Why wasn't Tommy a huge hit???

[donte7162004]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 9:27pm

I know it was kind of successful...but why wasn't it a huge success??? When I saw it, I remember thinking it was fantastic! Loved everything about it. It is still one of my favorite shows of all time....and I thought it would run forever!!! Why did it just disappear???

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 9:42pm

It ran over two years. Pretty respectable, if you ask me. Very few shows run "forever".

I thought it was fantastic, but it certainly wasn't family friendly and it wouldn't have been terribly appealing to your older "matinee" audience.

[ReggieonBway]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:01pm

The same reason American Idiot didn't run very long.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:02pm

I am a huge Who fan and although it was somewhat before my time, I think that it had a pretty decent run. I will admit that the arrangements for the score kind of saturated the hard rock and roll edge that The Who are known for and gave it more of a theatre feel rather than a typical rock and roll feel. But, other than that I think that it had a good run. And, I feel that this is saying something because even though I am a Who fan, it is hard for me to stomach this show.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:02pm

Well, Tommy was actually good.

[donte7162004]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:10pm

So.....here's the thing....Mamma Mia is gonna hit 10 years soon....Tommy was WAY better than Mamma Mia....why couldn't Tommy have been a long running show????

[Bettyboy72]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:17pm

"So.....here's the thing....Mamma Mia is gonna hit 10 years soon....Tommy was WAY better than Mamma Mia....why couldn't Tommy have been a long running show????"

Because buses of foreign tourists, bachelorettes, seniors, church and school groups don't go to see Tommy.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:24pm

Did it recoup its investment?

[bwayfan7000]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:26pm

Legit rock musicals can often be hard to sell on Broadway, unless they get zeitgeist-y, like RENT or Hair did.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:27pm

Because it didn't have a good Acid Queen. I've seen Tommys come and I've seen Tommys go and what makes or breaks them is the Acid Queen.

[donte7162004]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:30pm

It was good.....and it was original.....that's all that should have mattered........I wish it would have had a longer life.......it was SO good....

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:33pm

so was The Scottsboro Boys...that had a run of 2 or 3 months. And that was MEANINGFUL.


Quality and Popularity seldom go hand in hand.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:36pm

Because it was too good.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:37pm

It was good.....and it was original.....that's all that should have mattered........I wish it would have had a longer life.......it was SO good....

If that were the case, than The Scottsboro Boys, Grey Gardens, next to normal, the original production of Sweeney Todd, Ragtime, and a whole slew of other shows would still be running.

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:51pm

I think most of the long running shows currently on Broadway prove that quality isn't the necessary for a show to run. Shows, sadly, don't run on quality or substance alone. Most of the best musicals of the last 20 years have had short runs that lost money.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 10:59pm

And if anyone could answer that TRULY, they'd have a new career as a producer.

[winston89]

Posted: 8/28/11 at 11:03pm

Tommy is not a bad show, I just have not yet seen a good production of it. Also, Tommy is not original. The show is the stage adaptation of the 1969 album. To say Tommy is original is like saying American Idiot is original when it was also an album prior to being a show ( funny fact, both shows were albums prior to being on Broadway and both shows shared the same Broadway house, The St. James.)

In fact, after Townshed won the Tony for best score, the Tony Committee altered the rule to be nominated. The new rule was that a show had to have fifty percent of its score written for the stage. Townshend won a Tony for writing songs that he wrote in the 60's so nothing was written for the stage ( with the exception of I Believe My Own Eyes and Sally Simpson's Question...but still.)

[Mildred Plotka]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:02am

I believe the Best Score rules finally changed after Rodgers and Hammerstein were nominated for State Fair.

Updated On: 8/29/11 at 12:02 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:10am

"It was good.....and it was original..."

It was what now?

[adamgreer]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:20am

I believe the Best Score rules finally changed after Rodgers and Hammerstein were nominated for State Fair.

State Fair was nominated for, but lost, Best Score in 1996 to Rent. However, only portions of the score were deemed eligible, according to the Tonys site:

State Fair; Music by Richard Rodgers/Lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II (only the songs Driving at Night, You Never Had It So Good, When I Go Out Walking With My Baby and Boys and Girls Like You and Me are eligible for Tony Award consideration.)

Sounds like the rule was in effect before their nomination, no?

[iamchanging9]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:21am

Something doesn't need to run for years and years to be successful. If it affected people in some way or another, it succeeded its goal.

Just because a show runs for 10 years doesn't make it better than a show that ran a month.

Tommy is a wonderful and important piece of theater, Mamma Mia is an uninspired cashcow. (IMHO)

Updated On: 8/29/11 at 12:21 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:37am

It succeeded its what now?

[CurtainPullDowner]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 11:15am

I thought the reason TOMMY was considered for score was because it was intially written to be a theatre piece and not the number of new songs.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:08pm

The Tony rule change had to do with State Fair, not Tommy.

I thought Tommy was a fantastic show and much preferred it to Kiss of the Spider Woman, which had a great score and okay book, but I thought the staging was a mess. But I knew Tommy was not going to be a long-running blockbuster. The darker side of the show was not going to be to everyone's tastes and its themes really weren't something that were going to be universally embraced or easily identifiable to audiences. The idea of a child being exposed to murder, molestation, bullying, drugs and neglect and rising to celebrity stardom as a famous pinball player is a pretty hard sell at best. I think the staging, choreography and design got absolutely everything right and they got the best run out of the material they could. I'd actually be afraid to see it with new staging. The entire opening sequence was so cinematic and thrilling. And the staging was seamless and fluid. My favorite moment was Tommy facing his younger selves in the mirror when Listening to You is first introduced at the top of Act II during Go to the Mirror. I get chills every time I hear it.

[mallardo]

Posted: 8/29/11 at 12:15pm

And let's remember that the director of Tommy was Des McAnuff who is so often ripped to shreds on this board. Sometimes he gets it VERY right and this brilliant production was one of those times.