What "Flop" would you like to see given a 2nd Chance? — Page 4
#77
Posted: 6/11/05 at 5:38pm
MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG - someone was saying it has been revised a lot but the major revisions were done for the 1985 LaJolla production. All the subsequent changes have been more like tweaks. The revised version does work very well, though I would add the opening and closing gradutaion scenes to "bookend" the piece. It has a wonderful score, coupled with interesting (flawed) chracters that I don't get why other far less interesting shows run years and years while MERRILY lives on as a such a flop. (I would apply the same comment to BOUNCE though it is still a work in progress.)
THE RINK - maybe it needs a smaller theatre, a more intimate production but it does NOT need any major re-writing.
STEEL PIER does need some rewriting but like both of the above has too fine a score to dismiss.
THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD - I never saw this but from the cast album and the larrely positive reviews it got in 1961, it should have been a big hit.
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN - perhaps too old fashioned for modern audiences but a fine score and a really solid book.
There are other flop shows with wonderful scores preserved on cast albums, but you can see why they failed: DEAR WORLD (the score and the book do not belong together); ANYA (intresting use of Rachmaninov's music ... but a really bad book); SUBWASY ARE FOR SLEEPING (speaking of really abd books!) and BAKER STREET (just plain dull.)
THE RINK - maybe it needs a smaller theatre, a more intimate production but it does NOT need any major re-writing.
STEEL PIER does need some rewriting but like both of the above has too fine a score to dismiss.
THE HAPPIEST GIRL IN THE WORLD - I never saw this but from the cast album and the larrely positive reviews it got in 1961, it should have been a big hit.
A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN - perhaps too old fashioned for modern audiences but a fine score and a really solid book.
There are other flop shows with wonderful scores preserved on cast albums, but you can see why they failed: DEAR WORLD (the score and the book do not belong together); ANYA (intresting use of Rachmaninov's music ... but a really bad book); SUBWASY ARE FOR SLEEPING (speaking of really abd books!) and BAKER STREET (just plain dull.)
Cast albums are NOT "soundtracks."
Live theatre does not use a "soundtrack." If it did, it wouldn't be live theatre!
I host a weekly one-hour radio program featuring cast album selections as well as songs by cabaret, jazz and theatre artists. The program, FRONT ROW CENTRE is heard Sundays 9 to 10 am and also Saturdays from 8 to 9 am (eastern times) on www.proudfm.com
#78
Posted: 6/11/05 at 5:50pm
Carrie!
"Jaime's convienced that the problems are mine. Jaime is probably doing just fine. And I'm still hurting."
#79
Posted: 6/11/05 at 5:54pm
1) THE GOLDEN APPLE (Surprised that more people aren't mentioning this one!)
2) MACK AND MABEL
3) BABY
4) THE HUMAN COMEDY
5) THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
2) MACK AND MABEL
3) BABY
4) THE HUMAN COMEDY
5) THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM
Praying Decca Broadway will put "Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope" on CD!
Updated On: 6/12/05 at 05:54 PM
#80
Posted: 6/11/05 at 5:56pm
"The Robber Bridegroom" is definitely due for a new staging. I think Marc Kudisch and Alice Ripley would be perfect for it.
#81
Posted: 6/11/05 at 6:05pm
OH YES!!! Mack and Mabel!! I read that the Goodspeed Opera reworked the problem areas last year!
Also Taboo...
Also Taboo...
"Jaime's convienced that the problems are mine. Jaime is probably doing just fine. And I'm still hurting."
#82
Posted: 6/11/05 at 6:15pm
1. Little Women
2. You're a Good Man Charlie Brown
3. Seussical
4. Tommy(wasn't a flop, but hasn't been on Broadway in years)
5. Parade
2. You're a Good Man Charlie Brown
3. Seussical
4. Tommy(wasn't a flop, but hasn't been on Broadway in years)
5. Parade
"The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation."
#83
Posted: 6/11/05 at 6:26pm
Hollywood Arms
"You're every gay man's wet dream!" ~ MA
If in Heaven you don't excel, you can always party down in hell...
#84
Posted: 6/11/05 at 6:46pm
Tom Sawyer, just cuz a friend was in it.
Be the change you want in the world....
#85
Posted: 6/11/05 at 7:01pm
T to the A to the B to the O to the O
ahem?
TABOO!!!!
ahem?
TABOO!!!!
And the other thing about the Phantom Lady was, Bert, she realized, in the city that never sleeps...
What did she realize, Kitten?
That all the songs she'd listened to, all the love songs, that they were only songs.
What's wrong with that?
Nothing, if you don't believe in them. But she did, you see. She believed in enchanted evenings, and she believed that a small cloud passed overhead and cried down on a flower bed, and she even believed there was breakfast to be had...
Where?
On Pluto. The mysterious, icy wastes of Pluto.
#86
Posted: 6/11/05 at 7:22pm
A Time For Singing
Amour
Parade
The Girl Who Came to Supper/Sail Away (I enjoy both scores)
The Grass Harp (it's charming)
runners up include
Donnybrook!
Mack & Mabel
Street Scene
Mack & Mabel
Juno
Amour
Parade
The Girl Who Came to Supper/Sail Away (I enjoy both scores)
The Grass Harp (it's charming)
runners up include
Donnybrook!
Mack & Mabel
Street Scene
Mack & Mabel
Juno
#87
Posted: 6/11/05 at 7:56pm
CJR, I totally agree with you about "Hollywood Arms". Such a beautiful, moving play. Michele Pawk would have to reprise her Tony-winning role, of course.
#88
Posted: 6/11/05 at 8:17pm
Of course. It would have to be Michele Pawk, Linda Lavin, Donna Lynne Champlin, Frank Wood...... I cant believe it was never taped.
"You're every gay man's wet dream!" ~ MA
If in Heaven you don't excel, you can always party down in hell...
#89
Posted: 6/11/05 at 9:01pm
After seeing them all three times in that wonderful play, I honestly cannot imagine others doing it better.
#90
Posted: 6/11/05 at 9:38pm
Starlight Express should be shot down and killed. Given the right place, and enough special effects, it can pass as decent amusement, but I would never call it theater. It is an embarrassment to anybody who considers themself a patron of the arts
#91
Posted: 6/11/05 at 10:10pm
The Scarlet Pimpernel.
#92
Posted: 6/11/05 at 11:01pm
Having discovered this subject on the board recently, several shows I would have named have already been cited, including Side Show, Triumph of Love, Smile, and The Robber Bridegroom. I would like to add the following 9having directed productions of two, and musical directed another:
-- Baby
-- Working (with updates)
-- King of Hearts
-- Summer of '42
-- Baby
-- Working (with updates)
-- King of Hearts
-- Summer of '42
#93
Posted: 6/11/05 at 11:03pm
Seussical
What the puck?!
#94
Posted: 6/11/05 at 11:24pm
Sorry guys, but I HAVE to say "Little Women". The music is just so beautiful!
"Needless to say the crew is well acquainted with my ass and that's ok because they are the coolest guys ever."
- Idina Menzel
#95
Posted: 6/12/05 at 12:03am
SideShow
The Wild Party (LaChuisa)
both where amazing musicals that i love
The Wild Party (LaChuisa)
both where amazing musicals that i love
#96
Posted: 6/16/05 at 1:04pm
Musicals that I think can work given the right ingredients that did not work or never found an audience when originally concieved:
Carrie
Runaways
Sideshow
Working
Robber Bridegroom
Mack and Mabel
Taboo
Merrily...
Caroline or Change
That said, some shows never will be hits. Even if they are brilliant...Sondheim never had a hit.
Carrie
Runaways
Sideshow
Working
Robber Bridegroom
Mack and Mabel
Taboo
Merrily...
Caroline or Change
That said, some shows never will be hits. Even if they are brilliant...Sondheim never had a hit.
"Carson has combined his passion for helping children with his love for one of Cincinnati's favorite past times - cornhole - to create a unique and exciting event perfect for a corporate outing, entertaining clients or family fun."
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
"In Oz, the verb is douchifizzation." PRS
#97
Posted: 6/16/05 at 1:10pm
Oh wow, I can't believe anyone else remembers Marilyn, I loved that show. I would love to see that and DOTV brought back.
#98
Posted: 6/16/05 at 1:14pm
1. Taboo of course!
2. Civil War
3. Parade
4. Caroline or Change
5. Little Shop with a proper director/cast!
2. Civil War
3. Parade
4. Caroline or Change
5. Little Shop with a proper director/cast!
"Judy Garland, Jimmy Dean, You tragedy Queen" ~ Taboo
"Watching a frat boy realize just what he put his d!ck in...ex's getting std's...schadenfruede" ~ Ave Q
"when dangers near, exploit their fear" ~ Reefer Madness the Musical
"Watching a frat boy realize just what he put his d!ck in...ex's getting std's...schadenfruede" ~ Ave Q
"when dangers near, exploit their fear" ~ Reefer Madness the Musical
#99
Posted: 6/16/05 at 1:39pm
1. StEx
2. DotV (as said, revised to be back in line with the German productions)
3. Barbarella
2. DotV (as said, revised to be back in line with the German productions)
3. Barbarella
#100
Posted: 6/16/05 at 2:29pm
Side Show
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
The Wild Party
You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown
The Wild Party
Life is like a patio door, you never know which side is open... and then you run into the glass.... ~Connie and Carla
Tickets From $59
Tickets From $71
Tickets From $71
Tickets From $95