#1
Posted: 4/23/10 at 9:18pm
To those who were around then...what made this production a 17 performance flop? It just seems like such a great idea on paper. Why was it such a failure?
Why did the Patti LuPone "Oliver" flop?
#2
Posted: 4/23/10 at 9:28pm
maybe it just wasn't the right time. i don't think it was due to her, if that's what you are asking? was she panned?
"it's a dirty little war"
#3
Posted: 4/23/10 at 10:03pm
She was great. Lusty, bawdy, funny and vulnerable. I guess the production was a little stale. I loved it, though.
Here she is, singing "As Long As He Needs Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-B9zl0SFz8
And here is "It's a Fine Life"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV2byATUTQc
Here she is, singing "As Long As He Needs Me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-B9zl0SFz8
And here is "It's a Fine Life"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV2byATUTQc
#4
Posted: 4/23/10 at 10:07pm
^ thanks for posting those.
"it's a dirty little war"
#5
Posted: 4/23/10 at 10:13pm
Stale or not, there had to be something that caused it to flop like it did. It's not like it limped along for a few months...it barely played two weeks.
Thanks for posting the videos, though. She looks great.
Thanks for posting the videos, though. She looks great.
#6
Posted: 4/23/10 at 10:31pm
One of the Urchins told me she beat them,
and Child services closed it down.
Just a story of course but it's a good one.
Wasn't Sarah Litzinger, future Belle, Bet?
and Child services closed it down.
Just a story of course but it's a good one.
Wasn't Sarah Litzinger, future Belle, Bet?
#7
Posted: 4/23/10 at 10:38pm
Didn't flops just flop back in the day, instead of running for a year? Couldn't it have just bombed, without any real esoteric meaning behind it?
#8
Posted: 4/23/10 at 10:58pm
It came in right at the end of the season without a lot of advance publicity. Even so, it is such a well loved title and Patti was still hot from EVITA so everyone expected it to run. An then it abruptly closed. Around the same time there was a short-lived revival of THE WIZ. These two plus the failure of the MAME revival a few months earlier and the 1-performance flop of a revival of TAKE ME ALONG the following season more or less put an temporary end to big musical revivals.
To add perspective EVERYTHING was failing. Broadway was not a tourist friendly area. Half the theaters were dark. THE RINK and BABY barely lasted 6 month each. There were not a lot of big box office hits, (LA CAGE was one of the few) and it did not turn around until LES MISERABLES arrived in 1987 followed by PHANTOM in 1988 and MISS SAIGON in 1991.
To add perspective EVERYTHING was failing. Broadway was not a tourist friendly area. Half the theaters were dark. THE RINK and BABY barely lasted 6 month each. There were not a lot of big box office hits, (LA CAGE was one of the few) and it did not turn around until LES MISERABLES arrived in 1987 followed by PHANTOM in 1988 and MISS SAIGON in 1991.
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
#9
Posted: 4/23/10 at 11:04pm
Weren't the reviews pretty terrible, as well? And hadn't it toured heavily (like The Wiz and Mame)?
http://www.youtube.com/huskcharmer
#10
Posted: 4/23/10 at 11:06pm
Thanks, frontrowcentre2!! Very interesting.
#11
Posted: 4/23/10 at 11:39pm
To add perspective EVERYTHING was failing. Broadway was not a tourist friendly area. Half the theaters were dark. THE RINK and BABY barely lasted 6 month each. There were not a lot of big box office hits, (LA CAGE was one of the few) and it did not turn around until LES MISERABLES arrived in 1987 followed by PHANTOM in 1988 and MISS SAIGON in 1991.
And people were dying. Getting sick and dying. Beautiful people. Talented people. Wonderful people. Friends. Colleagues. Lovers. Tricks. Crushes. Mentors. Teachers. Stars. Stars-to-be. Supporting players. Audience members. And nobody knew why. And nobody knew how to stop it or what to do when it hit you or when it would end or IF it would end. And the government and the media ignored us. What? Oliver closed? Oh, too bad. No, she was good. Did you hear who died last week? Yeah--it was quick. I know you didn't know--he didn't want anyone to know he was sick.
And people were dying. Getting sick and dying. Beautiful people. Talented people. Wonderful people. Friends. Colleagues. Lovers. Tricks. Crushes. Mentors. Teachers. Stars. Stars-to-be. Supporting players. Audience members. And nobody knew why. And nobody knew how to stop it or what to do when it hit you or when it would end or IF it would end. And the government and the media ignored us. What? Oliver closed? Oh, too bad. No, she was good. Did you hear who died last week? Yeah--it was quick. I know you didn't know--he didn't want anyone to know he was sick.
#12
Posted: 4/23/10 at 11:47pm
according to wikipedia: "The show only received one negative review; unfortunately it was from Frank Rich of the New York Times, and it prompted one of the main backers to pull out."
#13
Posted: 4/23/10 at 11:57pm
That may be a fact, but never start any thing with "According to Wikipedia" without taking a grain of salt first. Who knows who actually wrote that and put it on there.
Pal Joey makes the best point for pretty much all of Broadway for most of the 80s.
Pal Joey makes the best point for pretty much all of Broadway for most of the 80s.
#14
Posted: 4/24/10 at 1:25am
I have to say that clip of "It's a Fine Life" is pretty awful. She's sleepwalking through the number, and the conductor is racing the tempo so fast she doesn't have much choice.
Did they forget to actually do the music? Or did they just "mark" all the songs really fast, like this?
Did they forget to actually do the music? Or did they just "mark" all the songs really fast, like this?
"Jaws is the Citizen Kane of movies."
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
blocked: logan2, Diamonds3, Hamilton22
#15
Posted: 4/24/10 at 6:43am
PalJoey: Your description of the difficult times of the 1980's is very poignant and of course true. Broadway was devastated by AIDS. I attended the very moving memorial service for Larry Kert at the Winter Garden. Very sad.
It really took Disney and the overhaul of the New Amsterdam to turn things around, along with the BIG musicals from London which Front Row Center points out.
It really took Disney and the overhaul of the New Amsterdam to turn things around, along with the BIG musicals from London which Front Row Center points out.
"Madam Rose...and her daughter...Gypsy!"
Updated On: 4/24/10 at 06:43 AM
#16
Posted: 4/24/10 at 11:59am
Apparently, on an old Patti LuPone site, there was a bit she wrote up about it. The director was always changing things like mad, and he wasn't happy with the lead so he fired the kid the week of rehearsals. It sent everyone in a tizzy (because with how the show was going, everyone was afraid who was going to be sacked next).
Otherwise, that's all I really know.
Otherwise, that's all I really know.
#17
Posted: 4/24/10 at 12:08pm
Well put, Pal Joey. The story of the end of Michael Bennett's shuttered musical-in-progress, Scandal, is such a fascinating story that resonates so deeply with the AIDS crises of the 80s and how it tore through Broadway.
With Irma you gotta do something!
#18
Posted: 4/24/10 at 12:44pm
Not to turn this thread around but I was 14 years old at the time and in the closet. It scared me to think that if I ever acted upon my feelings that I could die. Back then in it was (wrongfully) known as a "gay disease".
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