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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 9:28:43 GMT
Oh I think we can definitely consider 'Rent Remixed' as a flop. It was fabulously awful. So much talent involved and yet it was so utterly inept. Marvellous. I loved it!
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Post by anita on Aug 12, 2018 9:31:26 GMT
Saw "Lord of the Rings" many times - loved it. Saw & enjoyed "Batboy" , "From here to eternity" at cinema, "Mrs Henderson Presents" & "Stephen Ward". Can understand why "Stephen Ward" failed as noone but us over 60s will have heard of him.
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Post by anita on Aug 12, 2018 9:36:26 GMT
Also saw"Bad Girls" - dire. "Peggy Sue got Married" ,"Acorn Antiques" & "The Girls". Glad I saw "The Go- Between" as a chance to see Michael Crawford. I enjoyed "The Wind in the Willows". I recommend the book "Most Close Saturday" if you are interested in flops.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 9:47:37 GMT
The Droswey Chaparone had quite a good run on broadway what happened in the west end? I cnot spell
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Post by anita on Aug 12, 2018 10:08:41 GMT
I would have liked to see "Betty Blue Eyes" & "Lend me a Tenor" but at the time I couldn't afford a ticket & didn't join papering till after. They both looked interesting at West End Live.
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Post by hulmeman on Aug 12, 2018 10:52:50 GMT
Do I recall seeing "Lend me a Tenor" at the Landor some years ago? Nice story, wasn't convinced about the choons.
I should also be noted that my beloved Petula Clark had a monumental flop with "Someone like You". It closed doen before even I got to see it and took impresario Harold Fielding with it.
I would also argue the "The woman in white" was a flop. Lot of money spent, big theatre, sunk without trace which is quite appropriate because I came out of the Palace feeing sea sick from those awful projections!
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Post by Constance on Aug 12, 2018 11:04:19 GMT
Do I recall seeing "Lend me a Tenor" at the Landor some years ago? Nice story, wasn't convinced about the choons. I should also be noted that my beloved Petula Clark had a monumental flop with "Someone like You". It closed doen before even I got to see it and took impresario Harold Fielding with it. I would also argue the "The woman in white" was a flop. Lot of money spent, big theatre, sunk without trace which is quite appropriate because I came out of the Palace feeing sea sick from those awful projections! The Women in White can hardly be called a WestEnd flop. It ran for over a year and half at the Palace theatre. Without a trace? It was just done again at the Charing Cross Theatre. Lend Me A Tenor would probably be classed as a flop but it was such a great show. It just didn't sell. It was on at the Gielgud Theatre for a couple of months in 2011. That's a show thats sunk without a trace. Which I don't believe should've.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 12, 2018 11:16:13 GMT
The only objective measure we have is how long something ran, everything else is opinion. As to why some shows didn’t run, there are many reasons, not just quality. You are more likely to get a sense of financial success for Broadway shows, so if profitability is your thing then that might be a different criteria to use. We don’t really have shows that close on opening night as Broadway occasionally has, even some that close without officially opening.
There is one show that I recall not opening, however, and in bizarre circumstances.
Maxwell: the Musical Review.
1994 at the Criterion it was a show about larger than life (and criminal) media mogul Robert Maxwell. Set to new lyrics for Gilbert and Sullivan songs it was halted by a court injunction and never got to opening night. Supposedly stopped to avoid prejudicing the upcoming trial of his sons, Maxwell having died in strange circumstances by falling off his yacht.
Did it ever play a preview, can anyone remember?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 14:38:42 GMT
I wish i had seen Out Of The Blue. It opened at the Shaftesbury with ZERO marketing. It appeared overnight and closed 17 days later, starring big musical theatre names of the time. If you're going to produce a musical in a huge theatre, you'd think that marketing it in advance would be a good place to start.
The Shaftesbury was the cursed theatre of the 90's. Nothing lasted there Bat Boy just died a death in a theatre that size. It's a very small show and the set didn't even fill the stage. Even the cast knew it was never going to survive there.
I saw Napoleon and The Far Pavillions there too. They were trying to be big epic storys, with big songs like Les Mis, Napoleon has some good stuff in it, but i remember very little else. And did it use a huge silk sheet that covered the whole stage at some point?? Can anyone else confirm that or am i confusing it with someone else??
La Cava was very good, another 90's show that used big epic themes and music. Its big set was these huge wooden structures that moved in all directions, and very similar to what they used in Martin Guerre. It was the west end debut of Ben Forster and Luke Evans, now a big film star, and he has a great song in the 2nd half. He has such a powerful voice. Also the lead, Julie Alanah Brighton (what happened to her??) has a fantastic 11 o'clock song called Say Goodbye. It opened, transferred from the Victoria Palace to the Piccadilly Theatre and closed within 9 months.
I loved that Leonardo The Musical was basically funded by bird droppings!! It's main investor was an island that made it's money exporting bird sh*t. Something that wasn't lost on the critics that saw it...
Always - The Story of Edward and Wallis Simpson, has a great score, IMO. I still listen to parts of it today and i think it holds up well, apart from the song sung by Sheila Fergusson, about the Carousel of Love, or something similar...
The Hunting of The Snark was ahead of it's time. It had a huge orchestra on stage, that lifted on a huge set piece and was one of the first shows to use projections for the set. They were fantasic and really created am atmosphere of the story, way better than what they did in The Woman in White.
I was 17 when i started discovering all these shows and i really did like most of them alot. Back then i went to see everything ASAP, bought the cast albums and listened to all of them on repeat. I just dont do that now.
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Post by partytentdown on Aug 12, 2018 14:51:10 GMT
Tell us more about Bat Boy! Always wished I'd seen the original production
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Post by sf on Aug 12, 2018 15:07:06 GMT
I wish i had seen Out Of The Blue. It opened at the Shaftesbury with ZERO marketing. It appeared overnight and closed 17 days later, starring big musical theatre names of the time. If you're going to produce a musical in a huge theatre, you'd think that marketing it in advance would be a good place to start. I saw it, and you had a lucky escape. 'Out of the Blue' managed an unusual feat: the show managed to make the detonation of an atomic bomb boring.
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Post by distantcousin on Aug 12, 2018 15:44:41 GMT
I loved Stephen Ward and quite enjoyed Bad Girls (I was a huge fan of the TV programme)
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 16:04:13 GMT
Tell us more about Bat Boy! Always wished I'd seen the original production I don't remember a huge lot about it, except that i didn't like it very much. It just seemed stupid. At the time i was enjoying all the big epic shows and this was a small silly show that didn't seem to fit on what my idea of West End theatre was. Everything was in the centre of the stage with so much space around it, it just seemed lost. I know that Devon May was very athletic in his role, spending alot of the time hanging upside down from bars. It just wasn't for me. The theatre was empty and we were all put in a few roles in the stalls together. I knew someone in the cast and they couldn't wait for it to end. How they got a cast recording out of it, i'll never know. I saw it, and you had a lucky escape. 'Out of the Blue' managed an unusual feat: the show managed to make the detonation of an atomic bomb boring. I was going to see it for Meredith Braun. She went from Bernadette to Out Of The Blue... I have listened to the score and it doesnt sound great. I think it just came before the original poster's starting point, but Budgie was another big flop musical, starring Adam Faith, Anita Dobson and Caroline O'Connor. It was a show based around the TV show, but has some great songs in it, especially for the 3 strippers. I know on the old board someone mentioned that a revised version had been workshopped, and i'd love to see it again.
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Post by danb on Aug 12, 2018 16:11:17 GMT
I wish i had seen Out Of The Blue. It opened at the Shaftesbury with ZERO marketing. It appeared overnight and closed 17 days later, starring big musical theatre names of the time. If you're going to produce a musical in a huge theatre, you'd think that marketing it in advance would be a good place to start. I saw it, and you had a lucky escape. 'Out of the Blue' managed an unusual feat: the show managed to make the detonation of an atomic bomb boring. Oh yes, dull as all sh!te even with that cast...a total bore.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 12, 2018 16:25:30 GMT
I saw Out of the Blue too, I can follow pretty much anything narratively but this was confusing in its structure and lack of signposting made it like watching a show with built in memory blackouts. There was a very rare double CD of the whole show, it was rereleased later in a cut down form. It made just as much sense. The composer was Japanese and well known in his homeland for writing seventies and eighties pop hits.
On Napoleon, the main thing that I recall is the whole stage lifting up at one point. The dramatic purpose for which I cannot recall.
Seeing as some have mentioned the eighties I’ll do a quick rundown of those as a memory aid. I think the length that some of them ran will be seen as pretty surprising (the eighties was like that).
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Post by alece10 on Aug 12, 2018 16:43:59 GMT
Ah, the glorious 'Acorn Antiques'. Back in the day when £65 for a top price ticket was considered outrageous. And it was worth every penny as far as I was concerned. Paid a fortune at the time to see it but absolutely loved it just for the chance to see Julie Walters as Mrs Overall on stage.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 16:49:27 GMT
Ah, the glorious 'Acorn Antiques'. Back in the day when £65 for a top price ticket was considered outrageous. And it was worth every penny as far as I was concerned. Paid a fortune at the time to see it but absolutely loved it just for the chance to see Julie Walters as Mrs Overall on stage. And wasn't she worth every penny? Just the memory of watching her attempt the tap dance routine while struggling with hemorrhoids still makes me giggle.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 16:52:53 GMT
Stephen Ward remains the worst show I've seen. God bless Joanna Riding and that cameo of hers.
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Post by ptwest on Aug 12, 2018 17:09:45 GMT
Paid a fortune at the time to see it but absolutely loved it just for the chance to see Julie Walters as Mrs Overall on stage. And wasn't she worth every penny? Just the memory of watching her attempt the tap dance routine while struggling with hemorrhoids still makes me giggle. I was lucky enough to get a superb seat for a bargain price at the second preview but would have thought it good value at full price - worth it for hat wonderful cast. Memories of it still make me smile even now! . I don’t think this can be in any way included in the list of flops - an almost sell out limited run.
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Post by danb on Aug 12, 2018 17:14:44 GMT
Paid a fortune at the time to see it but absolutely loved it just for the chance to see Julie Walters as Mrs Overall on stage. And wasn't she worth every penny? Just the memory of watching her attempt the tap dance routine while struggling with hemorrhoids still makes me giggle. I’ve no idea why AA is considered a flop. You got to see a living legend whatever day you went, it was very funny throughout, had an amazing supporting cast of W/E legends (and Neil Morrissey). I thought it was pretty much a sell out? I thought it was only a limited run due to the availibility of said legends? I had hideous gallery seats booked, then upgraded on the train on the way to London. I will never, NEVER, EVER forget the audience reaction to the Ozzy Osbourne line. Must’ve been typing mine as you posted yours PTWest
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Post by Someone in a tree on Aug 12, 2018 17:33:40 GMT
I love reading this thread although I really am unsure of the Flop definition
Loved Love Story Betty Blue Eyes Lend me a tenor Bat Boy
Meh Stepping Out Made in Dagenham Imagine This Far Pavilions From here to eternity Romeo and Juliet
Loathed Stephen Ward Too close to the sun I can’t sing
I wish I had seen Napoleon Moby Dick Carrie Hunting of the Snark
Off West End Dear World - Loved Paradise Found - Hated
Remember the revival of Sweet Charity with Bonnie Langford ? I loved it but I remember it closed very quickly
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 12, 2018 18:26:47 GMT
On Acorn Antiques, it was supposed to extend and it didn’t. As was said - “The curtain will come down at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on May 21, when Julie Walter’s contract to play Mrs Overall expires. It’s believed producers have found her impossible to replace, despite original hopes that the show could have continued with a changing cast.” www.chortle.co.uk/news/2005/04/25/455/acorn_antiques_to_close#The criticisms about its length and first act led Wood to do a revamp for the tour with Wood herself replacing Trevor Nunn as director. Ria Jones replaced Julie Walters.
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Post by 9mirrors on Aug 12, 2018 18:28:46 GMT
Saw the first preview of Bad Girls the Musical. It was awful. Clearly Liz Smith nor Paul O Grady didnt know their lines, lyrics, choreography or placings. There was so much improvising and fooling about that can be tolerated.
Metropolis looked stunning. Wooden acting and terrible script. Judy Kuhn saved the show.
Got cheap set to Stephen Ward for a mid week matinee between Christmas and New Year to be sent into the Stalls. There were less people there than the cast. It could have possibly worked as a play but it felt almost like a pastiche. First preview of Martin Guerre lasted nearl four hours. As there was a forty minute hold up towards the end of act one when set jammed and the guns in a battle scene flared out to the first two rows and burnt the hair and arm of a couple in front of me. The show just seemed to go on forever without developing the plot but had some stunning songs that were axed and were visually a treat.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 12, 2018 18:35:51 GMT
I will never, NEVER, EVER forget the audience reaction to the Ozzy Osbourne line. I've never quite been able to look at a custard cream in quite the same way since.
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Post by viserys on Aug 12, 2018 19:05:00 GMT
I saw Napoleon and The Far Pavillions there too. They were trying to be big epic storys, with big songs like Les Mis, Napoleon has some good stuff in it, but i remember very little else. And did it use a huge silk sheet that covered the whole stage at some point?? Can anyone else confirm that or am i confusing it with someone else??
I couldn't travel to London regularly yet at the time, so I missed most of those 90s flops, but I remember them being around (and even have some flyers still).
The Far Pavilions is one of my all-time favorite books, so I went to see the stage adaptation - it wasn't great, but I thought it wasn't terrible either. However, considering it's a rather big fat book that also requires quite a bit of background knowledge on colonial India, I wonder if people who didn't know the book got anything out of it. I'm glad they later released a CD of it though.
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Post by alece10 on Aug 12, 2018 19:14:58 GMT
I don't think that Paradise Found can be classed as a flop. It was only planned as a limited run as a tryout before going to Broadway. The whole run sold out before it opened so you could say it was successful. And as it never did open on Broadway you can't call something that never opened a flop. I have very happy memories of that show as it was hysterically bad. I'll have stories to tell about it for years.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Aug 12, 2018 19:41:08 GMT
Paradise got terrible reviews Three nuns and your mother only returned for the second act It was meant to go further but thankfully it never did, I’d say it flopped
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Post by richey on Aug 12, 2018 20:00:42 GMT
Ah, the glorious 'Acorn Antiques'. Back in the day when £65 for a top price ticket was considered outrageous. And it was worth every penny as far as I was concerned. Paid a fortune at the time to see it but absolutely loved it just for the chance to see Julie Walters as Mrs Overall on stage. She was worth every penny. The minute she walked onstage the audience went wild. Including the row of butch bikers behind me.
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Post by distantcousin on Aug 12, 2018 20:28:04 GMT
Saw the first preview of Bad Girls the Musical. It was awful. Clearly Liz Smith nor Paul O Grady didnt know their lines, lyrics, choreography or placings. There was so much improvising and fooling about that can be tolerated. Err, you're getting confused with Prisoner Cell Block H.
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Post by sf on Aug 12, 2018 21:48:33 GMT
Saw the first preview of Bad Girls the Musical. It was awful. Clearly Liz Smith nor Paul O Grady didnt know their lines, lyrics, choreography or placings. There was so much improvising and fooling about that can be tolerated. Err, you're getting confused with Prisoner Cell Block H.
Do I remember the great Maggie "The Freak" Kirkpatrick singing a love song to her kinky black leather gloves, or is my mind playing tricks on me?
(I mean in Prisoner Cell Block H: The Musical, obviously, not in Bad Girls.)
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