Why was the Gigi musical so short lived? — Page 2

one of my best friends was the associate director. I think part of the reason it came to Broadway at all was because of a first time producer. She miscalculated the interest in the piece. Its def a classic movie but an outdated concept for 2016. I mean the premise has to do with an older man waiting for a little girl to become a woman so he can have her, lol....they did a lot of great changes, first of all by giving the little girls song to someone else. But also by casting Corey as much younger than the role calls for.

I'm not sure it should have ever come in the first place, but the fact that the set, costumes and choreography where ignored is sheer politics. The producer was from DC and didn't know any of the Tony Voters who basically just voted for themselves...it's a very political thing. Removing the critics from the ballot box was a really bad idea.

The show was really classy, does it dazzle in a Hamilton world, I'm not sure.

I remember reading that the show's backer, a first time producer with family money, had long loved the film and had a life long dream of putting it on Broadway. As such, I was rather impressed with the class in which she approached the producing, marketing, advertising etc.

The issue was that the show itself didn't have a persuasive vision behind it. Eric Shaeffer is no Vincent Minnelli, and the attempts to make the show's subject matter seem PC to today's audiences actually had the reverse effect. I guess the simple way of saying it was the production just wasn't good enough, and was clearly very expensive to run each week.

It is the kind of show I could see some large summer music theatre attempting though. It was innocuous enough...

I think Gigi in the novella is actually 15, but your comment is still on point Newintown. The problem with the script re-write was that it felt apologetic about presenting the story; as if they were so based in a fear that contemporary audiences wouldn't be able to understand the social mores of Paris over a hundred years ago, which is totally pandering. I think if they had been brave, and stuck to the story details as Collette outlined them, the revival could have been provocative (in a good way) and audiences would have gone with it much more fully than they did with the "PC corrections."

I think you're exactly right, QueenAlice; but this production had in interest in playing to thinking adults. It was completely aimed to tourist teenage girls (very few, I imagine, who have much notion of, or interest in, other times, other cultures, or other mores) and their families.

I find that so sad. There could be so much joy in owning these shows on home video. I've bought every one that has been made available, but they are so few and far between. I would have loved to be able to buy Mel Brook's Young Frankenstein the Broadway musical on home video too. Now it will just be a small part of history like Gigi.