FLOP! The Best Songs From The Worst Musicals

Sarah

16 minutes ago

3 min read

★★★★½

Performer on a dark stage raises a glowing FLOP sign, with musical posters and keyboards behind him. — Photo credit Jasper Wood

Let's be honest, the word "flop" isn't usually one that theatre producers want associated with their show. Yet Arthur Hull has built an entire evening around musical theatre's biggest failures and somehow turned it into one of the most entertaining nights I've had in a long while.

It certainly helps if you're a musical theatre fan. If you know your Phantom from your Sondheim and can happily disappear down a rabbit hole of Broadway trivia, there are laughs aplenty. But even for those whose knowledge of musicals begins and ends with The Sound of Music, Hull does a great job of explaining how each production managed to go spectacularly off the rails.

Weathered ornate stone storefront with wooden double doors at night, red vertical WILTONS sign, and worn historic details.

The show arrives at one of my favourite London venues, Wilton's Music Hall. There's nowhere quite like it. The peeling paint, faded grandeur and sense of history make every visit feel special. It is gloriously imperfect, which in many ways makes it the ideal home for a celebration of shows that didn't quite achieve the success their creators hoped for.

Over 65 fast-moving minutes, Hull takes us on a whistle-stop tour through some of musical theatre's most notorious disasters. There is Carrie, which famously closed almost before audiences had a chance to find it. There is Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, remembered as much for its behind-the-scenes chaos as its music (No less than 6 actors were seriously injured). Andrew Lloyd Webber's Love Never Dies gets an outing, while Grease 2, King Kong and Moby Dick all have their moment in the spotlight.

What I particularly enjoyed was that Hull never comes across as mocking these productions. Instead, he seems genuinely fascinated by them. Behind every expensive disaster was a creative team convinced they had the next big hit on their hands. Sometimes the idea was brilliant. Sometimes it was utterly bonkers. Quite often it was both.

The section devoted to Diana: The Musical was especially funny. Hull understandably marvels at the fact someone thought the life of Princess Diana with the revenge dress would make a suitable Broadway musical, before wondering aloud what ridiculous royal subject might be tackled next, suggesting perhaps Prince Andrew.

At which point I found myself quietly chuckling because, unknown to Hull, somebody had already beaten him to it. Prince Andrew: The Musical aired on Channel 4 back in 2022. Had he known, I suspect it would have earned an immediate place in the show.

Of course, none of this would work if Hull couldn't sing. Thankfully he can. Very well. Whether delivering a soaring ballad or throwing himself into some wonderfully absurd lyric, he has the vocal talent to make you understand why these songs survived long after the productions that gave birth to them disappeared.

Perhaps my only criticism is that I could happily have spent another half hour in his company. The evening flies by and there are almost certainly enough theatrical disasters out there to fill a sequel.

For anyone who loves musical theatre, theatrical trivia or simply hearing a talented performer tell good stories well, FLOP! is great fun. You leave with a newfound appreciation for the shows that missed the mark, and a Spotify playlist full of songs you never knew existed.

And really, who doesn't enjoy hearing about somebody else's expensive mistakes?

★★★★½

It misses out on the full five stars only because Arthur Hull didn't realise that a musical about Prince Andrew already exists. Now that's a missed opportunity.