Broadway Flops: What They Are & Influence

Theatre, unlike other types of art, can be judged by financial gain and longevity: this is how the term “flop” was coined. The word flop when “initially applied to Broadway, [it] had a purely economic designation. In the once-hugely influential showbusiness weekly Variety, a flop was any production that failed to ‘recoup its initial investment during its Broadway run, even if only shy by five or ten percent of the capitalization’” (Agovino 2014). People tend to associate the words flop and failure together, but James Leve explains in his book that a flop and a failure do not share the same meaning when describing musicals. Leve classifies hit and flop as having to do with financial gain or loss, while success and failure are about artistic merit (170).

There are many successful shows on Broadway, but not all shows that are artistically successful run for long. There is no format to make a show that is flop-proof. Flops may not gross much money, some of the most artistically influential shows have been flops. With the rise of modern and contemporary theatre, more producers are reviving flop shows. The ups and downs that can come with a theatrical production, there are many reasons flops happen, but they can still be influential while being one.

Stephen Sondheim, one of the most famous Broadway composers and lyricists, has had one of the most successful musical theatre careers of all time. That being said, Sondheim has had two of his original musicals flop on Broadway. The highly anticipated musical Anyone Can Whistle was an enormous flop when it ran on Broadway in 1964. Dan Kuhlman, Broadway flop researcher and viral TikToker went to the concert version recently held at Carnegie Hall. He said in preparation for the concert they printed out a three-act synopsis to study before the show. “The plot is all over,” Kuhlman explains in his video, “I don’t even think the actors in the original cast always knew what was going on” (2022). Kuhlman’s words may seem harsh, but plot is one of the essential parts of a show when it comes to being successful. If the plot is hard to follow, has too many storylines, or hardly exists, the audience will have a difficult time understanding and enjoying the story. Success was never guaranteed for Sondheim, even with his high-quality music in the show. While Anyone Can Whistle was a flop, its song's still have a stronghold in the theatre world as audition songs and showcase pieces.

Sondheim’s other famous flop was the musical Merrily We Roll Along. People now believe that it is a gorgeous piece of theatre, but at the time it was first produced audiences did not understand the timeline Sondheim created for the characters. The show starts with three old friends at the very heights of their careers and goes back in time to when they were youngsters just starting. The now-beloved show, at the time, confused audience members. Audience members additionally had a hard time connecting with the characters right away. They did not see the morals the characters once had but needed to sacrifice to achieve what they wanted in life. Others speculate that another reason for its flopping was the fact that the cast was made up of eighteen and nineteen-year-old actors, many of whom were making their Broadway debut. Speculators believe the actors were not polished enough to translate the characters in their old years to the audience well (Wollman 2020). This shows that no one, not even Sondheim, can avoid a flop show.

Flop plays and musicals are shows that are in a poor state financially and must end because of it, but just because the shows did not recoup the money spent to make does not mean the shows were not influential. An example that recently has been brought to light is Johnathan Larson’s first musical Superbia, which did not even make it out of the workshop phase of becoming a Broadway musical but inevitably lead to him writing his two groundbreaking musicals Tick, Tick… Boom!, and Rent (Williams 2022). Without his first show flopping, Larson would not have had the new creative drive to write about what he knew and the world around him to change the way musical theatre can reflect the truth of the world.

Carrie was a highly anticipated musical based on the gory Stephen King novels. It opened at the Stratford Theater in Britain and was rushed to Broadway, skipping its scheduled run at the West End for lack of money (Wollman 2020). The cult classic with music by Michael Gore, book by Lawrence D. Cohen, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, was making waves in the press. But the musical was large, expensive, and had a production team made up of people who had never worked in the theatre industry. Lyricist Dean Pitchford insists that for all Carrie's troubles, its producers' lack of expertise with money management was what led to its fast-closing date after only sixteen previews and five regular performances. While critics called it commercialized, quirky youth flocked to the show and clung to their beloved outcast just as they did with the movie (Wollman 2020). Carrie ultimately flopped, but I believe it marks the beginning of bringing media with a cult-like following to the stage. Carrie did not last on Broadway, but it paved the way for Heathers, BeetleJuice, The Lightning Thief, and any other story with a strong already in existence fan base.

Theatre, being the ever-changing art that it is, has recently lent itself to more abstract shows and theatrical concepts. In turn, many flops are being revived in hopes of bringing in a new audience that can relate to the topics presented in a different way or a new take on the story. Merrily We Roll Along, seems a particularly fitting example since it has been so frequently reworked and restaged. Flops with as much fame as Merrily We Roll Along have proven to do well in this new theatrical climate and tend to end up running longer than the original show did on Broadway. The new shift in the theatre realm has producers pondering over whether it is worth backing a show that has already flopped again. Darren Bagert, producer on the revival of the musical Side Show, said in an interview that it is “equally important to the show's comeback is the country's cultural transformation, society has become more welcoming--and often fascinated by--people's differences” (Agovino 2014).

Broadway flops are essential to the makeup of the theatre industry. “Scholars and historians tend to approach flops in much the same way they do hits: flops that make it into musical theater histories are somehow superlative, and thus deemed worthy of a mention in the first place. Failed productions that warrant mention typically belong in one of two categories” a cautionary tale or bad timing (Wollman 2020). Historians boxing flops into two categories gives little leeway for the art to change and grow with the years the way it should. Instead of flops being a cautionary tale, they should be looked at as a new artistic opportunity to revisit and revise. Nothing can hint to anyone on the creative or production teams if a show will flop or not until it opens. The stakes are always high when it comes to Broadway and not even fame can stop a show from flopping. With the ups and downs that can come with a theatrical production, there are many reasons flops happen, but they can still be an influential show while being a flop.

References

Agovino, T. (2014). Flip that broadway flop: Producer hopes musical about freaks has better luck the second time around. Crain's New York Business, 30(42), 3. https://login.libpdb.d.umn.edu:2443/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/trade-journals/flip-that-broadway-flop/docview/1615328023/se-2?accountid=8111

Kuhlman, Dan [@dankuhlman] NYC I see every show on Broadway and research Broadway musical flops [TikTok profile] TikTok. Retrieved March 16, 2022 from (3)Dan Kuhlman (@dankuhlman) TikTok | Watch Dan Kuhlman's Newest TikTok Videos

Leve, J. (2009). Kander and Ebb (Yale Broadway Masters Series) (1st ed.). Yale University

Press.

Williams, J. (2022). Tick tick boom true story: Real Jonathan Larson, Rent & How Much Happened. ScreenRant. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://screenrant.com/tick-tick-boom-movie-true-story-jonathan-larson/

Wollman, E. L. (2020). How to Dismantle a [Theatric] Bomb: Broadway Flops, Broadway Money, and Musical Theater Historiography. Arts, 9(2), NA. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A641750270/AONE?u=mnauduluth&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=0780bc27