Hal Prince Flops

[Jan]

I was just reading about Hal Prince's notable run of flops in the 1980s. Has anyone seen any of these ? The first I suppose .... 

Merrily We Roll Along (1981) - 52 previews and 16 performances

Willie Stark (1981) – director - musical based on the novel All The President's Men

A Doll's Life (1982) – producer, director - musical follow-up to Ibsen's "A Doll's House"

Play Memory (1984) – director - 7 previews and 5 performances

Diamonds (1984) – director - musical review about baseball

Grind (1985) – producer, director - musical about an African-American burlesque house



Book-ending these were Evita and The Phantom of the Opera

[alece10]

And in London, Paradise Found at the Menier, which he co directed with Susan Stroman.
It had a London tryout before going to Broadway but it ended its life in London.

[max]

No knowledge of those listed in the original post, but 1993's 'Whistle Down The Wind' in Washington (tryout) was also a flop. I've liked everything that I've seen of it on YouTube; Vaults Of Heaven really establishes the community so well in stage pictures Prince was a genius at. It feels like the critics had their knives out for it though, and rather backs up the idea that perhaps ALW saved Patti Lupone from taking the blame for the earlier 'Sunset Boulevard' that they were also gunning for.

[Jan]

Aug 25, 2023 18:02:56 GMT alece10 said:

And in London, Paradise Found at the Menier, which he co directed with Susan Stroman.
It had a London tryout before going to Broadway but it ended its life in London.

Yes that was 2010. The ones I listed were back-to-back productions, six flops in a row.

[nicolaa]

Aug 25, 2023 17:46:49 GMT Jan said:

Willie Stark (1981) – director - musical based on the novel All The President's Men

I'd love to see a film based on "All the Presidents Men" but Willie Stark is a character in "All the Kings Men" so I suspect that was what the musical was based upon rather than Tricky Dicky getting caught *expletive deleted* over the Democrats.

[Jan]

Aug 25, 2023 19:58:00 GMT nicolaa said:

Aug 25, 2023 17:46:49 GMT Jan said:

Willie Stark (1981) – director - musical based on the novel All The President's Men

I'd love to see a film based on "All the Presidents Men" but Willie Stark is a character in "All the Kings Men" so I suspect that was what the musical was based upon rather than Tricky Dicky getting caught *expletive deleted* over the Democrats.

Yes. A mis-type by me.

[Fleance]

Hal had a few unsuccessful -- but worthy -- shows earlier in his career. It's a Bird... It's a Plane... It's Superman was one of them, only running 3 1/2 months.