Flop, Not-Flop

I just read Peter Filichia's book on Broadway musicals. Filichia is one of the better writers on the Broadway scene, and the odd format of the book has him looking at each of the last 50 years of Broadway (the book came out in 2010, so that's 1959 to 2009) and writing a few pages on the biggest hit and biggest flop.

He doesn't just recount the plots (though that's quite helpful for flops--otherwise you'd have no idea about most of them).  He takes on these shows.  He has conversations with them.  Many of the biggest hits are examined and found wanting.  And occasionally a flop is reconsidered.

One fascinating thing is how to decide what the biggest flop is. The biggest hit isn't that hard, but flops are not only more plentiful, but harder to define.  Do you pick shows that closed out of town? That had the shortest run? That lost the most money? That were the most critically reviled?  Filichia admits it's a judgment call and tries to explain his decisions.

The weird thing about musicals is ever since they were revolutionized by Rodgers and Hammerstein, no one knows what will work. The most bizarre or ridiculous concept could be a blockbuster.  So while reading about the flops, as ridiculous as they sometimes sound, you can understand why some people, somewhere, thought they'd work.  Honestly, if you didn't know they were hits, how would these concepts sound to you: a musicalization of the signing of the Declaration of Independence (1776), a bunch of dancers on a bare stage telling their life stories (A Chorus Line), a revue based on a collection of poems by T.S. Eliot (Cats) and a story of a couple of guys stuck in a Latin American prison (Kiss Of The Spider Woman). But each was the biggest hit in its year.

I guess that's the magic of Broadway.  I only wish the book started earlier, since the golden age of the American Broadway musical is almost over by 1959.  Meanwhile, a lot of hits of the past 30 years are far from the integrated ideal that was once common--instead we get revues, jukebox musicals, concept shows and pop operas. Maybe some day Filichia will do a prequel and fill in all that he, and we, missed.