Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
#1Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 12:07am
50 years ago today was the solo Broadway performance of KELLY, that gargantuan flop about jumping over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Did anyone actually see it? Was it as bad as they say?? The poster art is actually quite lovely, though I can’t say the same for the score.
Below you can watch the "If It Only Even Runs A Minute" video for the show, recounting the hilarious reviews and featuring the baffling opening number:
If It Only Even Runs A Minute KELLY
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Updated On: 2/6/15 at 12:07 AM
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#13Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 12:11amLove that poster and own the studio cast, which I honestly think is pretty bad. There is a fabulous section on the creation of the musical Kelly in the book "Second Act Trouble" by Steven Suskind. From what I gathered, it was a whole bunch of people who had no idea how to produce a musical who were over confident in the show's success. The writer of the show wanted the musical to be very Brechtian, while the production company just wanted it to be like Fiorello! or Hello, Dolly!. They were originally going to close out of town when the producer decided that they would gain less attention if they just opened on Broadway as planned. Now it stands as the biggest flop in the history of theatre, both artistically and financially.
#14Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 12:17am
With the remounting of, Moose Muders, Carrie, Merrily, Anyone Can Whistle, and countless others, I'm surprised no one has attempted to revise this and try to make it work.
Fantod - Do you think you might be able to send me the studio cast recording? I would buy it, but it's out of print. I'd love to take a listen!
Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#15Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 12:26am
If I can find it. I think it's at my other house. For now you can buy it at either of these two places
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000DGNP?ie=UTF8&tag=castalbums-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B00000DGNP
http://footlight.com/product.cfm?product_id=2787
#17Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 1:22pmI've never heard of this. Interesting cast including Anita Gillette and Don Francks. Would love to hear the score.
#18Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 5:54pm
I'm surprised you've never heard of it, it's one of the most notorious one-performance flops ever.
I guess the lack of an original cast album probably takes it off most peoples' radar. As Fantod said though, the score isn't as interesting as one might expect.
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Fantod
Broadway Legend Joined: 10/3/14
#19Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 6:16pmAccording to the same book I mentioned earlier, producers were very happy with how the show was until the very first public performance, when they were shocked to learn that the audience hated it. Apparently the only saving grace was the costume design.
#20Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 6:22pm
The costumes do look lovely actually.
I'm very intrigued by the set design in the first production shot as well.
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FishermanBob
Broadway Legend Joined: 7/9/12
#21Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 6:23pm
"it's one of the most notorious one-performance flops ever."
Am I the only one then wondering why we are wishing it a "Happy 50th Anniversary"? I'm sure any one associated with it still living would just as soon not be reminded of it. It's seems cruel, almost like we are taunting them.
It would be like saying, Hey, Happy 50th anniversary to the Watts Riots and the two coal mine cave ins in Asia that killed 510 people. Ah, good times.
#22Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 6:30pm
The recording at Amazon and Footlight linked above isn't technically a studio cast recording. It's a recording of a concert performance given by the York Theater Company in 1998 featuring the score as originally written without the substantial changes made for the Broadway production. The only other recording ever issued was the songwriters' demo recording released commercially years after it was made and now out of print but sometimes found on eBay and Amazon. Composer Moose Charlap and bookwriter/lyricist Eddie Lawrence were eventually so upset over the changes made out of town that they sought a court injunction to prevent Kelly from opening in New York.
Peter Filichia's "The Saga of Kelly" in two parts:
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/08-2003/the-saga-of-kelly_3807.html
http://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/news/08-2003/the-saga-of-kelly-continued_3814.html
It was while working on another of Charlap's shows that Larry Gelbart made his famous comment "If Hitler's alive, I hope he's out of town with a musical."
Updated On: 2/6/15 at 06:30 PM
#23Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 6:33pm
@Fisherman Bob: It's merely the template I use for these threads. I hoped to have a discussion with anyone who might have seen it and hear some opinions.
You're analogies are far from relevant and are far more rude than the thread title. A failed artistic endeavor is hardly equivalent to tragedies that killed many people, and the fact you would compare the two is very insensitive.
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#24Happy 50th Anniversary to KELLY
Posted: 2/6/15 at 6:45pm
Interesting to see photographs of this and rather bizarre to contemplate Wilfrid Brambell, who would later have a big success on UK television in the sitcom Steptoe and Son, in a Broadway musical.
The character he played (Steptoe) was a miserable and pathetic "dirty old man" so it's hard to imagine him leading a Broadway musical.
