"Grand Hotel" was a hit straight play and movie in the early 30's. It was adapted into a musical in 1989, and, so far, that musical version has only played Broadway once (and it was a hit).
Flop shows are VERY rarely revived. The few times it has happened, it was due to extremely unique circumstances and almost always was the result of a major overhaul of the original material. In the case of ASSASSINS, the original off-Broadway production can't really be called a flop -- it was always intended to be a limited run at Playwrights and financing for a proposed Broadway transfer was attempted, but it unfortunately just never quite fully materialized. Nobody lost any money, so it can hardly be categorized a flop (not to mention, there have been over a 1000 productions of it around the country in the last decade).
Sondheim is always a special case. His shows rarely make any money ("Funny Thing," "Company" and "Into The Woods," if I remember correctly, were the only ones to turn a profit during their original runs -- I'm only counting the shows for which he did both music & lyrics), but because he is by critical consensus considered the greatest composer of music for the theatre (perhaps, best composer, period) of the latter half of the 20th century, there is a certain prestige factor associated with his work. Producers are generally willing to risk losing money on his shows because he makes them look classy by association (not to mention he's always a good bet for the Tonys). His work will probably always get revived regardless of the financial consequences -- which is why we'll be seeing a revival of "Pacific Overtures" here at Roundabout next season.
As for non-Sondheim shows, the only big flop that got a major revival that I can think of off the top of my head is "Candide" and it was a very special case. Bernstein, like Sondheim, is one of the most well-respected giants of musical theatre and some considered "Candide" to be his finest Broadway score (or at least to be on the level of "West Side Story"). The original production in 1956 only ran 73 performances, mostly do to an overly dark book from Lillian Hellman, as well as a lousy production. When they decided to revive it two decades later, they tossed out Hellman's book and replaced it with a much funnier, completely new one by Hugh Wheeler, added new songs and other material by Bernstein (and Sondheim, if I remember correctly), and the whole production was reconceived as a circus-like farce by Hal Prince. In short, it was almost a completely brand new show and ended up being a hit. Unfortunately, somehow the magic disappeared when Prince revived it again in 1997 and it flopped. Because of Bernstein's extraordinary score and the fun story, it'll never disappear (City Opera is doing a few performances of it this season), but I'm not sure when we'll see it on Broadway again.
The original production of Bernstein's "On the Town" was a hit 60 years ago, but the two times it has been revived -- in 1971, running 73 performances and in 1998, for 69 performances and losing $8 million -- it flopped badly and the biggest complaint was that the material felt dated -- and as time goes on, it's not going to feel any less dated. The popular movie version (which tossed out most of the score) with Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra means a skeleton of the material will live on, but it's a pretty sure bet we've seen the last of the show on Broadway.
"Steel Pier" ran two months and lost its entire investment -- the show didn't work (I was bored senseless) and it won't being seeing a Broadway house again without a MAJOR overhaul of the book and score.
"Working" is charming enough -- a great revue for colleges and amateur theatre. It lasted 24 performances on Broadway despite a cast that included future Tony winners Patti Lupone, Joe Mantegna and Lynn Thigpen, as well as Bob Gunton, Lenora Nemetz, Matt McGrath, et al. There are some good songs in it and it was filmed for PBS, but if it is produced in NY again (and it probably will be off-off-Broadway) somehow I just don't think it'll be on Broadway.
"What a story........ everything but the bloodhounds snappin' at her rear end." -- Birdie
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"The Devil Be Hittin' Me" -- Whitney
Updated On: 4/28/04 at 08:11 PM
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