Yesterday's Flops - Today's Hits?

I think shows like Wicked might flop because it demands a certain interest in that genre of music. Right now, we're in a generation that particularly likes that poppish-sound (non-theatre goers and thespians alike), so you'd have to see what type of music would appeal to the audience.

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I found Tom Sawyer to be an uninspired bore of a show that would have flopped in exactly the same way 50 years ago as it did when it opened a few seasons back. The score and book were very mediocre -- perhaps another creative team could have come up with a better show from the source material.

Carrie I think had lots of potential that was destroyed by Terry Hands and Debbie Allen, the director and choreographer, respectively. It obviously needs major rewrites, but I think that that show could possibly work with a first-rate director (and better songs for the non-mother-daughter scenes).

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Updated On: 7/8/05 at 09:31 PM

Legs Diamond.....Just JOKING...it would still be a FLOP

Dance of The Vampire.....would be a HIT if it opened again...I know it just closed but it would be a HIT now if it had not have been changed.

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Did any of you actually READ the question? It asked for shows that were out-and-out flops in seasons gone by that could be successfuly revived now. (Notice how the WICKED airheads always manage to twist every thread to mention that show.)

MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG is perhaps most deserving of a 2nd Broadway run (with the revised script as used in Washington but restoring the opening and closing graduation scenes.) With a really great cast it might draw enough to run a season but let's not kid ourselves, a Broadway that keeps garbage shows running 10 or 20 years is never going to welcome musicals with unusual structures. That is why LAST 5 YEARS played a limited run off-Broadway.

Most shows FLOP with good reason and that reason is usually the book. Many great scores have been sunk by unworkable books: MACK AND MABEL is a prime example. Shows like GOLDILOCKS, DEAR WORLD, SAIL AWAY, WALKING HAPPY etc never worked on stage and never will.

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The question asks:
"What bombs of the past do you think if they were produced today would/could be hits?"

and my point was that most bombs were shows that failed with good reason. Even the original CANDIDE with Lillian Hellman's book failed because the book and the score did not go together.
If the Hellman CANDIDE were staged today - even as a new show - it would still bomb. (I have the script and it is all wrong for the spirit of the piece.)

Hell, even many hits of the 50s and 60s have weak or clumsy books that don't really work for modern audiences.

Maybe THE RINK if it were produced now as a new show with two powerhouse leads could get a run, though again that is a show that requires some thought from audience members.

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A lot of Merrily fans do considerable hand-wringing over the graduation scenes and "Hills of Tomorrow" being dropped in the revised version. I don't miss them. For me, those scenes overstate the show's theme and hit it home with a sledgehammer. We get it, we get it. 'Don't sell out. Be true to yourself.' Building up to and ending with the rooftop scene and "Our Time" does the same thing, but with subtlety, and several heart-stopping moments. (Frank's line, "I just met the girl I ought to marry" gets me every time). "Hills" is a lovely song, and it's important musically, because everything Frank writes is based on the song's opening notes. But I don't think it's needed anymore, dramatically.

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Updated On: 7/7/05 at 07:05 AM

I actually think LEGS DIAMOND would do well if brought back now. Sure, the book needs tweaking but the music is good. I think Broadway needs those feel good big song and dance shows again. SINGIN' IN THE RAIN is another one that comes to mind as long as they use the non-Broadway version. Twyla, Twyla, Twyla... what where you thinking? I think if it were put on stage with the "regional" script that is much more like the film it do very well.

"And I caaaan't stan' 'im"
"Cahhhhhn't"
"Caaaaaaan't"

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Flop past, hit today:

Chess

I agree about THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM. Paging Hugh Jackman. He'd be hot as Jaime Lockheart!

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SWEENEY TODD closed at a loss. If the show had opened today, do you think it would have turned a profit?

I think there's two different questions involved though:
1. If it opened today, would it have made a profit? And
2. If it opened today, would it have run longer?

Theoretically, if it opened today under the same set/cast, it would have cost more. Shows seem to need to run longer nowadays to turn a profit.

As for the Roundabout, Margot, we'll see how it fares but I think it's a different case. This Sweeney may become *much* more profitable. Simply because the cast is so small, and the orchestra *is* the cast. Also smaller sets... a Teeney Todd would have to run much less time to receive a profit than the original huge production.