8,162 posts
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Post by alece10 on Mar 31, 2019 11:28:36 GMT
Not sure if its already been mentioned but sometime in the 80s I went to a preview of Zeigfeld at the Palladium starring Topol. It went on for hours and hours and I remember it having very lavish sets and costumes.
I was living overseas at the time so saw it on a brief trip to London. Not sure therefore how long it lasted but have a feeling it wasn't long.
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Post by danb on Mar 31, 2019 12:09:01 GMT
I was sad Lautrec had no cast recording- or even very many production shots. But whilst on the subject of the high-speed flop- did ANYONE here see Out of the Blue? I went on a brief holiday and missed the entire run! Alas yes. A school friend of my wifes was in it, plus Mezza Braun who had been a top notch Eponine, but it was 3 hours and a travelcard each I’ll never get back. |
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Mar 31, 2019 20:17:25 GMT
Not sure if its already been mentioned but sometime in the 80s I went to a preview of Zeigfeld at the Palladium starring Topol. It went on for hours and hours and I remember it having very lavish sets and costumes. I was living overseas at the time so saw it on a brief trip to London. Not sure therefore how long it lasted but have a feeling it wasn't long. Yes I was there too during previews. I remember seeing Michael Reed at the back of the stalls and he just didn't know what to do. Everything was so lavish, but so inert. |
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Mar 31, 2019 20:21:14 GMT
I was sad Lautrec had no cast recording- or even very many production shots. But whilst on the subject of the high-speed flop- did ANYONE here see Out of the Blue? I went on a brief holiday and missed the entire run! Err, me again, I did. A show about the aftermath of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki. Written by a well known Japanese composer, where it had apparently been well received. This version, in an English translation and in a new production, was not. It was confusing (and I’m fan of theatre which deliberately makes the audience work). it wasn’t the audience members fault here it was just an unfocused narrative with a seemingly ad hoc structure not fitted to a new audience. The production muddled things where it could have clarified and the fact that it was sung through made matters worse. The music was actually pretty decent and the best aspect of the show. There was a very rare double CD that sneaked out in tiny numbers (Stage Door Records reissued a much easier to find single CD version). Publicity was pretty much non existent, I think it struggled along for less than three weeks. I remember walking past the Shaftesbury thinking 'I'll see that when I get back from France.' Wrong. I actually have that double CD and rather like it. As I recall Meredith Braun was in fine voice? |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 31, 2019 22:05:44 GMT
I never saw it. It appeared overnight and was gone as quick. There was zero marketing for this show and i recall it having a cast of big names at the time.
I like Meredith Braun and enjoy her on cast recordings, but the solo albumn she did? Yikes. I listened once and that was enough.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2019 18:24:38 GMT
Peggy Sue Got Married. Another huge Shaftesbury flop that lasted about 2 months. I remember really enjoying it and thought it would be a big hit. It had some great songs and a star turn by Ruthie Henshall.
I wonder if it will ever come back. It was certainly better than alot of other shows that have been revived.
A book could be written about Shaftesbury flops alone!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2019 18:33:15 GMT
Yeah...could be entitled ‘Shafted’...
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Post by partytentdown on Apr 1, 2019 18:38:34 GMT
I wonder why it attracts such shows, is it just too big?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2019 19:03:54 GMT
1400 capacity.Some fairly big hits in the past such as Hair,Follies,Hairspray,They’re Playing Our Song and of course Motown,but bookings such as Far Pavilions and Bat-Boy didn’t sell.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 1, 2019 20:53:40 GMT
1400 capacity.Some fairly big hits in the past such as Hair,Follies,Hairspray,They’re Playing Our Song and of course Motown,but bookings such as Far Pavilions and Bat-Boy didn’t sell. Bat Boy at the Shaftesbury was ridiculous. It's not a big show by any means, the set took up about a quarter of the stage and everything else was masked off, the cast were all unknowns, the show was unknown and they had zero chance of filling the stalls, let alone the whole theatre |
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193 posts
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Post by groupbooker on Apr 1, 2019 22:32:35 GMT
I took a two groups to Zeigfeld. I have a programme but its with all the others and would have to find it. I seem to remember that an American was the lead first - possibly Len Cariou? But to help save the show Topol was brought in to boost sales as the second Zeigfeld. It was a very BIG show with I presume, naked ostriches around the world giving up tons of feathers!!
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24 posts
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Post by mistertonymac on Apr 2, 2019 7:55:54 GMT
Being too lazy to read through the 20 pages (sorry), around the same time as Lautrec we also had La Cava at the Piccadilly and Napoloean (Shaftesbury?)
I remember quite enjoying the latter - there was a great bit of theatre when the back wall of the stage kind of lowered down to create a whole vista.
Both shows were kind of the last gasps of those overwrought Boubil and Schoenberg style epics though.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 16:42:47 GMT
Came across an article in The Guardian which reckons that the biggest flop in WE history was.....(drumroll) Oscar at The Shaw Theatre about the life of Oscar Wilde and written by...shock, horror... the DJ,Mike Read... is this a late April fools? It Lasted ONE night which was the press night,apparently. I can’t imagine how awful the reviews were.Any memories?
Apologies if this show has already been referenced on this thread,I too am feeling too lazy to scroll back.
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5,910 posts
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Post by mrbarnaby on Apr 2, 2019 18:36:32 GMT
I miss the days of the spectacular Shaftesbury flops.. whee you can see the ton of money being thrown down the drain.
Napoleon
The Far Pavillions
lautrec
Peggy’ Sue (which I quite liked)
Daddy Cool...
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 18:38:39 GMT
I miss the days of the spectacular Shaftesbury flops.. whee you can see the ton of money being thrown down the drain. Napoleon The Far Pavillions lautrec Peggy’ Sue (which I quite liked) Daddy Cool... & Juliet... |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 18:40:34 GMT
Wow..had completely forgotten ‘Smike’.Think I remember seeing it on TV?
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 18:47:07 GMT
we also had La Cava at the Piccadilly I still have my La Cava mug, which has a really nice design. Unfortunately it seems to stain incredibly easily, and nothing short of bleach and hydrogen peroxide will shift it. (Don't try this at home, folks, unless your home has a fume cupboard or relatives you dislike.) |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 20:19:09 GMT
No, that's correct in both title and composer. Mike Read has written a fair few shows, "Smike" is pretty decent, for example. I think the official worse ever flop was "The Intimate Review" at the Duchess Theatre in 1930, which was described as "half a performance," and so beat "Oscar" by an interval, I guess. Smike was written with songs by Roger Holman and Simon May in the early seventies and broadcast on the BBC, thereafter performed in hundreds of schools in a stage adaptation. Mike Read did do a Dickens adaptation but Great Expectations, not Nicholas Nickleby. Simon May is probably best known for composing the theme tune for Eastenders. |
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 20:36:26 GMT
Mike Read did do a Dickens adaptation but Great Expectations I saw that at the Birmingham Alex in 1996, with Darren Day as Pip and the enchanting Barbara King as Estella. I loved it, although it was necessarily a significantly cut-down version of the story. |
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751 posts
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Post by horton on Apr 2, 2019 21:07:47 GMT
I thought it was terrible.
The Oscar Wilde show may have had the shortest run but it didn't lose most money. Not remotely.
Ziegfeld sadly took down producer Harold Fielding and at the time was the biggest loss in history.
I'm sure other shows have lost more since then, (Love Never Dies? Martin Guerre? Charlie & the Chocolate Factory? Ghost? Gone With the Wind?)- a moderate run doesn't remotely secure recoupment.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 2, 2019 21:23:18 GMT
we also had La Cava at the Piccadilly But it started at the Victoria Palace. It wasn't a big hit at the VP so i was amazed when it moved. I presume they were hoping to get bigger audiences in a more central theatre location. I liked La Cava. A big wooden set like Martin Guerre, songs that were also similar lol. It tried to be epic in scale but never really puled it off. Some nice stuff on the CD though. Now movie star Luke Evans made his west end debut in La Cava and shows what a great voice he has on the CD. What was the last big, West End show that only lasted a few months? BILB? Made In Dagenham? but even both of them lasted longer than the 90's flops. |
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Post by partytentdown on Apr 3, 2019 7:28:17 GMT
I vaguely remember hearing 'Lord of the Rings' was the biggest financial loss but that may have been surpassed by now!
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2019 0:03:19 GMT
Did anyone here see the London production of The Bakers Wife? I'd love to hear what you thought of it.
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5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 7, 2019 0:15:51 GMT
I vaguely remember hearing 'Lord of the Rings' was the biggest financial loss but that may have been surpassed by now! Lord of the Ring made the biggest financial loss of all time, the show was put on by U2 producer Michael Kohl, who is no stranger to theatre, who put on the ill fated Spider-Man on Broadway, which also made the biggest loss on Broadway. So if you bump into Michael Kohl, in a coffee shop and he says ‘he has a good idea’, don’t hang about. |
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5,062 posts
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Post by Phantom of London on Apr 7, 2019 0:18:38 GMT
I miss the days of the spectacular Shaftesbury flops.. whee you can see the ton of money being thrown down the drain. Napoleon The Far Pavillions lautrec Peggy’ Sue (which I quite liked) Daddy Cool... Apparently the Shaftesbury Theatre was built on a graveyard! In fairness the Shaftesbury Theatre did put on Hairspray one of the best shows ever to play the West End. |
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