way they were in my two subsequent productions.