Buzz
West End theaters draw in over 16 million visitors annually. For true musical enthusiasts, there's no experience like settling in for a matinee. Legendary productions such as Cats, Les Misérables, and Hamilton are known worldwide, and composers like Andrew Lloyd Webber have achieved iconic status.
Despite the West End's longest-running musicals racking up over 14,000 performances, a few productions have left audiences baffled with their epic failures. Here are ten of the most catastrophic flops in the history of London's West End, ones you likely haven’t heard of—and probably don’t want to see.
10. Gone with the Wind
The American Film Institute ranks Gone with the Wind as the 4th-best American film of all time. However, the musical version of this classic bombed on stage at the New London Theatre in April 2008, failing to capture the magic of its cinematic counterpart.
Featuring the late Darius Danesh, known for his appearance on Pop Idol, this musical was helmed by the legendary Trevor Nunn. Given Nunn's history of commercially successful productions, expectations were sky-high that this adaptation of Margaret Mitchell's epic novel would become an instant hit.
Sadly, the production failed to live up to the hype as critics swiftly tore apart the 4-hour, 20-minute spectacle. Mark Shenton criticized its ‘overlong book, tedious lyrics, and lackluster score.’ Despite a hefty £4 million budget, the show closed after only seventy-nine performances in a mere seven weeks.
9. Someone Like You
Another musical set against the backdrop of the Civil War met an abrupt end in 1990. Someone Like You shut down just four weeks after its debut at the Strand Theatre.
Unlike Gone with the Wind, Someone Like You initially received positive reviews. Critics praised its score by Petula Clark and the stellar performance of West End veteran Dave Willetts in the leading role. Despite this, the production could not sustain its momentum after opening on March 22, 1990.
Just when it seemed like everything was going smoothly, producer Harold Fielding—famous for hits like Mame, Half a Sixpence, and Show Boat—fell into severe financial trouble. With his assets seized on April 25, 1990, the show had to close abruptly, leaving no time even to record a cast album.
8. Jeeves
Best known to musical theatre aficionados as Lloyd Webber’s only major flop, Jeeves was a 1975 musical inspired by the works of P.G. Wodehouse. Despite the strong comedic material and a talented creative team, including the renowned British playwright Alan Ayckbourn, the result was a disaster befitting Bertie Wooster’s misadventures.
With a running time of 4 hours and 45 minutes, the show proved far too long for most audiences to endure. Despite attempts to trim down its sprawling storyline, it only managed 38 performances at Her Majesty’s Theatre before closing—much to the relief of the few who stuck around.
After undergoing major revisions, the musical reappeared in 1996, with productions in both London and the U.S., and made its Broadway debut in 2001 as By Jeeves.
7. Imagine This
When this musical, which depicted life in the Warsaw Ghetto during the Holocaust, made its debut on the West End, few could have imagined it would be a success. Tackling such difficult and sensitive subject matter demanded a delicate approach, and unfortunately, this production fell short. Critic Michael Coveney even went so far as to claim it made ‘Springtime for Hitler look like The Sound of Music.’
Premiering at the New London Theatre in November 2008, mere months after the disastrous Gone with the Wind closed at the same venue, Imagine This quickly earned a reputation as a ‘feel-bad’ musical. It closed after a brief, month-long run on December 20.
6. Behind the Iron Mask
Adapted from Alexandre Dumas' French novel, Behind the Iron Mask had the potential to be a hit when it opened at the Duchess Theatre on August 2, 2005. However, despite the classic source material, it was quickly deemed a failure, with the Daily Mail labeling it a ‘cast iron dud.’
The musical came to be only because the composer’s wife expressed a dying wish for his work to be staged in the West End. Unfortunately, with only three actors struggling to hold the production together, combined with lackluster lyrics, forgettable music, awkward choreography, and even a series of unintentional blunders—such as a prison door accidentally swinging open and the iron mask falling off—it was no surprise that the show closed after just three weeks.
5. Leonardo: A Portrait of Love
The premise of Leonardo: A Portrait of Love is far-fetched enough—Leonardo Da Vinci has an affair with the Mona Lisa while she sits for her portrait. However, the fact that the production was funded by a small island in the South Pacific, which made its wealth from exporting seagull droppings, offers a hint as to why this musical was doomed from the start.
Running for only a month at the Strand Theatre in 1993, the production is considered one of the most disastrous in London theatre history. The director, who openly despised musicals, and a leading actor who had to take emergency singing lessons to handle the role, didn’t help matters. With a runtime of nearly four hours, it’s hardly surprising that most of the audience had left long before the final curtain fell.
4. Too Close to the Sun
Just four years after the disaster of Behind the Iron Mask, composer John Robinson tried again with a musical inspired by Ernest Hemingway’s final year of life. This fictionalized account failed to resonate with audiences, with critic Michael Billington calling it ‘implausible and unnecessary.’
Even the legendary Hemingway himself would have struggled to find harsh enough words to condemn this disastrous show. So, it came as no surprise (probably even to Robinson himself) when the production closed after a mere two weeks in the West End.
3. The Intimate Revue
Holding the record for London’s shortest run, The Intimate Revue lasted for a grand total of half a performance.
Opening and closing on March 11, 1930, at the newly launched Duchess Theatre (the very same venue that would later host the infamous flop of John Robinson’s Behind the Iron Mask nearly 75 years later), the production was dreadfully under-rehearsed. The result was a series of embarrassing errors, including scene transitions that dragged on for as long as 20 minutes.
As the night wore on, the management was forced to cut seven scenes in order to make the finale happen before midnight. By this point, however, most of the audience had already made their exit.
2. Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde—a much-anticipated musical celebrating the life of the renowned author—sets the standard for the West End's greatest failures.
Perhaps the fact that the show was written, directed, and produced by 1980s DJ Mike Read should have been a warning sign for audiences. Intended to mark 150 years since Wilde’s birth, the production lacked the wit, sophistication, and skill one would expect. Ultimately, the result, a script composed entirely of rhyming couplets, came across more like the grueling two years Wilde spent in prison for gross indecency.
Even the star-studded presence of its creator’s friends, including well-known figures like Alvin Stardust and Cliff Richard, couldn’t boost ticket sales. With only five seats sold out of a potential 500 for its second performance, the production made its exit—though not without some awkwardness—after just one night.
1. Murderous Instincts
Audiences of the 2004 musical Murderous Instincts may have left the Savoy Theatre feeling more like they had murderous instincts of their own. Initially touted as a fusion of Tennessee Williams and Agatha Christie, it ended up being less of a hit and more of an onstage disaster, akin to a ‘motorway pile-up.’
Struggling from the very beginning with a series of script rewrites and multiple departures among the creative team and cast, the Puerto Rican murder mystery comedy might have been redeemed by a captivating storyline, solid direction, and a catchy score. Unfortunately, none of these elements materialized, and the show was shut down within a week.
