Which Shows Do You NOT Want To Be Revived?

Since the opposite question is so often asked, I thought it might be fun to turn it on it's head and ask the opposite. Which shows do you not want to see revived on Broadway? Obviously Gypsy will be mentioned lol. It's a good show, but feels stuck in its time to me. Other ones? I don't think A Chorus Line needs to be back on Broadway, although you can make the argument that it's such a hard show to cast that doing it on Broadway again creates the most high quality productions of it possible. Les Mis can be on Broadway again in my book, but using the same production and choreography should disqualify it to be called a revival. Either bring it back as the same thing or reinvent it and THEN call it a revival.

What do you guys think?

Updated On: 8/20/17 at 05:20 AM

I don't really care how others (producers) spend their money. If they produce a show I'm not interested in, I just don't but a ticket.

Revive: to bring back. You don't get to change the meanings of words.

I would love for Roundabout to revive a real flop that got some outstanding reviews. Darling of the Day. Jules Styne and EY Harburg music and lyrics, great role for the female lead, a charismatic male lead could do wonders with the male lead. Needs a little tightening, elimination of a couple of songs, but there is great material there.

I would also love to see Roundabout or LCT do a revival of Over Here. Wonderfully entertaining show with several show-stopping numbers. My dream cast for this show has always been Peters and Lupone rotating the roles played but the Andrews sisters -- probably even doing the coda at the end where they sing old Andrews sisters songs or a few from their own careers done as duets, complete with 40s orchestrations -- and a terrific comedienne doing the role that won Janie Sell a Tony. Could it be Andrea Martin (too old, but that might ADD to the comedy)? Whatshername from Kinky Boots and SITPWG? Laura Bennett? Jane Krakowski? an unknown?

A Funny Thing, of course. It has been too long.

Would love to see the Alan Ayckbourn flop How the Other Half Lives.

Nicholas Nickelby, although the prospects are probably decreasing with the impending Harry Potter revival.

MAME. MAME. MAME. MAME. MAME. But only if they can find the right lead who is reasonably the right age. Anne Hathaway is NOT too young. One could argue that she is the perfect age. Goes from 35 to 55 over the course of the show.

Sweet Bird of Youth.

Strange Interlude.

Cyrano. The flop musical with Christopher Plummer.

I wouldn't want Peter Pan to be revived. The material is just incredibly dated.

I also think producers should put Sunset Boulevard to rest. I was privileged enough to see it with Glenn Close and think that only an actress of her caliber can really do this show.

I think it's easier to think of shows I don't want revived for the next decade or so - like I think Fiddler on the Roof should take an extended break, we don't need another Grease, Rent shouldn't be revived (again?) yet, Funny Girl can probably stay rested, and I agree that Sunset Boulevard should go away for a bit too.

I don't want anything revived. Let's devote all these theatres to new work.

henrikegerman said: "Ok, I'll ask.

why would anyone think GYPSY is "stuck in" it's time? And what time is it "stuck" in? The time it's set in? The time it premiered? The times of its first major revivals? The time of its most and quite recent major revival?



Also, why are some musicals considered bad if it's stuck in its time or dated ... it's supposed to be in its time? Is The Light in the Piazza horrible for taking place in the 1950's? Is Ragtime not a good show for being set in the early 1900's? It makes no sense. If it's a historical musical, it is supposed to be in its time period. I can understand if some of the issues the show deals with are touchy subjects today (Carousel's hitting thing with Billy, for example), but for a historical musical to be disliked/not wanted for being set in its intended time? That's ridiculous and really irritating.

Itonlytakesajourney said: "Also, why are some musicals considered bad if it's stuck in its time or dated ... it's supposed to be in its time? "

You are confusing dated with historical. some shows are of historical interest, but most are not. Some shows reveal their age more than others. And of course there are some shows that, despite being dated, are of interest. Only a tiny fraction of the plays (films, tv shows etc) of even 50-100 years ago are of interest today: the issues are different, the language is different, behavior is different, culture is different and in the case of musicals the music is different.

It's not that a show is bad because it is set in another time, with dated trappings, but that some shows that were considered good in their time no longer are. This is as it should be: art is not static.

I have definitely had enough of the Gypsy and Fiddler revivals for awhile. I also don't need to see Grease or Les Mis again anytime soon. I also think there's some shows like Guys & Dolls, which had such a perfect revival in the early 90s, that any revival (including the awful 2009 one) will be hard pressed to live up to that.

blaxx said: "Love, the only stuck in time in you.

Its time, not it's time.



Okay, lol.

@Itonlytakesajourney I disagree about DEH. I don't think it will be of interest in 50 years, and not because of Instagram and Kickstarter.

Call_me_jorge said: "We don't need The Producers to be revived.



Emphatically disagree, although I do not think there is any urgency. And the casting of Max will be an issue. The first time I saw The Producers remains one of the most fun nights I have ever had in 50 years of attending the theatre. The fact that re-casting Max is such a challenge doesn't make that any less true.

Anything that is a reproduction of the original director, choreographer or designers' work can be 86'ed. (I'm looking at you, A Chorus Line.) Reconceive the show and I am interested in seeing what you can bring to it.

As for specific titles of shows I have seen that I want to see left in the warehouse with the Lost Ark:

Applause
Starlight Express
Sugar Babies
Aspects of Love
The Goodbye Girl
The Scarlet Pimpernel
Rock of Ages
Shrek

Updated On: 8/20/17 at 06:01 PM