Into The Light - the first and only musical about the Shroud of Turin. It opened at the Neil Simon in 1986 and closed after 6 performances.
"You drank a charm to kill John Proctor's wife! You drank a charm to kill Goody Proctor!" - Betty Parris to Abigail Williams in Arthur Miller's The Crucible
James, I'll second you on Into the Light. I was there on opening night and was just slackjawed. What William Goldman would call a "Why?"/"Don't" musical.
Rachael Lily was originally written for Bette Midler, but she turned it down. The dance ensemble was filled with some of the great Broadway dancers of the time.
First and only time that I stood up and booed as soon as the curtain came down. I stopped as soon as the cast started taking their curtain calls, I didn't want to boo them.Well, except for Doug Henning, who was all right in "The Magic Show" but proved he couldn't act in that travesty.
Tied for second would be Best Little Whorehouse Goes Public (of whatever the name was) Bring Back Birdie Strider
I'm envious of those who said "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" and "Gentlemans Guide". You obviously have never seen a really bad musical.
Her First Roman Dancing With the Vampires Busker's Alley A Mother's Kisses Shohgun Mata Hari Annie 2 Fun City Illya Darling Platinum and these are just some of the older ones . . . [Yes, I really did see them all!]
Has anyone mentioned In My Life? It was so bad it stunned the audience into silence.
If anyone ever tells you that you put too much Parmesan cheese on your pasta, stop talking to them. You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.
Disagree with many choices here but so far it looks like Cats is in the lead.
The best review of Cats I ever heard was a reviewer likening it to having a cat pee on your leg for 2 hours. If not for Japanese tourists, it would have closed much earlier than it did.