Skip to main content

Recent Broadway Flops

Those who read my blog know my obsession with those shows on Broadway that don't last long.  With that in mind, here are five fairly recent shows that had short runs on the Great White Way:

Lestat-04/26/2006-05/28/2006 (39 Performances)
Written by Elton John, Bernie Taupin, and Linda Woolverton, this musical was inspired by The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice.  Reviews of the show were mostly negative, with one critic saying, "Lestat's contribution to art and equality is demonstrating that a gay vampire with a two-octave range can be just as dull as a straight one."

Enron-04/27/2010-05/09/2010 (16 Performances)
This straight play about the financial scandal and bankruptcy of a Houston-based American energy corporation last on Broadway for just over a month.  Hostile reviews, as well as the show's failure to earn any Tony nominations, were attributed to the play's closure.

Wonderland-04/17/2011-05/15/2011 (33 Performances)
After various workshops and premiere performances in Tampa, Florida and Houston, Texas, this contemporary version of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass closed on Broadway after only a month.  The show is set in New York City, and it focuses on the characters of Alice Cornwinkle and her 10 year-old daughter, Chloe.

Bonnie and Clyde-12/1/2011-12/30/2011 (36 Performances)
Written by Frank Wildhorn, Don Black, and Ivan Menchell, this musical about the infamous Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow combined rockabilly, gospel, and blues music as part of the score.  Unfortunately, this show failed to impress critics, and it closed after four weeks.

Side Show (Revival)-11/17/2014-01/04/2015 (56 Performances)
Although this musical faired better in 1997 with 91 performances, the revival had fewer viewings.  Based on the lives of two conjoined twins who became famous stage performers in the 1930s, this offering by Bill Russell and Henry Krieger did not catch on with audiences, and it closed after only seven weeks.

All information came from the following websites:

www.deadline.com
www.ibdb.com
www.nytimes.com
www.playbill.com
www.theguardian.com



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Historical Mutilations/Arti Doll

I'm thrilled to announce that one of my plays, Historical Mutilations, will be produced this summer by Theatre Off the Square in Weatherford, Texas.  Along with Mike Byham's play, Arti Doll, my play will be produced on June 7-9, 2024, as both plays were winners of the 2023 New Works Contest.  I am so excited that such a prestigious venue as Theatre Off the Square will be producing one of my shows! Historical Mutilations is about the murder of Gary Hinman.  A hippie renaissance figure in the 1960s, as well as the Manson Family's "forgotten victim," Hinman was found dead in his home on Old Topanga Canyon Road eight days before Sharon Tate and four others were found murdered at Tate's Cielo Drive residence.  My play, a biodrama, depicts a possible conversation that Hinman and cult-leader Charles Manson may have had prior to Hinman's murder.  In doing so, Manson compares what is happening to Hinman to famous mutilations of the past, specifically the self-m...

Enter Three Murderers: Three Halloween Stories with a Nod to William Shakespeare

  I am thrilled to announce that I've had a play chosen to be performed at Paris Junior College's 10th Annual Pyro Play Festival . This annual short-play festival will take place on the school's campus and run April 23rd through April 27th . There will be other unpublished works produced at the festival, and I am honored to have one of my plays showcased alongside the works of such highly talented playwrights! My play is titled, Enter Three Murderers: Three Halloween Stories with a Nod to William Shakespeare . This "monologue play" tells three separate stories of real-life killers who carried out their gruesome deeds on or about Halloween. In doing so, the audience is shown how their deeds mirror those of three murderers from Shakespeare's plays, specifically Macbeth , Titus Andronicus , and Arden of Faversham . In Scene I, we meet Nancy, a jovial grandmother from Tulsa, Oklahoma, who decides that murdering husbands is the only way she will find true happines...

Stage Adaptations of The Tell-Tale Heart

Most of my readers know I have a stage version of Edgar Allan Poe's classic short-story, The Tell-Tale Heart, published through Next Stage Press.  While putting together this post as a shameless plug for my work, I did a little research and found there are some other great versions of Poe's work floating around out there.  As such, let me turn you on to the following versions: The Tell-Tale Heart adapted by Robert Mason.  Turned mad by the sight of his neighbor's eye, Burke kills the old man and cautiously hides the body.  Despite his cleverness, however, will Burke be able to escape his own insanity?   www.playscripts.com The Tell-Tale Heart adapted Luella McMahon.  A young man plans and commits the "perfect crime."  But when a detective stops by on a quite different manner, the young man finds he is unable to stop the pounding of the dead man's heart.  www.dramaticpublishing.com The Tell-Tale Heart adapted by Paul Millet.  A series o...