Broadway's Biggest Flop

Lionel Bart’s musical ‘La Strada’, based on the hit Fellini film, suffered the ignominy of closing after its opening night in New York on 14th December, 1969, losing $650,000. Heroin addict Bart never made it over to the States for the previews, during which time his songs were chopped and changed to such an extent that on opening night a Playbill could not be produced, because it would have been full of inaccuracies. In this episode, Arion, Olly and Rebecca reflect on what went wrong; revisit Bart’s earlier flop, Robin Hood musical Twang!!, and check out the opening night reviews that killed La Strada, which, all things considered, aren’t *that* bad… Further Reading: • ‘Broadway’s Top Ten Musical Flops’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2011): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/broadways-top-ten-musical-flops-169390390/ • ‘Before Lloyd Webber: how La Strada became one of the biggest flops in theatre history’ (Telegraph, 2017): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/theatre/what-to-see/lloyd-webber-la-strada-became-one-biggest-flops-theatre-history/ •’Madeline Bell - Belonging’ (from the musical ‘La Strada’, 1969): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8nQYx7C2_k #Broadway #1960s #Theatre Love the show? Join 🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS 🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY! Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon. Thanks! We'll be back tomorrow! Follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Sophie King. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2022. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices