Failed musicals

I’m relatively new to musicals so haven’t been to see a failed one yet - although I did watch the Diana the musical pro-shot (and for the life of me don’t understand how it’s become known as a camp masterpiece when the over the top stuff makes up about 10% of the runtime and the rest is dull melodrama)

I don’t really understand the premise of the thread, it’s a little confusing because lots of shows given have recouped, so didn’t “fail” commercially. Similarly several shows I’ve really enjoyed haven’t done great box office.

Also, the difference between “shows” and “productions”. I love the original Phantom production, but wasn’t a fan of the Anniversary Tour, which was the same “show”.

Then as Jon rightly points out above, some shows have bombed one place and been hugely commercially and/or critically successful elsewhere.

In terms of known “big losers” commercially, I’ve seen the following productions; The Lord of the Rings (Drury Lane), Gone With the Wind (New London Theatre), Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark (Foxwoods Theatre), all lost hundreds of millions of pounds combined.

Then I’ve seen some critically savaged shows considered the worst ever critically, like The Far Pavilions, Too Close to the Sun, Imagine This, Behind the Iron Mask which won’t have lost anywhere near as much as, say, Spider-Man combined.

I’ve seen some which are completely misguided either by casting (Rent Remixed - Caprice / Thoroughly Modern Millie - Amanda Holden), or by strange direction/narminess (Exposure: The Musical, It Happened in Key West)…

Nothing could get to me to watch the OAT Legally Blonde again (probably the single worst thing I’ve seen), but I’d gladly go and see the original London production again which I really enjoyed.

Did it really? That does surprise me. It was very quiet on both nights I went and it's a big theatre to fill. I guess people were paying far more than I was on a discounted ticket.


The Boy in the Photograph (minus our kind of love) was in Canada. Never on Broadway. Not sure if the show has even played in the US.


My list is based on their London productions and both didn't just fail, they bombed big time.



Not sure what Phantom has to do with failed musicals, because it's one of the most successful of all time, quite different to what people are referring to here.

Women on the Verge I really didn’t get on with, always fun seeing Jérôme though. At Selladoor’s Avenue Q, the set unfortunately fell over at the Brighton Dome. Fortunately nobody was hurt but there was a long delay…

Out of the Blue ! At the Shaftesbury theatre was jaw dropping awful and just bizzare! With a revolve that was used to basically revolve the ensemble in a
circle while they wore oriental eye masks that put Jonathan Pryce to shame ! If you know you know !

It was awful

"Flops" I liked:

Carrie with the wonderful Barbara Cook
Metropolis with Judy Kuhn (who hated it!)
Children of Eden (but not with Roger Moore who dropped out before it opened)
Matador with Stephanie Powers
Poppy (RSC production about the Opium Wars)
Jeanne (with Siobhan McCarthy as Joan of Arc)
Budgie with Adam Faith and Anita Dobson...In One of My Weaker Moments...

"Flops" I didn't like:

Tess of the D'Urbervilles
La Cava at the Victoria Palace
Ipi-Tombi (I think this was quite successful in London but I didn't get it)
Ziegfeld with George Hearn
Cyrano - how did this Dutch-sourced show make it to the Neil Simon on Broadway?
The Far Pavilions (of which, thankfully, I remember nothing)
Mutiny! with David Essex and Sinitta (the on-stage ship broke down twice!)
Kings and Clowns by Leslie Bricusse about the 6 wives of Henry VIII (Six, on the other hand nails this story).

Roger Moore - I thought he was supposed to do Aspects of Love?

That’s why I singled out that particular production of it. Was packed when I saw it in Manchester, but a year or two later in Chester it must have been the worst attended show I’ve ever been to. We would have fit into the old Trafalgar Studios 2 and still have been able to spread out. Surprised it went ahead.

At least one of the performances of Bat Boy I attended had an audience which couldn’t have been more than 40 people. In the Shaftesbury.

I still absolutely loved it (as did the other 39 people watching)…

Stage Door Records have re-issued some really interesting material in the 'failed musicals' category, not least the 2 volumes of Lost West End songs from flop shows.

I'm another who had the (mis)fortune to see Out of the Blue - my parents booked it for us as a family trip. I have no idea why. It was genuinely interminable. Years later I found the complete 2 CD cast recording in a charity shop, of all places. I bought it and have tried several times to listen to it, but can never get through it, despsite the great cast.

Other great West End flops (at least commercially) I have seen include Bernadette (I've spoken many times here about my fondness for it and still often play the concept album), Romeo and Juliet, Acorn Antiques, The Far Pavilions, Behind the Iron Mask, Bat Boy, Peggy Sue Got Married, La Cava, Gone with the Wind, Lord of the Rings, Margueritte, Imagine This, Love Story, From Here to Eternity, Stephen Ward, I Can't Sing, Made in Dagenham, Mrs Henerson Presents and The Go-Between. A few of those I thought were great - especially The Go-Between. Margueritte, Acorn Antiques, Imagine This and Stephen Ward were all pretty good, too. The worst was probably Behind the Iron Mask, although many, like Gone With the Wind and La Cava, were simply very long and dull. 

One flop I really wish I'd seen is Fields of Ambrosia. I love the cast recording and think the story is extremely interesting. I think the subject matter put people off, but it's no darker than, say, Sweeney Todd, and no-one would have batted an eyelid if it had been a play, rather than a musical. Somebody really ought to revive it and give it a proper chance. Oh, and I SO wish I'd seen Mike Read's Oscar Wilde musical.

Did anyone else here enjoy the BBC radio series Fabulous Flops, about ten or so years ago? It looked at the amazing stories behind many of these shows. The story behind Murderous Instincts was particularly entertaining!