Second Act Trouble: Behind the Scenes at Broadway's Big Musical Bombs

by Steven Suskin

If Broadway's triumphant musical hits are exhilarating, the backstage tales of Broadway failures are tantalizing soap operas in miniature. Second Act Trouble puts you with the creators in the rehearsal halls, at out-of-town tryouts, in late-night, hotel-room production meetings, and at after-the-fact recriminatory gripe fests. Suskin has compiled and annotated long-forgotten, first-person accounts of 25 Broadway musicals that stubbornly went awry. Contributions come from such respected writers as Patricia Bosworth, Mel Gussow, Lehman Engel, William Gibson, Lewis H. Lapham, and John Gruen. No mere vanity productions, these; you can't have a big blockbuster of failure, it seems, without the participation of Broadway's biggest talents. Caught in the stranglehold of tryout turmoil are Richard Rodgers, Jule Styne, Jerry Herman, Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, John Kander, Mel Brooks, and even Edward Albee., The infamous shows featured include Mack & Mabel; Breakfast at Tiffany's; The Act; Dude; Golden Boy; Hellzapoppin'; Nick and Nora; Seesaw; Kelly; and How Now, Dow Jones.

Genres: Theatre, Nonfiction

400 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent compilation of articles and book chapters covering some of the greatest musical flops of the 20th century. My one, very minor criticism is that I wanted more information about each show (though I know that wasn't the intent of the book). Considering all of the flops not mentioned, I hope Mr. Suskin puts together a second volume!

[Harriett Milnes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Show business, theatre, Broadway . . .It is not really my thing. I've seen a few musicals; I loved Hamilton, but I don't know much about Broadway. I might have enjoyed a straight history of successful Broadway shows, but this is the book I read. All the way through.

My favorite story was when David Merrick, during a period when 4 of the 7 NYC newspapers were out on strike (1961), found 7 members of the public who had the same names as the 7 critics. He invited them to dinner and to see his show "Subways are for Sleeping". He then put out his infamous "Quote ad of the Century": 7 OUT OF 7 ARE ECSTATICALLY UNANIMOUS ABOUT SUBWAYS ARE FOR SLEEPING. The ad showed the 7 not-critics and their quotes.

[MH · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really well-curated collection of chapters from memoirs and newspaper and magazine articles, each coming from someone involved or embedded with a different Broadway flop. Most of these pieces are really good production histories, well-written and honest (without being needlessly malicious), and it's an entertaining, informative read (although I'm not sure why the hardback is oversized and printed on glossy paper when the only illustrations are each show's Playbill).

[David Meyer · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of essays showing the different things that can go wrong (from beginning to end) of creating and performing a Broadway play.

[Robyn Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

3 .5. Kindle

[Amy Wochos · Rating 4 out of 5]

The musicals are older, but the stories are as old as time. Very entertaining

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm always been more fascinated by musicals that weren't considered hits more than the "classics". These behind the scenes tales of flops like Mack & Mabel, Nick & Nora, I Remember Mama, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, just to name a few more than fulfilled a need I have to know the inside scoop of shows I've enjoyed. If this is your cup of tea, I highly recommend it!

[Neil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suskin compiles articles from newspapers, from chapters of biographies, anyplace he could fine an in-the-know first person account from someone close to a Broadway musical that bombed. He adds a few of his own annotations when the original author doesn't quite get things right or a bit of historical context will make the old essay work more comprehensible to modern readers.

I think if I had read four or five of these accounts, I would have given the book one more star, as the essays are quite enlightening about all of the things that can go wrong inside a production, about how difficult it can be to maintain perspective and know that one is putting time, money and effort into a hopeless cause. I was quite entertained for the first hundred pages or so. But I read the whole book, and after a while, the stories seemed too repetitive.

Also, since these productions all flopped, even a big Broadway fan like myself doesn't know that much about them. I know the reputations of many of the producers, directors, writers, and actors who were attached, but ultimately I don't know these shows and really can't know them as there aren't filmed versions and failed productions are rarely revived. That makes all of this hard to grasp in the end: how bad was it? Which of these might have succeeded in another context. We don't know and can't ever know.

Finally, the book would be more entertaining if more of the flops in question were more recent, but very few are. Almost all of them happened before 1980. That's a big historical gap that leaves one wondering while all the failures of the last thirty years aren't represented. They'd be more interesting to read about.

[Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really fun book that collects various kinds of first person accounts of musical theater flops. The really interesting part of this book for me is that fact that many of the flops had a lot of redeeming features. My favorite account is William Gibson's recollection of working on Golden Boy. It's a poignant account of Goldman's attempts to adapt the play which was written by his recently deceased close friend Clifford Odets. It's also a case of a show with a fantastic score and cast [Sammy Davis Jr.] but with a not so great book. That's actually a theme in the book - for example Mack & Mabel [Robert Preston, Bernadette Peters] and Kwamina. But there are also stories of complete musical theater disasters like Kelly - wow Moose Charlap had an over-inflated ego.
The pieces are of varying quality. Some of the pieces are really gossipy - especially the piece on On a Clear Day You Can See Forever which is basically a recollection of Alan Jay Lerner's drug use.
It's a fun book for all musical theater fans.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not original work, but rather curated essays; all firsthand accounts from contemporary sources about famous - and infamous - Broadway flops. Most valuable is their contemporary nature - uncontaminated by changing public opinion or the subsequent career choices of the talent involved. Suskin adds unobtrusive and neutral contextual notes where necessary, but wisely leaves the authors alone as witness to the increasingly (and by all accounts wisely) forgotten works.

[Steve Leach · Rating 3 out of 5]

So many things can go wrong when a musical's being put together (look at Spiderman), with so many strong personalities trying to play together, it's no wonder so many surefire hits suck. And it's always more fun to read about bombs than the biggies everyone's seen. This is a nice collection of behind-the-scenes tales of failures.

[Joshua Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at some of Broadway's biggest flops and a great insight into the tremendous task that is putting on a Broadway show.

Well written but a bit tedious at times.

[Steven · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading a few articles in this book every once in a while. It's easy to dip into it and put it back for a while and then pick it up again.

[Jef · Rating 3 out of 5]

diverting book about flops. some great stories, most of which i'd never heard.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another piece of required reading for those considering a career in theatre management & production on a large scale. Great read.

[Marilyn]

Quite enjoyable for a theatre buff like me. I laughed aloud at some of the producers' antics.

[Walter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superb behind-the-scenes information.