what flop did you see?- Page 4

[marlomanners]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 8:11am

I saw the Florida tryout of Little Shop, which I loved, mostly for Alice Ripley's amazing performance. (Hunter was good too.)

Also, The Wild Party, Last 5 Years, Putting It Together, Jesus Christ Superstar, Taller Than a Dwarf, The Green Bird, Seussical.

[mominator]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 8:18am

OK I'll admit it I saw "Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks"
Front row seats to boot, I had Mark Hamills' butt in my face for two hours.
Was "Tea at Five" a flop? But that was off B-way.

[FinnFanatic]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 8:25am

I LOVE "FUDDY MEERS". It's an amazingly well-written play. Did it evey play Broadway? If not, does anyone know if there are any plans at all for it? Was it a flop over in London? I saw it at the American College Theatre Festival and I loved it. Updated On: 8/4/04 at 08:25 AM

[pab]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 8:27am

I also saw Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks.
Angel the Musical (Based on the play Look Homeward Angel)
Frankenstein the Musical
Bring Back Birdie

Posted: 8/4/04 at 8:29am

Right, BRING BACK BIRDIE.

Caught that one, too.

[EddieVarley]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 9:17am

Legs Diamond,Starmites and Carrie the Musical...

And I LOVED them ALL!

Nick&Nora on the other hand, I didn't love..at all!

[redhotinnyc2]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 9:23am

URBAN COWBOY - walked out at intermission.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 9:58am

Big - I really liked it as did most of the audience. The reviews were mostly pretty positive and it ran for over a year, but could never really get off the ground. There were some stunning sets, great choreography and some really good performances. Not a bad show at all on Broadway, but the tour was revolting.

Seussical - OK show. The CD is better. Once again, the tour was lacking compared to the Broadway production.

Jane Eyre - Loved it! It deserved a much longer run.

Sweet Smell of Success - Not great. A couple of good songs, but a rather dull show. Why did Lithgow win the Tony?

The Civil War - One of the few shows I left at intermission. Good music, but painful to watch.

Thou Shalt Not - A mess. Great songs for a jazzy CD, but bad for a musical theatre score. I'll never forget poor Debra Monk as the stroke victim mute for the entire second act trying to spell out the name of the murderer with Scrabble tiles. It was too funny. That, and the New Orleans Mardi Gras in which only about 10 people attended. Norbert Leo Butz, the turntable, and the Tugboat scene were the only positive aspects of the show.

1776 (revival) - Dull production of a good show placed in the wrong theatre.

Parade - Though it barely ran a few months, it is not a flop in my book, but rather, a triumph. A breathtaking and brilliant show that wreaked havoc on my emotions.

Proposals - I really liked it. One of the most gorgeous sets and lighting designs I'd ever seen.

The Dinner Party - Fun show, great cast, Veanne Cox and Henry Winkler stole the show. Why was she NOT nominated????

Waiting in the Wings - Everything but Lauren Bacall was enjoyable. Not a great show, but Bacall was completely miscast, miscostumed (she refused to work without her private designer), and had trouble remembering her lines.

Whistle Down the Wind (London) - Interesting show, but seemed badly patched together. Great sets and staging, but the score was uneven. The dramatic scenes were too heavy and too long to keep the audience interested in the plot.

All You Need is Love (London) - A good review of McCartney and Lennon songs that tried to hard to tie things together. Had it just been a review, without the attempt of staging some flimsy story (and a reconceived set), the show probably would have been a huge hit. The new song arrangements were brilliant and the cast was wonderful.

Boyband (London) - Awful show attempting to cash in on the boyband phenomenon of the 90s. All the songs were "concert" songs and not worked into the story at all. A shabby set didn't help much either. The one song I enjoyed most, "Have Fun, Go Mad", was the theme song to Hank Azaria's short-lived sitcom "Imagine That" a couple of years ago.

Closer to Heaven (London) - Musical with score by the Pet Shop Boys with a dreadful book and tiresome score and amateur staging. A little Pet Shop Boys goes a long way and after a couple of songs, you felt like you had heard the entire score, but there was no heart and I felt nothing for any of the characters. Two standouts were Billie Trix and the song "Vampires".

Song of Singapore (London) - Brilliant and unique show with a standout performance by Issy Van Randwyck. Definitely deserved more exposure.

The Beautiful Game (London) - Andrew Lloyd Webber's unusual spin on the Romeo and Juliet theme was quite good. Not being sung-through, the CD does not reflect the show well at all. It was staged minimally and beautifully with "Our Kind of Love" receiving the longest ovation during a performance I have ever witnessed. It literally stopped the show.

I also saw The Visit and Bounce, but I don't know if they are considered flops since they haven't been mounted in NY, nor have they been fully abandoned. I saw Light in the Piazza and I hope it does well next season (Victoria Clark deserves the Tony already). I also saw Sunset Boulevard, but I would not categorize it a flop. Yes, it lost tons of money, but ran for two and a half years and won numerous awards. Passion ran less than a year, but is still not regarded a flop.

[robbiej]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:18am

A word about PARADE.

I don't believe you can consider PARADE a flop, only because it was originally scheduled for a limited run at the Viv Beaumont and it played out its run there.

Did people want it to move? Yes...but institutional theatre is where things get murky. How can something be called a flop (including ASSASSAINS) if it played out its original run?

[Broadwayboobs]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:25am

Jane Eyre & Side Show , but I loved them both.

[Zola Q. LaPlaya]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:28am

Look of Love
Confederate Widow
Bobbi Boland
Frogs

and that was just within the past year!

[Emilou983]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:32am

You all should go buy Not Since Carrie!, it was printed in 1991 and is a detailed discussion of I believe 100 greatest Broadway flops. It tells you how much money each one lost and analytically why it failed.

Also... I saw My Favorite Year, Tom Sawyer, Taboo, 1776 (revival), Bombay Dreams, Sweet Smell, etc. And loved almost all of them. It's so important to become jaded! TDF gives you a chance to see many shows that are finicially struggling and if you're a student you can totally join!

[WiCkEDrOcKS]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:37am

Big the musical

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:37am

Undiscovered - You're right! I must have been looking at the dates for something else when I looked it up. My bad.

robbiej - I remember a big thing about Parade trying to transfer and run longer, but to no avail. There was a great deal of hooplah to try and keep the show running, but they just couldn't get the investors. That is why I believed it joined the ranks of flops. I don't consider something like Marie Christine a flop because they never pursued a longer run, but there was quite a bit of press about the efforts of extending Parade.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:39am

Emilou983 - Did Bombay Dreams announce closing? How is it a flop already?

[Emilou983]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:43am

It has not, but I saw this weekend. And, all three of us in the audience really liked it... But, if you look at it's playbill numbers unless something magical happens, it's not going to make back it's investment.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 10:57am

I'm not worried. I'm sure they will cast some non-acting pop star to boost Box Office. But as long as they make him/her Equity, there surely couldn't be any complaints, could there?

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 11:31am

Would Seussical be considered a flop? I walked out during intermission on the tour, but luckily the tickets were free. Plus, I had a school project to work on.

[Flam1ngo]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:00pm

Gee, a fair number, now that I think about it. The ones that come to mind:

Dance of the Vampires- Really liked it. Pretty funny.
Seussical- OK. A good show to take kids.
Amour- BOOOOORING! My daughter loved it, and my husband wanted to leave at intermission.
Teddy and Alice; The worst EVER! Only courtesy kept us until intermission.

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:10pm

Capeman- anyone remember that show? It was an enjoyable show, but I don't think lasted very long on Broadway.

[KMF_NYC]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:16pm

Shogun...
Dance of the Vampires
even though I don;t consider it a flop -- Jane Eyre

[Emilou983]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:18pm

I liked the Capeman... But, it could use a good editor. Do you know that orginally it was 5 hours or something? ACK! I saw that one Kids Night! Was the Natalie Portman Diary of Anne Frank considered a flop?

[DAME]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:45pm

I saw Carrie and Ragtime. Both on closing performances.

[ckeaton]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:47pm

Dance of the Vampires
45 Seconds from Broadway

I thought they were both enjoyable... for very similar reasons.

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/4/04 at 1:49pm

FUDDY MEERS did pretty well off-Broadway during its initial run in 2000 -- it began at MTC and then transferred for a commercial run at the Minetta Lane that lasted a few months. Mary-Louise Burke won the Drama Desk for her performance. There were never any plans to move it to Broadway. The play flopped in London, unfortunately.

TALLER THAN A DWARF was painfully unfunny. I have no idea what possessed Matthew Broderick and Parker Posey to sign on for such a stale and uninteresting piece (which apparently was recycled from a forgotten play that flopped back in the 60's) other than the fact that Elaine May wrote it.

SEUSSICAL was a mega-flop -- even Rosie's endless championing of it (and starring in it towards the end) couldn't save it.