Wonderland

[gstrus2]

Why did this flop so badly? I heard it was amazing! And on the website it says they're going to do a National Tour, is that still happening?

[adamgreer]

It was embarrassingly bad. Truly terrible. It might have had some fun camp qualities, but the only person who seemed to be aware the show could be campy was Kate Shindle. Everyone else in the cast seemed to think it was straight drama and played it as such (which only added to the awfulness). Janet Dacal proved she's not a leading lady and needs to go back to featured/ ensemble roles. The book was amateurish, cliched, full of plotholes, and at times just bizarre (Lewis Carroll himself randomly turned up in act 2!) And of course, the score was typical Wildhorn trash.

[newintown]

You should never again speak to the person who told you it was amazing, unless they went on to say "amazingly boring and stupid."

[Jordan Catalano]

Seriously, this one (to me) wasn't as bad as everyone else said it was. Don't get me wrong, it was bad, but I didn't think it was nearly as bad as some of the other crap I've sat through in my lifetime.

[Brian07663NJ]

The jokes were so bad that I stopped groaning and merely shook my head. After a while I felt like a bobblehead. Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...it did. It was one bad joke after the next. Think they tried too hard.

I wasn't a fan of the music and lyrics either.

Entire show came off too corney while appearing to be a bit bastardized from The Wiz.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

It was truly awful, but often in a fun/campy way. As adamgreer mentioned, it was greatly aided by the fact that most of them were playing it without any self-awareness that it was a laughable mess.

As ill-conceived as it was, Wonderland was never boring.

[newintown]

I wanted to shoot everyone sitting between me and the aisle so I could climb over their bodies and escape the theatre.

[Jordan Catalano]

You couldn't have just said "excuse me" and walked out?

[dramamama611]

It simply wasn't good. I had numerous people I PERSONALLY know see it and only talk about the hot mess they'd witnessed.

[adamgreer]

As ill-conceived as it was, Wonderland was never boring.

This is 100% true! I'll give them that. I've been to many shows where I was just completely bored with everything happening. Wonderland wasn't one of them- I couldn't wait to see what dumb thing they would do next!

[Jordan Catalano]

And maybe that's why I don't think it was excruciating as others claim it is.

[adamgreer]

But I wasn't bored at Baby, It's You, either. And I wouldn't for a second call that anything other than an awful show.

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

I remember at the first preview when the ensemble all came out to sing the title song ("Welcome to Wonderland/This is your new address/You'll love it more or less") in matching Alice dresses and wigs my friends and I looked at each other and burst into laughter and didn't stop till it was over.

And yes the worst offense a show can ever be is boring, so this type of disaster isn't on the lowest rung of theater-going. Most theater mushes in my brain and the middling hum-ho gets lost. Wonderland I can remember like it was yesterday and could probably do a decent job recreating most of the staging if Encores is looking for something a little outside of their norm!

[Broadway Joe]

I saw it and agree with the it was bad but it wasn't as bad as some other stuff I've seen. I thought some of it was so ridiculous that it was actually quite amusing.

Plus Kate Shindle is smoking hot and looked even hotter in her Mad Hatter outfit. So that was worth it for me alone hah

[jetts7]

I loved the show!!! I thought it was a great night out at the theatre. I love the music! The reason it flopped was because of bad ticket sales and negative reviews.

[newintown]

"bad ticket sales and negative reviews" = no one who saw it liked it enough to recommend, and no one wanted to see it = bad show.

[mar6411]

"the reason it flopped was because of bad ticket sales. . "

Is there another reason a show flops? It's all about grosses - which come from ticket sales.

[bwayphreak234]

I just can't get over this show... The cast recording and audios I have are so fun to listen to just because of the sheer nonsense of the show! I have a fascination with bad campy shows, so naturally I find this show quite interesting! I have no idea what the creative team was thinking, but I can't help but find this show interesting. The jokes are seriously so terrible that it is funny, and the story makes absolutely no sense. I think Through the Looking Glass is one of the most camptastic and catchy act one finales...

[JRybka]

If you listen to the score, it isn't so bad (and I have to say that I LOVE "Finding Wonderland" -- and that it has been a theme song of sorts for me).. but the show itself was like macaroni and cheese from the dollar store.

[Brian07663NJ]

JRybka...Love that description! "....like macaroni and cheese from the dollar store"

[bwayphreak234]

but the show itself was like macaroni and cheese from the dollar store.

Hahaha I still remember in another thread where someone said the show was "candy coated poop on a stick"

[Markecib]

I agree with Jordan. It wasn't as bad as a lot of people were saying. And like Whizzer I laughed at the Welcome to Wonderland, when we hit that point I thought it was designed to be fun in a cammpy way. The opening was Meh (Soup jokes anyone?,
A lot of the songs were fun in Act 1, the opening of Act 2 you got to hear Kate Shindle hit a crazy hight note and it was amazing.

After that it really fell apart. The book was just bad. remember they staged it in Tampa in January as a 2 week tech then re-wrote the whole book in a month. That was where the red flag should have gone up. I remember a cast member saying they got 70 new pages in one day.

I still enjoy the songs and certain scenes. Listen to the original concept CD and hear the changes in a lot of the songs and songs that were cut.

[CATSNYrevival]

^It never made sense to me why they did the out of town tryouts and then opened cold on Broadway with a new book. Who does that?!? All that money was basically wasted on the tryouts then.

It's also a real shame that the Broadway cast recording doesn't reflect the final version of the show. The new "Worst Day of My Life" opening and the duet version of "Home" where two of my favorite parts.

[siena07]

I went to this show thinking I would absolutely love it ( since I loved the music on the concept album)...but I was very disappointed...the book was awful...there were a few fun moments like The White Knightz....but the rest just fell flat...I do think the idea of the show has a lot of potential ...and it would have been much better if they would have made the whole show as campy as the White Knight #....but it started and ended so dull with "the bringing the family together theme" and the family characters were blah...i think the changes from the trial run to broadway made it worse...they cut some of the more fast paced scenes and songs which slowed down the whole show...but the few awesome #s like Finding Wonderland and I Will Prevail were worth experiencing live once...I will say the actors did well with the material they were given...

[WhizzerMarvin TrinaJasonMendel]

Cats- Yes the loss on the recording of the opening number means one of the best lyrics was not saved- Janet discussing the rookie teacher code: never turn your back on Gun Hill Road!!

There was also a terrible joke about Maspeth early on that never failed to get a few groans.

[James885]

The score was serviceable, but the book was a hot mess. The show really flew off the rails in Act 2. I love I Am My Own Invention, but that entire scene was jarringly out of place. From what I've heard, the best incarnation of the show was the 2nd Tampa tryout version.

However I really enjoy listening to the cast recording for some reason. I think the score sounds better when it's not in the context of that horrible book.