Peter Filichia the author of the new informative and entertaining book: Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season - 1959 to 2009 will be the guest of Michael Bourne on the WBGO Journal, 7:30 PM this Friday, October 15th, 88.3FM or streaming on wbgo.org. The entire interview will be available after 8:00 pm at wbgo.org/news/journal. Michael Bourne has been a New York theatre critic going on 30 years,. He is a member of the Outer Critics Circle. Mr. Bourne is the arts critic-at-large for the WBGO Journal, as well as the everyday afternoon "drive jock" (2:00 -6:30 PM) on WBGO (the jazz station) and also the Sunday (10:00 AM - 2:00 PM) host of "Singers Unlimited" for 25 years.
It happens every season. Broadway has one, two, or if really lucky a few hit musicals, but there are many, many more flops. From torturous Philadelphia and disaster Boston tryouts, and to Broadway with award winning composers, bookwriters, lyricists, producers and stars; here's a look at the extreme cases from each season of the past half-century. 100 Shows: The musicals that everyone knew would be hits - The Sound of Music, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers. Those that sounded terrible from their announcement - Via Galactica, The Civil War, Lestat (and sometimes even worse than expected). The musicals that were destined to succeed - Breakfast at Tiffany's, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Merrily We Roll Along. The shows that there was not much awareness or thought didn't have a chance - Man of La Mancha, 1776, Grease. (Paperback: 260 pages; Publisher: Applause Theatre and Cinema Books (September 15, 2010); Language: English; ISBN-10: 1423495624; ISBN-13: 978-1423495628; Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches; Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds; List $19.99)Videos