The Music Of The Nightmare!

BROADWAY MAGAZINE – This week, we’ve been celebrating Monster themed Broadway flops on our blog. Now, we offer our look at the 8 great monsters on Broadway. Dare to join us as we look at the ghouls and beasts that have had made us scream or smile on the “Great Fright Way” (as Eric Grundhauser calls it). Did we miss anyone?

1. The Phantom in Phantom of the Opera. Sure there is a lot of romance in this iconic production, but don’t forget that Phantom is creepy too! Check out the scary stuff backstage too.
2. Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd. Have another pie! Hats off (or should we say “heads off”) to demon barbers everywhere.
3. Kate Monster in Avenue Q. It’s a different kind of scary, you know.
4. Elphaba and Glinda in Wicked. Popular! We’ll take these witches over a vampire any day of the week.
5. Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors. Feed your plants.
6. Dracula in Dracula. We’re talking about Frank Langella or Bela Lugosi in the lead, both of whom played it on Broadway. See our roundup of Vampires on Broadway right here.
7. Shrek in Shrek. We’re a believer. Green ogres rock!
8. Young Frankenstein. Check out the video…we dare you not to smile.Check out the latest Broadway Magazine for the true Ghosts of Broadway and Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig as well.
   

Stage Light, Not Sunlight

By Eric Grundhauser, Broadway Magazine

While Young Frankenstein has been successfully song-and-dancing recent Broadway audiences, it’s not the first ghoulish production to haunt the Great Fright Way. There’s another classic monster that has tried time and again to hypnotize Broadway audiences, and with Halloween here lets take a look at some of the productions that focused on that fanged creature of the night, the vampire.

Dracula and his ilk may have been featured in a number of plays and musicals, but two major projects stand out: German import Dance of the Vampires, and the Ann Rice and Elton John mash-up, Lestat. Neither of the shows were smash hits, but they managed to bring the sensual theatricality of the vampire mythology to the stage.

Dance of the Vampires came to Broadway after successful stagings in various European countries. Originally based on a Roman Polanski film of the same name, the musical followed the misadventures of a vampire hunter and his assistant as they try to stop a vampire from consuming a comely lass. With a fairly serious tone in the foreign productions, the show was changed to give it a campier, silly feel when it came to American shores. Unfortunately, this retooling turned out to be a disaster and the play received criticism so devastating that not even an immortal could survive it. The show ran for just 56 performances before closing down, leading it to be one of the most expensive flops in Broadway’s history reportedly losing a shocking $12 million dollars. Now that’s a story that could cause nightmares.

However, a few year later collaborators Elton John and Bernie Taupin decided to resurrect the monster’s popularity on the theater circuit with their musical, Lestat. Based loosely on Ann Rice’s popular Vampire Chronicles series of books, the play followed the titular bloodsucker across the first many years of his vampire career, showing his complicated relationship with fellow vampire, Armand. Despite less elaborate effects and production values than the original San Francisco run and the eventual phasing out of much of Rice’s mythology, the play was fairly well received and was even nominated for two Tony’s. Following Dance of the Vampire’s abysmal showing, Lestat seemed to give vampires a more respectable image on the stage.

Its been a few years since Lestat graced the stage and no other major production has replaced it to give vamps more Broadway presence, but with the fanatical popularity of sanguine properties such as HBO’s True Blood and the Twilight franchise, how long can it be before more vampires step out of the shadows and into the bright lights of Broadway?

Monster Gets One Night On Broadway

By Leora Kanner, Broadway Magazine

Although the recent Mel Brook’s musical Young Frankenstein cannot really be called a Broadway success, it was not the most disastrous Broadway adaptation of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein to date. An earlier attempt at transforming the popular monster story into a stage production occurred when “Frankenstein” opened at the Nederlander Theater on January 4, 1981. The production starred some famous actors such as John Carradine, David Dukes, Diane West, and John Glover (currently on Broadway in The Royal Family) and ran for 29 previews. ‘Scarily’ enough, the show was only to play one official performance, closing on its opening night after a huge critical panning.

Considered at the time the most expensive flop ever produced, “Frankenstein” lost over $2 million dollars. The disastrous fate of the show was particularly astounding because of its big-budget nature: the show utilized huge sets and special effects that were meant to enhance the production and make it a hit. However, it seems these characteristics only detracted from the story line. Frank Rich wrote in his New York Times review that: “This show’s magic tricks were actually pointless from both an artistic and commercial standpoint.”

Despite the fact that the show flopped, it has since become almost legendary. Frank Rich described the production in a famous NY Times Review as “January’s most talked-about Broadway phenomena…” Perhaps it was unfortunate that the production closed because “theatergoers who didn’t see “Frankenstein” are envious of those who did. This flop may be the hottest posthumous ticket since the David Merrick-Edward Albee-Mary Tyler Moore-Richard Chamberlain musical of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” folded in previews in the mid 1960’s.”

The notoriety of the show has persisted even until today, making the production a sort of ironic success. Happy Haunting.

If you saw the production, we’d love to hear about it. Join us on Twitter for more and check out the haunted Broadway issue of Broadway Magazine available now.

By Leora Kanner, BROADWAY MAGAZINE

Contemporary pop-culture is replete with vampire characters, images, themes, and cult followings.  While the now monstrous cultural obsession may appear to have come out of nowhere, vampire fans have actually been lurking around for years. One enduring and  of popular vampire fad was Anne Rice’s series, The Vampire Chronicles, a set of novels about a French nobleman turned into a vampire.  Since its first addition in the 1970s, the novels have had somewhat of a cult following.  As is common, this popular fad was brought to the Broadway stage in 2006, forming the basis for the musical Lestat.

With a theatrical score by Elton John and Bernie Taupin and direction by Tony winner Robert Jess Roth, it seems surprising that the musical closed after only 1 month.  The show initially debuted off-broadway and was widely successful, yet it changed radically for its transition to the big stage.  Lestat was nominated for two Tony awards in 2006: Best Featured Actress in a musical and Best Costume Design.

Anne Rice had only positive things to say about the musical that brought her imagination to life. “In a word-magnificent,” she said in April 2006, “there’s no doubt in my mind that readers far and wide will love it and embrace it,  no doubt that Lestat has moved from literature to legend in a  divine theatrical incarnation in my own time.” 

Although Rice seemed positive about its reception, the San Francisco Times among other critics were less enthused: “The creatures of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” have survived many things — fire, famine, dismemberment, even a couple of regrettable Hollywood movies. Whether they can survive “Lestat,” the Broadway-bound musical at the Curran Theatre, is more open to question…what we’re left with is pure bland schmaltz. For vampires, frankly, that sucks” (Robert Hurwitt.)

Enjoy other monster themed Broadway flops all week long on Broadway.tv, because not every monster is a Phantom. See the newest Broadway Magazine here. If you saw Lestat, join us on Twitter and tells us what you thought.

ROCKY HORROR: THE SHOW THAT WILL NEVER DIE

By Shane Toogood, BROADWAY MAGAZINE

“I walked in and saw some guy in sparkling, gold panties and thought ‘Hmm…’” said Kris Fossett, remembering stepping into a time warp of chaos and absolute pleasure at a midnight showing of the cult classic movie The Rocky Horror Picture Show. “There were about 150 people in the theater. They all knew the script, when to participate and sang along.”

Although The Rocky Horror Picture Show spawned a congregation that is still going 34 years after its theatrical release, the original Broadway production—used as a precursor for the movie’s debut to gain notoriety—couldn’t match audience appeal.

With musicals such as the Tony Award winner The Wiz and Bob Fosse’s Chicago, the show closed after 45 performances. New York Times chief theatre critic Ben Brantley recalls that the show “slayed ‘em in London and got slayed on Broadway.”

Opening in London in 1973, the show proved to be an audience favorite in the pygmy, 63-seat Theatre Upstairs. Even in L.A.’s The Roxy Theatre the show established toe-tapping audiences, but due to the lack of intimacy at the large Broadway theatre, Rocky flopped.

Critics implied that the show had no place in such a sophisticated area as New York City.

Then why is this musical still being played around the world? It’s because audiences love a good show about innocence being corrupted.

Brad Majors and Janet Weiss are off to visit an old college professor to announce their recent engagement. After running into some car trouble, the clean-cut couple seeks refuge at the Frankenstein house.

Unbeknownst to them, a party, hosted by alien-transsexual Dr. Frank-N-Furter, is being thrown to inaugurate the creation of his blonde, muscle-man Rocky.

“Brad and Janet are Adam and Eve, and the serpent is Frank-N-Furter,” said Rocky Horror creator Richard O’Brien in an interview for the 2006 London tour.

Parodying the drive-in, B-Movies of the 1950s, Rocky is trashy, campy and seduces the audience with its sensual transsexuals and unruliness. Midnight shows of the movie, as well as revivals, tours and regional theatre productions make it known that Rocky has not only a place in New York City, but in Anywhere, USA.

Going to see the movie? Click here for our quick guide of what you need to bring to participate.

Check out the new Broadway Magazine and join us on Twitter to share your Broadway stories.

By Eric Grundhauser, BROADWAY MAGAZINE - Take a vengeance fueled story about a homicidal teen with pyro-kinetic (that’s magic-fire-making to the lay person) powers, throw in strong anti-religious overtones and splash a bucket of pig’s blood across the finale, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a… hit Broadway musical? That’s certainly what the creators of the 1988 musical version of Stephen King’s novel-turned-movie Carrie thought. But while the story was a wild hit in both prose and film, it hit the Broadway scene like more of a trick than a treat. And as Halloween approaches once again, we take a look back at one of the most terrifying failures in Broadway history.

When Carrie: The Musical began development, problems cropped up almost immediately. Developed from the book by composer Michael Gore and writer Lawrence D. Cohen, who also penned the screenplay for the film version, the production began with numerous rewrites. Though once the script seemed to be smoothed out, enough other aspects of the production came together that the producers announced a Broadway opening set for 1986! Unfortunately, funding for the project was not one of the aspects the possibly overzealous creators had managed to work out, and money for the project wasn’t raised until a year after the announced release date. The show was finally produced in 1988 in Stratford, England for a four-week run. The show was fraught with problems ranging from almost nightly rewrites, to technical problems with the bloody effects and even an entirely rewritten song. Despite the less than stellar reviews from the initial staging, the show was eventually brought to Broadway at the cost of a whopping $8 million. This pricey import would prove to be the show’s mainstream death knell. After a number of previews met with negative reaction, the show lasted only five official performances before the investors pulled their money out of the sinking production gaining the show instant infamy as one of the largest disasters ever to hit Broadway, and simultaneously guaranteeing it a cult following.

Since its cringe-worthy debut Carrie: The Musical has taken on a mythic quality among theater goers in the same vein as other doomed dreams of hubris such as the Titanic or the Hindenburg. This view has become so pervasive that the very mention of the play is often used as shorthand for Broadway projects that seemed destined for failure. The leading book on Broadway flops, Not Since Carrie, is even named after it. Unlike other stage flops Carrie seems to slowly be growing a following in the years since its death. In addition to a growing number of spoofs and campy re-stagings of the piece, the project even has am exhaustive website devoted to it at carriethemusical.com. Whether the play failed because of the writing, the songs, the technical foibles or some arcane combination of all its ill-conceived traits, Carrie: The Musical has certainly managed to excel at gaining infamy. Just don’t tell her that….