Worst musical in Broadway history

[edenespinosalover]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 1:43am

?

[pab]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 1:55am

There are just too many. Some were by new writers but Ken Mandelbaum in his book Not Since Carrie says Bring Back Birdie "may rank as the worst Broadway musical ever created by top-level professionals."

[Jon]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 5:54am

The worst I ever saw was BEST LITTLE WHOREHOUSE GOES PUBLIC - hey - another sequel!

[sean martin]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 10:13am

Sheessh, where to start?

HER FIRST ROMAN, a show where supposedly every song was in the form of a question

ROCKABYE HAMLET, which opened the Uris Theatre

VIA GALACTICA, a sci/fi rock musical that used trampolines to suggest weightlessness

I find it find it a bit interesting myself to discover that the truly awful ones came after HAIR. Before that, Broadway may have had some stinkers, but the floodgates opened big time when the show that completely blew the rules doors off their hinges opened. Gershwin, Hart, R&H, all of these guys had shows that failed, but no one approached the breathtaking level of absurdity of the three listed above.

[Mr. TN]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:03pm

Do you mean the worst show artistic wise or the worst show as in only ran one night and crashed and burned? There are some shows that had good runs but are terrible in my opinion.

[magruder]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:06pm

Via Galactica opened the Uris. The wonderful story about that show is that Via Galactica's original title was "Up", until the creative team realized that the marquee would read Up Uris.

Rockabye Hamlet actually played the house of hits, the Minskoff Theatre.

Updated On: 10/31/04 at 02:06 PM

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:06pm

I swear that Minskoff is cursed

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:08pm

Didn't they make a musical out of Macbeth at one point, too?

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:09pm

speaking of curses...

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:10pm

::giggles::

yeah, I know...

[magruder]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:13pm

Well, some decent shows have played at the Minskoff. I rather like the somewhat trashy revival of Irene that opened the theatre. Pippin transferred to the Minskoff from the Imperial, and played out the duration of its long run there. The 80s revivals of West Side Story and Sweet Charity - West Side Story was pretty respectable, Sweet Charity was especially good - both played the Minskoff. And The Pirates of Penzance transferred from the Uris to the Minskoff to play out its run.

[pab]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:18pm

The Scarlet Pimpernel and Sunset Boulevard also had good runs there.

[magruder]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:19pm

They did, although both were money losers.

[pab]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:27pm

Wow! So Sunset Boulevard ran for almost three years and still lost money?

[Dollypop]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:33pm

My vote for worst show ever is a tie between MOLLY and ROCKABYE HAMLET.

No, I don't think there was ever a musical version of MACBETH. However, Verdi did turn the play into a fairly good opera.

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:33pm

Debbie Reynolds and Jane Powell both starred in IRENE, which played the Minskoff in the mid-70s.

Profitable? I don't know, but IRENE was a long run. Debbie came back to close the run, after Jane came in as a long-term replacement.

[N0tThatGirl213]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 2:34pm

No, there was a rock opera of it. I know because we listened to some of it when I did the show over the summer...I just don't know if it ever came to Broadway.

[leefowler]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 3:11pm

I feel confident that the worst musical of all time was "The Little Prince And The Aviator." It never actually opened, having closed in previews on Broadway, something very few shows have done. Is there anyone out there who saw this show that can actually say they've seen a worse one?

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 3:50pm

leefowler, you may want to check with Anthony Rapp who's posting on other threads here. He was in it! :)

[WayWicked]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 3:59pm

Footloose...what a stinker

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 4:14pm

Mama Mia

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 4:17pm

Aw, Footloose and Mamma Mia are good cheesy fun, not great musicals by any stretch but still fun. I can't believe no one's mentioned CATS yet.

[Mamie]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 5:45pm

There really was a show called ROCKABYE HAMLET? It sounds like a poster on Max Bialystock's wall.

[sean martin]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 5:49pm

>> There really was a show called ROCKABYE HAMLET?

There indeed was (BTW: thanks to all for setting me straight on the theatres -- memories of that long ago tend to get a little jumbled), and you have no idea how amazingly awful it truly was.

Oh, and speaking of short runs after gutting the theatre to redefine the audience/performer point of view, anyone remember DUDE?

[localonecrew]

Posted: 10/31/04 at 5:52pm

i loved rockabye hamlet. way ahead of its time.

worst ever- aspects of love Updated On: 10/31/04 at 05:52 PM