FLASHBACK FRIDAY: A Feast of Flops!

This week we are taking a look at some of the biggest flops of the last decade or so in honor of the new feature on the website of the legendary theatre insider haunt, Joe Allen's Restaurant in the Theatre District in NYC.

Joe Allen's is as famous as it is in large part due to its infamous wall of unsuccessful show posters that depicts the most fabulous and (in)famous flops of the last fifty years. The newly installed Flop Viewer on their website allows users to shuffle through the eatery's entire collection of flop posters, including many rarely seen show logos... that is to say nothing of the plethora of bombs on display and the information provided for each of them which can certainly be used to gain a bit more knowledge about the best of the bad on Broadway.

FLOP VIEWER

http://joeallenrestaurant.com/FlopViewer.html

Also, if you feel so compelled, please check out these three clips of shows featured on the Flop Viewer for a few of my very favorite flops of all time.

LESTAT

"I Want More" - Alison Fischer, with Hugh Panaro

Written by Elton John and Bernie Taupin, LESTAT was fraught with troubles from its very first preview on the West Coast. Things only got worse when it hit Broadway, vastly rewritten and partially recast. This song may be the most compelling argument for the occasional strength of this odd, strangely un-melodic score. Allison Fischer is beyond brilliant as the young vampiress Claudia, who is doomed to live forever in the body of a child.

DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES

Perhaps my favorite flop of all time, and certainly one of the most infamous, DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES was significantly rewritten from its Roman Polanski-directed German long-run hit production in response to the trendy and enviable, at that time, success of the frothy and frivolous PRODUCERS and URINETOWN school of musical theatre. The results were generally disastrous, yet the show had many moments of electrifying brilliance. This clip, of the astonishing and elaborate aerial ballet, makes a great case for DANCE OF THE VAMPIRES being the CARRIE of the twenty-first century. See if you don't agree!

"The Red Boots Ballet" - Mandy Gonzalez, Michael Crawford and the ensemble

https://www.youtube.com/embed?v=ueit7ueCLUo

THE CAPEMAN

Paul Simon's compelling and engrossing score for the misguided musical THE CAPEMAN was the least of the show's many problems. Despite a strong lead performance from a then-unknown Marc Anthony and newcomer Sara Ramirez - who would later go on to win a Tony for SPAMALOT a few years later - as well as breathtaking sets by the genius Bob Crowley, the show was decidedly dead-on-arrival. This clip from the Oprah Winfrey Show in 1997 is a wonderful treat for those that wish to experience a taste of Simon's truly tasteful, quite tremendous doo-wap and South American-influenced score (available as an Itunes Exclusive).

"Bernadette" - Marc Anthony

That's all for this week, and remember if you would like to see a particularly fun, hilarious, bizarre or just all-around excellent performance from the past highlighted here be sure to send us a link! Until next week...