One of my hobbies is to collect flop musicals. One time, when I was raving about shows, my friend asked me why I like flop musicals so much. It took me about two seconds to answer. Musical theatre is a hit or miss place. If you don’t succeed, chances are that your show will never see another audience. Every time a crappy movie is released, (“From Justin to Kelly”, anyone?) you can find it a month later on the clearance rack at Target. If a T.V. show is cancelled, you can certainly watch it all on YouTube. Sometimes the intense fans of the show will petition the producers until the show is released on DVD.

However, a musical can not be re- captured. It is very arguably the most versatile, involving, and hard to perfect form of entertainment available. About half of all shows that go on Broadway do not recoup their investment. It’s a risk. And thus, every time a show is cancelled prematurely, there is a joke you missed out on. There is a story that failed to capture your attention. There is a show, that after grueling months of rehearsing, of bringing in new directors and producers sweating it out and putting themselves on the line to make the show prevail, that will probably never be heard of again. We lose so much by not going back and saving some record of these artistic endeavors.  And that is why I love the shows we missed.

We could easily have lost so many of the shows that eventually went onto Broadway and entertained and moved people in this past century. “Les Miserables,” for instance, one of the most successful musicals ever, was nearly condemned to an early demise. It was first performed in France, but had to close when the booking contract ran out. Then, the cast album, which was in French, was passed onto a producer. The producer, Cameron Mackintosh, was at first doubtful, but then decided to take the risk. When the show finally made it to West End (which is like the Broadway of Europe), it received mixed reviews, which put it in danger of being shut down. Luckily, word of mouth spread and the show gathered steam. The show was then moved to Broadway, where it became the current #3 longest running Broadway show.

If “Les Mis” had not succeeded, then all of the people inspired by the show might not have reached their full potential. No one would ever have heard “On My Own” or “Stars”. And most importantly, no attention would have been paid.

This show made it into our consciousness.  But there are other, equally good, if not better stories that failed to make it out of the starting gate. I have just picked a year in Broadway history at random. The year is 1971. This happens to be a very good year in Broadway history. There were 5 hits and 5 flops. The hits were “Two Gentlemen of Verona”, “Godspell”, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope” and “Ain’t Supposed to Die a Natural Death”. The flops were “Prettybelle”, “Victory Canteen”, “Lolita, My Love”, “Follies” and “70, Girls, 70”. Two of the hits and one of the flops are still performed today; “Godspell”, “Jesus Christ Superstar” and “Follies”. The others are rarely, if ever, performed. Now at first glance you might think the hits are automatically the good shows and the flops are the poor ones. This, however, is not always the case. 

“Follies” has actually been claimed by theatre critics to have the best score ever written. It ran 522 performances, but did not regain its investment because it was immensely expensive to produce. It received mixed reviews from those who were not satisfied with its bleak and depressing plot. Still, it has been revived numerous times and is in negotiation for being made into a movie.

“Two Gentlemen of Verona”, unlike “Follies”, was originally a massive hit. The music was written by the composer of the breakthrough rock musical “Hair”, and it was based off Shakespeare’s play of the same name. It was immensely successful and won the Tony Award for

Best Musical, beating out “Follies” and “Grease” (The Broadway season determines which shows battle each other for Tonys; “Two Gents” and “Follies” debuted in 1971 but competed in the ‘72 Tony Awards). Despite its initial success, many theater goers rejected “Two Gents” and the show is rarely performed.

“Prettybelle” was the story of a manic depressive, alchoholic schizophrenic who puts herself into an asylum. It was as innovative as it was controversial. Although it’s score was by the makers of the Barbra Streisand breakout hit “Funny Girl” and it starred Angela Lansbury, of “Mame” fame (who went on to originate the role of Mrs. Lovett in “Sweeney Todd”), it had problems. Perhaps the biggest problem, however, was it’s controversial nature. If it appeared on Broadway today, alongside “The Producers” and “Spamalot”, “Prettybelle”probably would have succeeded. But in 1972, it closed in Boston after one week. It never made it to Broadway. The crowd was so incensed by the offensive material that the majority left at intermission, and those who stayed booed during the curtain call. Miraculously, it produced a cast recording, although it was released 10 years after the original show. The score, in my opinion, is really quite amusing, especially the closing number, “When I’m Drunk, I’m Beautiful”.

In conclusion, I encourage people to look back at the shows you’ve missed. Now, with resources like the internet, a failed show still has potential. You can buy CD’s off ITunes and learn about tons of shows through the internet. With luck we can possibly bring these shows back into the spotlight so that they can have the success that they deserve.