Musical Misfires

Musical Misfires: Three Decades of Broadway Musical Heartbreak looks at 151 musicals that did not run long enough to be considered hits. Such shows were once called flops but that is no longer an appropriate description. Some of these were superb pieces of musical theatre that, for one reason or another, couldn't find an audience, did not please the critics, couldn't pay the high weekly bills, or just were not right for the time and place in which they opened. Oft-overlooked gems like The Scottsboro Boys, Grey Gardens, Caroline, or Change, Steel Pier, and Tuck Everlasting are explored alongside such famous musicals as Shrek the Musical, Seussical, and Young Frankenstein that never reached hit status on Broadway. Musicals of all genres, from jukebox to horror shows, from 1989 to 2020 are included. Illustrated with forty-two photographs (most in color) and filled with backstage stories, reviews from the press, and commentary on why the musicals were not hits, Musical Misfires is indispensable reading for anyone who loves musical theatre, both its triumphs and it heartbreaks.