423 posts
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Post by schuttep on Oct 4, 2022 8:56:47 GMT
"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? Yes, of course, you're right. My bad. |
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Post by TallPaul on Oct 4, 2022 9:30:24 GMT
I don't think mention has yet been made of Radio Times with Tony Slattery. I imagine the hope was that it would be the successor to, and just as successful as, Me and My Girl. If the internet is correct, they both closed on the same night, 16 January 1993.
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7,183 posts
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Post by Jon on Oct 4, 2022 10:20:08 GMT
Acorn Antiques was always intended to be a limited run due to the cast availability, I think it recouped and made a profit.
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4,988 posts
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 4, 2022 10:50:07 GMT
How about Paradise Found at the Chocolare factory?
My friends and I walked out at the interval but one friend remained and said only about a quarter of the audience returned.
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594 posts
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Post by og on Oct 4, 2022 12:06:07 GMT
Personal vendetta but by all accounts Son of a Preacher Man. Aside from being a critical failure, substantial losses between its Bromley premier and dragging it's arse around the UK in 2017.
Think they were close to £1m down by mid-2018. Ended up in high court summons to wind up.
Looking into it, I've found some interesting details around a 'Last night a DJ The Musical' - did anyone see this? From the producers of 'Boogie Nights'.
By all accounts another financial failure that ended up in quibble and issues around IP rights and DVD sales income which lost substantially.
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Post by inthenose on Oct 4, 2022 12:10:48 GMT
Personal vendetta but by all accounts Son of a Preacher Man. Aside from being a critical failure, substantial losses between its Bromley premier and dragging it's arse around the UK in 2017. Think they were close to £1m down by mid-2018. Ended up in high court summons to wind up. Looking into it, I've found some interesting details around a 'Last night a DJ The Musical' - did anyone see this? From the producers of 'Boogie Nights'. By all accounts another financial failure that ended up in quibble and issues around IP rights and DVD sales income which lost substantially. Hope you weren’t stiffed for money. |
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8,159 posts
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Post by alece10 on Oct 4, 2022 15:37:38 GMT
How about Paradise Found at the Chocolare factory? My friends and I walked out at the interval but one friend remained and said only about a quarter of the audience returned. I have very fond memories of that musical and have a signed cast poster on my wall. Must be worth a bit now. It was always interesting to see how many people stayed until the end each night. However, the run sold out before it opened so maybe it wasn't such a flop. |
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1,347 posts
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Post by tmesis on Oct 4, 2022 16:06:34 GMT
How about Paradise Found at the Chocolare factory? My friends and I walked out at the interval but one friend remained and said only about a quarter of the audience returned. I stayed to the bitter end. For me it was still worth it to see Mandy Patinkin live. |
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Post by Peter on Oct 4, 2022 17:36:26 GMT
And Napoleon at the Shaftesbury for a few months in 2000 - a massive cast and orchestra (amazing orchestrations by a Jonathan Tunick) and some thrillingly staged moments couldn’t fully cover up how dull and portentous the rest of the evening was. Apparently it’s been retooled and had some success over in Korea…
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Oct 8, 2022 1:14:41 GMT
Meredith Braun was in both Bernadette and Out of The Blue and there are some videos of both shows on her website. I wish I had seen Out of The Blue, but if i recall correctly, it seemed to appear overnight with little to no marketing and vanished just as quickly. www.meredithbraun.co.uk/musicals.html |
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Post by scarpia on Oct 9, 2022 9:24:43 GMT
How about Paradise Found at the Chocolare factory? My friends and I walked out at the interval but one friend remained and said only about a quarter of the audience returned. It's no secret I'm a big Hal Prince fan so I was excited to see this, especially with that starry cast. But yes, it was torture. |
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Post by drowseychap on Oct 11, 2022 1:00:20 GMT
The goodbye girl ? Saw it twice in London was empty but we loved it …. But then it toured and sold really well both times I went in different city’s theatre was full midweek … marti Webb joined Gary Wilmot for the tour .
Also saw stepping out the musical Sharon d Clarke ? Which I enjoyed
Lend me a tenor I liked too
Lord of the rings I hated
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Post by distantcousin on Oct 11, 2022 9:48:02 GMT
As frankubelik described above, a failed musical can come in many forms, it's not only about money, its also about expectation, hype, length of run etc. The ones I include. refer only to the London productions of the show. The Drowsy Chaperone is a great example. It came to London having won numerous Tony awards, ran for nearly 2 years on Broadway, It had Elaine Paige in the title role and some great talent in all the other roles, and yet closed in 8 weeks. You can't call that a success in any way. The Beautiful Game I would consider a failure because it only lasted a short time compared to most of his other shows, it never transferred to Broadway, lost its entire investment and many people have never heard of it. Romeo and Juliet was just so dull and bland. Other shows like Which Witch or Moby Dick (all of which were at the Piccadilly) were camp and over the top and were enjoyable for a few reasons, but Romeo and Juliet was none of those. Betty Blue Eyes was another that came with great expectations, great cast and people expected it to do far better than it did, given it was a Cam Mack show after all, and people were surprised that it closed so quickly. I always thought BBE would have been a massive hit with Amateur companies around the country, like Witches of Eastwick was, but i don't recall seeing it, or maybe it was never released.
I saw a university theatre society present BBE during the Brighton Fringe (2018 I think it was)
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2,022 posts
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Post by distantcousin on Oct 11, 2022 9:50:48 GMT
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!
Acorn Antiques sold out it's entire run! There was never a plan to extend it beyond Julie Walters' contract.
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Post by Someone in a tree on Oct 11, 2022 9:58:03 GMT
Several years later it toured in a revised version. Has it had much life after that?
I found it overly (Mrs overally) long at the Haymarket but I did enjoy aspects of it and I'd like to see it again if it was shorter
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Post by Peter on Oct 11, 2022 11:01:14 GMT
I think it was released for amateur productions (in that revised form, without the first act) about ten years ago - no idea how popular it has been…
Loved every minute of the London production, though haven’t seen it since as the cast were such an integral part of it for me.
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Post by joem on Oct 11, 2022 11:10:59 GMT
Definite flops:
On The Twentieth Century
According to this thread:
The Far Pavilions
Bombay Dreams?
From Here To Eternity
Was Love Never Dies a relative flop?
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543 posts
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Post by WireHangers on Oct 11, 2022 12:07:22 GMT
Lord of the Rings is a musical I listen to at least once a month. The music is stunning.
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Post by inthenose on Oct 11, 2022 12:28:47 GMT
Lord of the Rings is a musical I listen to at least once a month. The music is stunning. Absolutely. Gorgeous score. “Lament for Moria”, “Star of Earendil”, some really nice music in there. |
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543 posts
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Post by WireHangers on Oct 11, 2022 15:45:47 GMT
Lord of the Rings is a musical I listen to at least once a month. The music is stunning. Absolutely. Gorgeous score. “Lament for Moria”, “Star of Earendil”, some really nice music in there. I listened to Star of Earendil on my way to work the other morning. Got me really pumped up for the day ahead! |
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Post by bimse on Oct 11, 2022 17:05:03 GMT
Mystery of Edwin Drood, Savoy Theatre 1987
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Post by inthenose on Oct 11, 2022 17:16:50 GMT
Absolutely. Gorgeous score. “Lament for Moria”, “Star of Earendil”, some really nice music in there. I listened to Star of Earendil on my way to work the other morning. Got me really pumped up for the day ahead! Having the absolutely lovely Rosalie Craig as Arwen is a gift too. I really, really miss this show. Annoyingly, there is a full pro-shot locked up at Kevin Wallace Towers which will never be released due to rights complications with Saul Zaentz, New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate. There isn’t even a video bootleg, (except a couple of clips on YouTube - including “Cat and the Moon”) and the audio bootlegs are all terrible quality. “Eärendil-naur, ir men Beri-al ned lú beleg baur!” |
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Post by ceebee on Oct 11, 2022 19:26:25 GMT
I listened to Star of Earendil on my way to work the other morning. Got me really pumped up for the day ahead! Having the absolutely lovely Rosalie Craig as Arwen is a gift too. I really, really miss this show. Annoyingly, there is a full pro-shot locked up at Kevin Wallace Towers which will never be released due to rights complications with Saul Zaentz, New Line Cinema and the Tolkien Estate. There isn’t even a video bootleg, (except a couple of clips on YouTube - including “Cat and the Moon”) and the audio bootlegs are all terrible quality. “Eärendil-naur, ir men Beri-al ned lú beleg baur!” I absolutely loved LOTR. I was gutted when it closed - that stage and set, the music, the double interval. They truly don't make shows like that any more. |
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Post by bobbievanhusen on Oct 11, 2022 21:01:01 GMT
The goodbye girl ? Saw it twice in London was empty but we loved it …. But then it toured and sold really well both times I went in different city’s theatre was full midweek … marti Webb joined Gary Wilmot for the tour . Also saw stepping out the musical Sharon d Clarke ? Which I enjoyed Lend me a tenor I liked too Lord of the rings I hated I remember Ann Crumb and Gary Willmott being in it, but i cant remember a single other thing about that show. I didnt even buy the cast recording, which was very unusual in those days.
Im shocked that it went out on tour after the London run.
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