Customer Reviews

Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season - 1959 to 2009

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Peter Filichia is one of the few writers who can come up with historical tidbits about the musical theater that even I didn't know. His choices for the "Hits" are rarely all that surprising (although his revelations are often new and entertaining) but his "Flops" will certainly prompt a lot of discussion. Just when you think you've figured out his system (big anticipation, big let-down), he'll throw in a ringer that you've never even heard of. Even one performance disasters are pushed aside by shows that closed in previews or on-the-road. In one remarkable instance he chooses a show that closed before rehearsals even started!!! If your knowledge of musical theater is limited to just the well-known shows, you'll love reading about the Hits and be completely baffled by the Flops, but more passionate musical theater buffs will relish everything. Be prepared, though, to be a little frustrated when Filichia skips over the show you were expecting -- Ken Mandelbaum has already covered that territory. Filichia has other tricks up his sleeve.

For any lover of the Broadway Musical (Yes! CAPS!) this is one of the most marvelous and saddest books available. Sure, one can quibble with some of Filichia's choices, especially in re: flops (where's "Greenwillow", "Ilya, Darling", "Drat, the Cat", "Bravo Giovanni!", and, of course, my "favourite" "Happy Town"?) but one can't escape two very important aspects of the book. First: Unlike all too many critics, when Filichia offers suggestions as to what went wrong with a show and how it could have been fixed, he's invariably right. Second, and this is where the sadness enters: The remarkable mediocrity of the biggest hits as we get closer and closer to the present, makes one despair as to whether it will ever again be commercially viable for anyone to try to write a truly great (or, even better than average) musical. Filichia, himself, seems to address this with his afterword on Stephen Sondheim (who has, in financial terms, rarely had a big "hit"). Moreover, Sondheim at least had the opportunity of starting to make his name in the older musical theater and was an already established icon when the biggest changes occured. Would anyone, today, even give a new Sondheim a chance? Ah well. For those of us who still remember... GET THIS BOOK!!!!!!!!

Enjoyable overall, but way too much space is spent on going over the plot points and songs for both the hits and the flops. I'm more interested in some of the backstage gossip and why shows succeeded or failed. I don't need five pages on every single plot point of "Applause" for instance, and how it differed from "All About Eve". Who cares? That's not what the book is supposed to be about. Ken Mandlebaum's book "Not Since Carrie" was much more on point. Even though it dealt only with flops, at least it talked about what happened out of town, why things didn't work, etc. I would have liked to have seen more of that in this book, rather than plot synopses ad nauseum.

I also felt that some of the topics Filichia highlighted were downright bizarre. For instance, one poster already spoke of his discussion of George Andrews, who has been with "Phantom" since the beginning. This is what he chooses to talk about for the longest-running show in Broadway history? Likewise, for "Crazy for You", we get a few pages of what Beth Leavel was "thinking about" when she was singing in the chorus? I like her as much as anyone, but come on....

By the way, speaking of editing, this book needs some heavy-duty proof-reading. There are missing words, wrong words (i.e., "pop marker" instead of "pop market") and unfinished sentences. Doesn't anyone proof read anymore?

The book is fraught with so many errors and poorly chosen examples to be credible. Sometimes the original cast members are noted, sometimes replacements. A big disappointment because you don't know when he is telling you something enlightening or simply wrong.

This is a wonderful idea for a book--and maybe Filichia can take it out of town and find a good book doctor. Filichia's prose is simply not up to the task of finding a fresh approach to 50 hits and 50 flops. The early decades are better collections: the descriptions are at least full of trivia and gossip, even if the writing labors to pull a thread of continuity through the bits. But the latter decades are laborious reading indeed. Filichia clearly dislikes some of the shows he's forced to acknowledge as a season's hit (especially the Disney shows), and the occasional biting wit displayed in the earlier decades gives way to bitter sarcasm and pedantic ramblings. I've never wanted to like a book more, and there are momentary rewards. But, sadly, I've never been more disappointed in a book.

This is an altogether splendid, spirited, savvy and smart book! Just when you thought you knew every bit of trivia about past Broadway hits and flops, along comes Peter Filichia to open a new window and open a new door. One example only because I hate spoilers. He gets this quote from original "Hello, Dolly!" cast member Randy Phillips about the replacement of the song "Penny In My Pocket" with "Before the Parade Passes By." "What was sadly lost was that Dolly came out with a big bolt of red fabric -- which would turn into the dress that she'd wear to the Harmonia Gardens." Wow! Filichia investigates musicals that everyone assumed would be big hits but turned into big flops [like "Breakfast at Tiffanys"] and shows that surprised everyone with their excellence ["1776"]. He makes an excellent case for each hit and flop he chooses from the past 50 years although you may disagree with him or more than one occasion. If you're reading this review this book is for you.

As a long time lover of musicals, this book was a must-buy for me. In fact, when I got it, my parents were not surprised to see the title. I found it a captivating read and loved to read some of the stories of both hits and flops. For the most part, I enjoyed his writing.

However, as another reviewer has pointed out, it needed some more editing and in some cases, fact-checking. The author's dislike for the Disney shows is evident and it is in these that I found some errors. The need for fact-checking was evident in his entry on "Beauty and the Beast." While giving a synopsis, he lists the original actors for Belle (Susan Egan), Maurice (Tom Boseley) and Gaston (Burke Moses). However, for the Beast he credits Jeff McCarthy. The original Beast was Terrence Mann, who was even Tony-nominated for the role! Mann is a well-known Broadway name--prior to the Beast, he had also originated the role of Rum Tum Tugger in the Broadway production of "Cats," Javert in the Broadway production of "Les Miserables" and Saul in "Rags." The only theater he mentions for BatB is the Lunt-Fontanne, but the show debuted in the Palace Theater and it is well-known the production was downgraded for the move.

When he gets to "The Lion King," he spends most of the entry expressing his dislike for the jokes in the show. However, every joke he highlights was transferred from the MOVIE, so I don't know how much he really disliked the musical's book that was added for the show.

Just a few stains on an otherwise good book. Hopefully, these can be corrected.

I'm a fan of Peter Filichia's Broadway columns for a couple of websites, and look forward to his reports on current theater offerings and looks-back at Broadway's hits and flops. So I looked forward to this book from the moment he announced its forthcoming publication. For the most part, I find it an enjoyable read, as he dissects the biggest hits and flops for each Broadway season since 1959. The reason I gave this 4 stars rather than 5 is the shockingly amateur copy-editing evident on many pages. Words seem to be left out of some sentences, a few misspellings show up, and some running dates listed for shows are inaccurate. These cause confusion and disappointment for readers expecting a definitive word on the best and worst of Broadway. I hope future printings address these issues.

This was an interesting book in many ways and I enjoyed the notes on both shows I'd seen as well as those I hadn't. But it lacked spice -- I don't mean dirt -- but it seemed rather bland. For the most part though, true musical theatre fans and fanatics will probably want to have it on their shelves.

This book has a great "hook" (50 years of Broadway, looking at the biggest blockbuster AND the biggest bomb from each season), and it's written in a style that's informative, enthusiastic, "dishy" but not snarky. Most of us Broadway fanatics daydream about what it would be like to be there to experience past seasons, and this book really gives us the feeling of doing just that.