642 posts
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Post by greeny11 on Aug 10, 2018 16:04:14 GMT
I really enjoyed Loserville, Made In Dagenham and The Girls.
I think Loserville was always intended to be a show that could be performed by schools, and it has been many times - it just didn't quite feel right for the West End.
Made In Dagenham was at too big a theatre - it might have done better at a smaller theatre. It does seem to have done well at regional/amateur level though.
The Girls had 2 problems - the name and the theatre. Had it been called Calendar Girls the Musical - it may well have done better as people are familiar with the Calendar Girls. It also was at the Phoenix, which is not in a great location with limited passing trade. A more centrally located theatre might have seen this one do better.
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Post by karloscar on Aug 10, 2018 16:06:10 GMT
Metropolis was one of the most magnificent flops. Brian Blessed was Brian Blessed on acid, the set was amazing when it worked, the songs were tuneful, though the lyrics sucked, Graham Bickley was the drippiest leading man ever and then Judy Kuhn made you forget all that was wrong with it. Her ability to make dodgy material truthful and compelling is quite unbelievable.
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Post by londonmzfitz on Aug 10, 2018 16:09:14 GMT
Cardinal Pirelli has named many that I really enjoyed! Except La Cava which I walked out of at the end could have jumped under a bus, so solemn and frankly dire. I found the programme last week, I remembered that Ben Forster (JCS show winner) was in it, hiding behind a huge beard ... ) Loved loved loved From A Jack To A King which won the Evening Standard award, saw it several times. And Lend Me A Tenor, went back a couple of times - I have a signed poster at home from the old WOS member night. I saw Damien Humbley at the Funny Girl final performance and felt the need to tell him how much I loved his performance. Did not enjoy All The Fun of the Fair, that David Essex thing. Although I love David Essex, saw him on tour several times on the run up to the stage show, he'd perform a song "from this show wot I wrote" so went along to Wimbledon to see it. Dear God, he'd have done better spending his time talking to a budgie than writing that drivel. Peggy Sue was unremarkable and without humour, same for Love Story, both well performed but left feeling somehow unsatisfied. From Here To Eternity I enjoyed as a one-off, didn't feel the need to see it again and although I've got the show saved off Sky TV I only dip in now and again. Saw the huge amount of (-tat-) merchandise and thought they'd struggle to flog that off. I Can't Sing, saw it and hated it, utterly daft and pointless, on a free ticket, cursing the fact I'd bought a £10 front row for later in the run. Second time I saw some redeeming features. But not many. And although it has its fans I really didn't like Made In Dagenham. At all. Saw that on a free ticket after doing a couple of hours in a product review with half a dozen other people. We didn't know MID was the product, they dragged out several show posters with different pictures and quotes/headlines and asked which we liked more, some people thought there was just women in it, there was a discussion as to whether Lee Evans was in it (same time as his run in Barking In Essex) ....
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2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 10, 2018 16:10:22 GMT
Surprised to see some if those classed as flops. Acorn Antiques was certainly a big seller both times I went It’s an interesting one, it sold out but had mixed reviews, it could have extended but, if it had, would probably not have had the names from the TV sketches that sold it, so it didn’t recast and closed. On top of that it was radically changed for a tour which jettisoned the entire first act, suggesting that Wood knew it wasn’t working as well as it could. The show was far too long for the material before the changes.
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1,244 posts
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Post by londonmzfitz on Aug 10, 2018 16:10:49 GMT
does Love never dies count as a flop aswell? Maybe to Sir ALW who made several changes during the run. Having seen it from the first preview to the last day I wouldn't call it a flop, it ran for 18 months, cast recording, etc.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 10, 2018 16:27:24 GMT
Matador, Lautrec, The Beautiful and the Damned, Betty Blue Eyes, Love Story and Made in Dagenham stand out as shows that I thought worked well.
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Post by partytentdown on Aug 10, 2018 16:29:45 GMT
I really enjoyed Loserville, Made In Dagenham and The Girls. I think Loserville was always intended to be a show that could be performed by schools, and it has been many times - it just didn't quite feel right for the West End Will have to check my programme but I vaguely recall that (oddly) it was actually developed by a school or youth group and then taken on by a West end producer.
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Post by partytentdown on Aug 10, 2018 16:30:17 GMT
'Standing in a huddle outside the Comedy Theatre during the interval, five theatre buffs were debating whether to bother with the second half of Too Close to the Sun, the new West End musical based on the final days of Ernest Hemingway. The group all worked in the theatre business and had been given free tickets for one of the previews used by producers to test the water before opening the show to the public ... and the critics. On leaving their seats for the interval, they had been asked by a manager to stop laughing at inappropriate moments because it was "distracting and upsetting" the cast.' www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/stop-laughing-its-not-a-comedy-bell-tolls-for-hemingway-musical-1760704.html
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Post by indis on Aug 10, 2018 16:30:44 GMT
Made in Dagenham was so boring, was thinking about leaving
didn't it tour through the Uk as well?
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2,520 posts
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Post by n1david on Aug 10, 2018 16:34:48 GMT
<whispers> Bend it Like Beckham?
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 16:35:14 GMT
'Standing in a huddle outside the Comedy Theatre during the interval, five theatre buffs were debating whether to bother with the second half of Too Close to the Sun, the new West End musical based on the final days of Ernest Hemingway. The group all worked in the theatre business and had been given free tickets for one of the previews used by producers to test the water before opening the show to the public ... and the critics. On leaving their seats for the interval, they had been asked by a manager to stop laughing at inappropriate moments because it was "distracting and upsetting" the cast.' www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-dance/news/stop-laughing-its-not-a-comedy-bell-tolls-for-hemingway-musical-1760704.htmlOh that sounds smashing, I wish I'd seen it. My favourite bit of that article though is: "On one night when one of the cast members shouted the line "Enough", one member of the audience was heard to shout back "quite!"" Fabulous.
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Post by Marcus on Aug 10, 2018 16:35:23 GMT
I loved I can’t sing, it was exactly what it needed to be. Frivolous and funny, it also featured a brilliant cast - Cynthia Erivo was perfect.
Made in Dagenham I enjoyed more that I was expecting to, Gemma Artherton was really good. Found parts of it quite emotional.
Viva Forever was my least favourite show of all time, I thought the songs were all slowed down for no reason. The storyline was interesting but for a show with spice girls music I felt they shouldn’t have had a girl band as the central theme. Also what made mamma Mia so popular is its camp and high energy nature. Viva forever tried to be too deep.
I also loved drowsy chaperone, the music was a big draw for me prior to viewing. Loved Summer Strallen (always do) and I sat next to Judith Charmers in the audience.
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 10, 2018 16:42:45 GMT
<whispers> Bend it Like Beckham? Ran about ten months, so around 350 performances. Unsuccessful, I’d say, rather than a flop.
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Post by The Matthew on Aug 10, 2018 16:46:42 GMT
I remember commenting that the dire quality of this show turned it from Always into 9½ Weeks (which was the length of its run). Now this one I liked. Someone involved in the production of the show promoted it on rec.arts.theatre.musicals and was terribly confused by the reaction when people jokingly treated it as a rip-off of our own (fictional) Slut Bitches From Pluto. It was a great show that did everything it could not to take itself seriously. Glitter Boots saved my life indeed. Crap. Someone on RATM started a Tess Survivors Club, and it warranted it. I still have my La Cava mug. I don't remember it well, but IIRC it was a show with great potential that could have been a lot better with some tightening up. Loved this. So many great musical numbers. I'll never forgive them for not making a cast recording. I almost invested in this one as they were trying to get small investors involved and I thought I might give it a try, but I dodged a bullet there because it undeservedly sank like a stone. Possibly the worst musical ever. Utter sh*t. This one was pretty good too. Do you mean Behind The Iron Mask? Oh God! Not the worst show ever, but certainly the most unrelentingly boring one. A bit slow in places, but well worth seeing.
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Post by Jon on Aug 10, 2018 16:46:57 GMT
Surprised to see some if those classed as flops. Acorn Antiques was certainly a big seller both times I went Acorn Antiques was very successful but it only ran a limited run because of cast availability. Made in Dagenham I did enjoy as well.
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2,706 posts
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Post by Cardinal Pirelli on Aug 10, 2018 17:00:24 GMT
Hard Times - Brian Blessed and Roy Hudd both chewing the scenery magnificently. Why Hard Times though? It never really convinced that it needed to be a musical, for me. There is no cast album but there was a CD EP of five songs, available used on Amazon for about a fiver shipped (as of now)! castalbums.org/recordings/Hard-Times-2000-Original-London-Cast/4693/Behind the Iron Mask, yes, that’s the title. Dull, dull, dull.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 17:01:03 GMT
Viva Forever. Must we really go there? It could have been an okay show if they did a better job with the song selection. Some of the songs didn't even sound recognizable. I never saw it but the Mama/Goodbye clip that is on YouTube gives me chills everytime.
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Post by Jon on Aug 10, 2018 17:12:06 GMT
I think Viva Forever suffered from the fact the Spice Girls didn't have enough songs to justify a stage musical and the story was not as strong compared to Mamma Mia! Hannah John Kamen came out unscathed as she has starred in three major Hollywood films this year and Tamara Wall ended up in Hollyoaks.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 17:13:59 GMT
I'll throw a few out there... I really enjoyed Viva Forever! Also, Women On the Verge and Made in Dagenham deserved more than it got.
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1,115 posts
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Post by Stephen on Aug 10, 2018 17:34:02 GMT
The Girls was the best musical I saw that year. Glad it has this new life on tour but not convinced by the redesign.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 17:36:42 GMT
I'll throw a few out there... I really enjoyed Viva Forever! Also, Women On the Verge and Made in Dagenham deserved more than it got. Yasssssssss!!! Saw it twice, I loved it! The British accent was too strong tho, Ricardo Afonso was the only one making an effort to sound like a Spaniard speaking English.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 17:41:04 GMT
The Girls was the best musical I saw that year. Glad it has this new life on tour but not convinced by the redesign. I didn’t know there was a redesign 😬
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Post by Jon on Aug 10, 2018 17:43:32 GMT
I think anything written by Mike Read like Oscar and Cliff the Musical deserves a mention.
The Garrick has plenty of musical flops like Bad Girls and Zorro. Considering it managed to kill off Chicago first time around, you'd think producers would avoid it as a home for a musical
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 17:46:07 GMT
I think anything written by Mike Read like Oscar and Cliff the Musical deserves a mention. The Garrick has plenty of musical flops like Bad Girls and Zorro. Considering it managed to kill off Chicago first time around, you'd think producers would avoid it as a home for a musical Why is the Garrick such a poor venue for musicals? I’m not overly familiar with the Garrick, only been there once so I am curious.
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Post by Phantom of London on Aug 10, 2018 17:46:34 GMT
Here's a quick rundown, using similar criteria to the classic book 'Not Since Carrie' on Broadway flops. Under 250 performances, not a limited run, not been on Broadway, not a revue or compilation show, not a revival. As with that book there are probably a few missed and I've added a few that would have fallen outside that limitation. Some may have been time limited runs but would surely have extended or transferred if successful. I chose Bernadette as the starting point because that really has to be the nadir of West End musicals in living memory. I can add a list of ones from before if needed! Over sixty shows and I managed to see over three quarters of them..... 1990 Bernadette Heaven’s Up King Someone Like You 1991 Children of Eden Hunting of the Snark Matador 1992 From a Jack to a King Moby Dick Radio Times Valentine’s Day Which Witch 1993 Leonardo: Portrait of Love Lust c.1461 Robin, Prince of Sherwood 1994 Out of the Blue 1995 Prisoner Cell Block H 1996 Voyeurz 1997 Always Fields of Ambrosia Stepping Out Maddie 1998 Saucy Jack & the Space Vixens 1999 A Saint She Ain’t Boyband Casper – the Musical Tess of the D’Urbevilles 2000 La Cava Lautrec Hard Times Napoleon 2001 Closer to Heaven (off West End) Peggy Sue Got Married 2002 None 2003 Money to Burn (off West End) 2004 The Beautiful & the Damned The Big Life Murderous Instincts Oscar Wilde (off West End) 2005 Acorn Antiques The Far Pavilions The Man in the Iron Mask 2006 Daddy Cool 2007 Bad Girls – the Musical Desperately Seeking Susan 2008 Gone With the Wind The Harder They Come Imagine This Marguerite Never Forget 2009 Too Close to the Sun 2010 All the Fun of the Fair Flashdance Love Story 2011 Backbeat Betty Blue Eyes Lend me a Tenor Umbrellas of Cherbourg 2012 Loserville 2013 From Here to Eternity Stephen Ward Viva Forever 2014 I Can’t Sing Made in Dagenham 2015 None 2016 The Go Between Mrs Henderson Presents 2017 The Girls The Wind in the Willows I actually thought that Love Story was excellent.
No one has mentioned Wonder.land yet.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 17:48:37 GMT
Oh loved Mrs Henderson Presents! I mean, Emma and Tracie, that is WINNING in my eye!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 18:09:17 GMT
I thought wind in the willows was a limited run?
I loved Zorro, and it actually broke a record for the garrick box office at the time. it started strong but dwindled quickly.
Love Story was brilliant too
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 18:28:52 GMT
I thought wind in the willows was a limited run? I loved Zorro, and it actually broke a record for the garrick box office at the time. it started strong but dwindled quickly. Love Story was brilliant too Willows was a limited Summer run, but it closed a week or two early due to poor ticket sales.
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Post by graham on Aug 10, 2018 18:29:01 GMT
Nothing still quite matches the experience of "Bernadette - The People's Musical" for me, with "Which Witch" a very close second. Beginning to think the monkey may have been stalking me (inadvertently!) or vice versa!
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Post by Deleted on Aug 10, 2018 18:50:46 GMT
Oh if I can take a moment to mention a flop play, just because it was just bizzare and hilarious... did anyone see Fatal Attraction?! Me and @ryan still laugh about it now! That ending! 😂😂
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