YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN - A big flop- Page 3

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 5:42pm

Am I the stupid one?

Yeah, I think you are.

[minicko88]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 5:52pm

You must not be able to read... Don't worry, its never to late to learn!

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 6:34pm

It's never too late to learn where punctuation like apostrophes go, either!

[BrianS]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 6:35pm

If a show is good, it can handle quite a bit of bad decision making by the producers and the audience will still find it.

Yes, pissing off group ticket holders by sticking them off to the sides was a very bad call. To me, a much bigger factor was the fact that Mel hired a very talented creative team and the constantly overrode their decisions because "Mel knows what's funny." He wouldn't make cuts, he was resistant to changes suggested by his creative team and the end product was mildly funny with some very slow sections.

Had he put out a truly great product, people would have filled that theater at $120 a pop even if they didn't like his arrogance.

[Guillermo Ugarte]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 7:28pm

Like most complex issues with multiple variables, the failure or success of a Broadway show is not easily analyzed. There are many reasons a show can fail. Everything from timing, talent, book, score, marketing, presentation, and pricing must be considered and that is just the tip of the iceberg.

For starters, you must first decide on your definition of the term 'failure'. Yes, recouping is important but many critically acclaimed shows did not recoup and some of these were ground breaking. For the sake of argument, let's assume the show is deemed to be a failure. Ticket prices may have thrown cold water on the audience rush but people will pay just about anything in good financial times assuming the tickets are in demand and the show is the hot ticket the producers hope.

In the case of YF, casting was somewhat of an issue. Bart deserved a chance to carry a show but certainly learned how hard it is to shoulder the burden eight shows a week for something on the scale of YF. More to the heart of the YF tarnish was the fact that show was meant to capitalize on the shine of The Producers and the book and score were not as strong as they should have been. Unlike the combined workshop appraoch of the Producers where many of the artistic team got to weigh in and make changes, Brooks and only Brooks held sway over YF and in the wake of the loss of his wife and with the rush to get the show on the boards, Brooks did not give us the strongest material.

Again, there are many other reasons for this show's lackluster results but if any one or two things can be blamed for the poor results it would be the strength of the material. It is unfortuante. Yes, Brooks has a large ego but any one of us in this business can say the same thing about ourselves. Mel's ego may be larger but he is undoubtedly a talented man who brought a lot of attention back to Broadway with the success of The Producers. Whether you believe that show was the second coming or not it certainly provided a much-needed boost to the Great White Way which means more work for all of us who work in the business.

[blaxx]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 7:34pm

For starters, you must first decide on your definition of the term 'failure'

It was decided centuries ago, love. Not that hard to get.

[Plum]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 7:57pm

"Failure" != "flop". The former is more nebulous than the latter, which is a simple question of recouping.

Anyway, didn't YF have some kind of restrictive group ticketing policy when it first started out? Now that seems foolish, given how much tourists fuel Broadway these days, and especially the razzle-dazzle shows like this.

[Guillermo Ugarte]

Posted: 1/8/09 at 3:37pm

Dear blaxx, please do not refer to me as 'love'. I do not know you well enough for you to be so familiar. I would respectfully request that you read my entire post. My point about the definition of 'failure' was that a show may not recoup and may be considered to be ground breaking or successful because of the work. I have been in the theater for more than thirty years and involved in more than my share of flops. I appreciate your desire to educate me but you are oversimplifying this discussion. You may choose to disagree but with all due respect I would ask that you not try to educate me on the truth of theater. There are many reasons YF was a disappointment. Failure to recoup is a disappointment to the producers but the risk of mounting a theatrical production today is well known and many shows fail to recoup. I can name a lot of shows that were well appreciated by audiences and live in our memory but did not recoup. Again I say: Everyone's definition of failure is not the same.