flop musicals?
flop musicals?
#0flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:01pmhas anyone heard or seen "Breakfast at Tiffanys", "Nick & Nora" and/or "Waiting for the Moon"? As far as I know these are all considered flops, but they seem like on paper that they would make great musicals.
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
#1re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:06pm
WAITING FOR THE MOON has had exactly one professional production, in the middle of New Jersey. I'd hardly call it a flop just yet (although, given Wildhorn's track record, it's a safe assumption...)
I saw NICK AND NORA on the opening night, and distinctly remember Joanna Gleason crying at her table at the afterparty.
#2re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:08pm
well why? i mean joanna gleason, charles strouse, faith prince, christine baranski and based on the thin man - what went wrong? the little bit i listened to on amazon sounded decent.
oh and why is your name "melissa erico fan" but you have a pic of judy kuhn as your avatar?
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
iluvtheatertrash
Broadway Legend Joined: 11/9/04
#3re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:11pmNick and Nora's score is delightful. It's book is awful.
"I know now that theatre saved my life." - Susan Stroman
#4re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:12pmso then let me pose this question - which little known or flop musical would be worth owning on CD?
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
#5re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:13pm
The show has some spatterings of good music, but not enough that is consistently good, and an awful book. Gleason and Prince were especially good, but it was just...dull. I have the cast recording and listen to it from time to time, and I believe there is a good show lurking somewhere in there.
oh and why is your name "melissa erico fan" but you have a pic of judy kuhn as your avatar?
Are you saying that just because my name refers to Melissa Errico that I HAVE to have a Melissa Errico av? Your name is "children&art" and your av isn't SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE related... 
#6re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:14pmShilling here: The flop musical AMOUR from 2002 has a cast recording that is DEFINITELY worth owning. Beautiful music and great performances by all. Pick it up if you don't have it already.
#7re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:17pm
ok you got me, no big whoop about melissa erico/judy kuhn.
i do own amour, love it.
what got me thinking about this was i was on the lauren kennedy website and she has pics from a MUNY production of "breakfast at tiffanys" which i thought from broadway history was supposed to be this huge disaster - so why redo it?
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
#8re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:19pmThere are shows that flopped that get revived regionally quite often. Just because a show flops doesn't mean it is necessarily a bad show (e.g., AMOUR). Some shows that are now considered classics flopped in their initial runs.
#9re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/2/06 at 10:34pm
another flop musical worth owning on CD is Bring Back Birdie!
#10re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 1:49amThou Shalt Not has some great jazzy music by Harry Connick Jr. Pity the book wasn't as well made.
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#11re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 2:04amTo the best of my knowledge, the version of Breakfast at Tiffany's that played the Muny was not the same as the Broadway production. Not that one fared any better than the other.
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
#12re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 10:34am
how about "Legs Diamond" or "Sugar" or "High Society" (my favorite CD) or "Bounce" or "Steel Pier" (my other favorite CD, except for Cheno's solo...ick) or "Dear World" or "Anyone can Whistle" or "Mack & Mabel" or "The Baker's Wife" or "Drat! the Cat" - on paper all of these sound like they would be great but somewhere in the middle things went wonky - why?????
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
Updated On: 1/3/06 at 10:34 AM
#13re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 10:49amwhen does a show move from flop to cult status?
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
sweeneyfan
Stand-by Joined: 11/29/05
#14re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 12:09pm
I just love flops...
Best flop CDs in my opinion:
Side Show
Grind (WAAAAYYY AHEAD OF ITS TIME)
Nick & Nora
Anyone Can Whistle
and both SMILE and Teddy and Alice were great fun to watch...
"Cor! me bones is weary!" -Mrs. Lovett
#15re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 12:12pm"Side Show" is considered a flop???? not in my book.
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
#16re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 2:06pm
"To the best of my knowledge, the version of Breakfast at Tiffany's that played the Muny was not the same as the Broadway production"
Who wrote the MUNY BaT?
Don't f*ck with me fellas. This ain't my first time at the rodeo.
BwayBaby18
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/19/05
#17re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 4:29pmSide Show is considered a flop...but it has defintly moved into a cult categorey!
bryan
Broadway Star Joined: 5/12/03
#18re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 5:47pmthat why we should put flops on cd like good vibrations and in my life and lennon.
#19re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 5:54pm
The comedy "It's A Bird, It's A Plane, It's Superman!", With a Charles Strouse/Lee Adams score, is, from the soundtrack, a delightful show. It got good reviews from most of the critics when it came out in the late 60s (can't remember the year), but lasted only 100-odd performances.
It has an impressive cast: Jack Cassidy, Linda Lavin, Bud Holliday...
It was directed by Harold Prince.
Charles Strouse thinks it suffered from coming out just after the campy Batman took TV by storm; why go to the theater and pay when you can stay home and get the same thing for free? It could have been a pop sensation, IMO, if the timing was right.
Ironically, the same book writers turned out the script for the smash-hit Superman movie.
I think a revival would have a shot today
Kringas
Broadway Legend Joined: 5/27/05
#20re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 5:58pm
Who wrote the MUNY BaT?
Book by Paul Blake & Hunt Holman; lyrics by Johnny Mercer; additional music and lyrics by Bart Howard
"How do you like THAT 'misanthropic panache,' Mr. Goldstone?" - PalJoey
Danielm
Broadway Star Joined: 3/17/05
#21re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 6:00pm
I don't know "Waiting for the Moon", but both Tiffany's and Nick and Nora were solid ideas that were ruined in the execution. They both lost what is beloved in the material. In the case of Nick and Nora it was probably a bad choice to have Arthur Laurents as the writer/director--it's just not his cup of tea. The important thing in the Thin Man is the relationship between the leads and it was downplayed. Laurents can be brilliant, his book for Gypsy is possibly the best musical book ever but he just has no feel for the light charm of something like the Thin Man, though it has some good music and it was extremely well cast.
With "Breakfast" they never got a handle on what it should be--they probably would have been safest sticking as close to the movie as possible but they changed the focus too many times and the final book by Edward Albee (again, a bad choice for this material) was apparently really confusing and unpleasant. It's too bad here too because it also seems to have been well cast. I've heard Mary Tyler Moore blamed herself which is too bad. Once again I think it was a bad match of talent to material, Albee writes great, shocking, funny plays that make you think for days afterwards but he was a bad choice for "Breakfast at Tiffanys".
Yes, we do need a third vampire musical.--Little Sally, Gypsy of the Year 2005.
#22re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 6:03pm
I know it has been said before, but not yet in this thread - pick up a copy of Ken Mandelbaum's "Not Since Carrie: Forty Years of Broadway Musical Flops". It explains the major flaws and redeeming qualities of most of the shows already mentioned.
Side note - Mr. Mandelbaum, when are you going to come out with another book? We're patiently waiting here.
And no one grew into anything new, we just became the worst of what we were."
Danielm
Broadway Star Joined: 3/17/05
#23re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 6:22pmTrue Wonderwaiter, it's a great book. I find myself rereading it often. I would love to hear what he has to say about "In My Life" and "Jane Eyre".
Yes, we do need a third vampire musical.--Little Sally, Gypsy of the Year 2005.
ByMySide25
Stand-by Joined: 5/17/04
#24re: flop musicals?
Posted: 1/3/06 at 6:25pm
"which little known or flop musical would be worth owning on CD?"
Taboo.
"Everybody has a different idea of love. One girl I know said, 'I knew he loved me when he didn't come in my mouth.'" ~ Andy Warhol
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