History TroubledProduction / Theatre

** After Webber began work in earnest on the sequel ''Theatre/LoveNeverDies'' after years in DevelopmentHell, his cat climbed on his digital piano and accidentally deleted the score. Plans to open the show in three different countries (England, the U.S., and China) at once fell through due to logisitics. That was probably for the best, however: The London production was so poorly received, particularly by the ''Phantom'' fanbase, that by the end of 2010 it was extensively retooled. That didn't improve its reputation with the fanbase much, as the underlying plot and changes to the characters were mostly intact, and it ultimately ran less than two years. Despite attempts to drum up interest by filming a better-received Australian staging for video release, only Denmark has taken the bait so far, with a Broadway production -- which was supposed to follow on from London's in Fall 2010 -- indefinitely postponed, though not for a lack of effort on Lloyd Webber's part.

* ''Dance of the Vampires'', the Broadway version of ''TanzDerVampire'', was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_vampires#Broadway probably doomed from the start]]. To summarize from the Other Wiki: It was supposed to open in 1998 but didn't until 2002, for reasons that ranged from having to find a new director (owing to the original, RomanPolanski, being unable to return to the U.S. without facing arrest on infamous rape charges) to the 9-11 attacks! As the ball got rolling, the script received an extensive, jokier rewrite to appeal to American audiences who no longer cared for European "megamusicals", and the changes kept on coming with the casting of Michael Crawford as Krolock; he had creative control over his dialogue, costumes, etc. Composer Jim Steinman was ultimately fired from his own show over not showing up to rehearsals. The director and choreographer, both fresh from ''{{Urinetown}}'', proved unable to handle a production of this size and style, especially with so many dueling ideas and egos about. The result lasted only 56 performances and its reputation has so far discouraged other English-language productions.

* ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', TheMusical take on [[SpiderMan the comic book]] and the Sam Raimi movie adaptations, had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Turn_Off_the_Dark#History hard time just getting to its preview period]] on Broadway...whereupon things went FromBadToWorse due to seemingly endless injuries to its performers, inspiring parodies on ''Series/{{Conan}}'', snarky coverage by TheOnion A.V. Club, endless snark in general from ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'', and a RippedFromTheHeadlines episode of ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' -- even ''SesameStreet'' got in on making fun of it. With a $65 million budget, it would have to sell out for three years to break even. The preview period kept getting extended, and finally theater critics had enough and wrote/ran reviews of the February 7, 2011 performance (which, had it not been pushed back ''again'', was supposed to be the official opening date)... most of which were [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/spiderman-turn-off-the-dark-terrible-or-make-it-st,51518/ scathing]]. In response, the producers (finally!) panicked and brought in script doctors, along with having Bono and The Edge write new music. Director (and famous prima donna) Julie Taymor refused to go along with the changes and was either fired or quit. It finally opened in June 2011.

* ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', TheMusical take on [[SpiderMan the comic book]] and the Sam Raimi movie adaptations, had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Turn_Off_the_Dark#History hard time just getting to its preview period]] on Broadway...whereupon things went FromBadToWorse due to seemingly endless injuries to its performers, inspiring parodies on ''Series/{{Conan}}'', snarky coverage by TheOnion A.V. Club, endless snark in general from ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'', and a RippedFromTheHeadlines episode of ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' -- even ''SesameStreet'' got in on making fun of it. With a $65 million budget, it would have to sell out for three years to break even. The preview period kept getting extended, and finally theater critics had enough and wrote/ran reviews of the February 7, 2011 performance (which, had it not been pushed back ''again'', was supposed to be the official opening date)... most of which were [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/spiderman-turn-off-the-dark-terrible-or-make-it-st,51518/ scathing]]. In response, the producers (finally!) panicked and brought in script doctors, along with having Bono and The Edge write new music. Director (and famous prima donna) Julie Taymor refused to go along with the changes and was either fired or quit. It finally opened on June 2011.

** Then it was the ticket sales that plummeted; in November the show was confirmed to be closing in January 2014, with $60 million of the producers' investment due to be lost according to ''New York'' magazine. They intend to reopen it in Las Vegas in 2015, but stay tuned.

* ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', TheMusical take on [[SpiderMan the comic book]] and the Sam Raimi movie adaptations, had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Turn_Off_the_Dark#History hard time just getting to its preview period]] on Broadway...whereupon things went FromBadToWorse due to seemingly endless injuries to its performers, inspiring parodies on ''Series/{{Conan}}'', snarky coverage by TheOnion A.V. Club, endless snark in general from ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'', and a RippedFromTheHeadlines episode of ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'' -- even ''SesameStreet'' got in on making fun of it. With a $65 million budget, it will have to sell out for three years to break even. The preview period kept getting extended, and finally theater critics had enough and wrote/ran reviews of the February 7, 2011 performance (which, had it not been pushed back ''again'', was supposed to be the official opening date)... most of which were [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/spiderman-turn-off-the-dark-terrible-or-make-it-st,51518/ scathing]]. In response, the producers (finally!) panicked and brought in script doctors, along with having Bono and The Edge write new music. Director (and famous prima donna) Julie Taymor refused to go along with the changes and was either fired or quit. It finally opened on June 2011.
** In January 2012, the producers suggested that the show might periodically add new scenes and songs to encourage repeat customers. The cautionary tale of ''Turn Off the Dark'' continues to unfold: Taymor has filed suit against the producers and Bono and The Edge, claiming that not only that she was unjustly fired but also that they used her rewrites afteward, without giving her credit.
** And in August 2013, yet ''another'' performer was seriously injured during a performance.
** Finally, the show was confirmed to be closing in January 2014, with most of its investment lost. The producers intend to reopen it in Las Vegas in 2015, but stay tuned.

** After Webber began work in earnest on the sequel ''Theatre/LoveNeverDies'' after years in DevelopmentHell, his cat climbed on his digital piano and accidentally deleted the score. Plans to open the show in three different countries (England, the U.S., and China) at once fell through due to logisitics. That was probably for the best, however: The London production was so poorly received, particularly by the ''Phantom'' fanbase, that by the end of 2010 it was extensively retooled. That didn't improve its reputation with the fanbase much, as the underlying plot and changes to the characters were mostly intact, and it ultimately ran less than two years. Despite attempts to drum up interest by filming a better-received Australian staging for video release, only Denmark has taken the bait so far, with a Broadway production -- which was supposed to follow on from London's in Fall 2010 -- not even a remote possibility now.

* Before ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' hit Broadway, 1983's ''Merlin'' was a fantasy musical (presenting the famous Arthurian character in his younger days) that had its own overlong preview period, with an official opening that was postponed three times to the annoyance of critics. The spectacle wasn't the problem -- leading man Doug Henning was a StageMagician legend who'd previously had a hit with ''The Magic Show'' in TheSeventies and his tricks for this show were equally impressive. But he didn't have to sing in the older show (StephenSchwartz gave the tunes to his supporting cast), and in this one he did...at least initially, as by the end of previews all his singing was cut. The original director was cut too, replaced by co-producer Ivan Reitman, and a second choreographer was added. Making matters worse, the Broadway production of ''{{Cats}}'' had opened just months before and was monopolizing the attention of theatergoers -- particularly families which ''Merlin'' obviously hoped to court. The producers pressed on ("It was the musical that wouldn't disappear" according to Nathan Lane, who played a bumbling villain), and it managed five Tony nominations in a weak season, but it won none and closed after 199 regular performances.

* Creator/RichardWagner's second opera, ''Das Liebesverbot'', was his first opera to be staged, albeit with severe cuts. The Magdeburg company's opening night performance was ruined by an underrehearsed singers and orchestra. Their second performance never even started, due to a feud breaking out among the cast. The opera was not performed again until 1923.

** ''ThePhantomOfTheOpera'' itself underwent much upheaval during its development and preview days--numerous cast changes, backstage bickering over such changes, props and equipment frequently breaking down,and massive overhauling of nearly all lyrics. Then, just as the show finally debuted, both of its lead actors took ill, and then the ''understudies'' were knocked out of commission as well.
*** And when Webber began work on its sequel, his cat climbed on his digital piano and accidentally deleted the score.

* ''Dance of the Vampires'', the Broadway version of ''TanzDerVampire'', was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_vampires#Broadway probably doomed from the start]]. To summarize from the Other Wiki: It was supposed to open in 1998 but didn't until 2002, for reasons that ranged from having to find a new director (owing to the original, RomanPolanski, being unable to return to the U.S. without facing arrest on infamous rape charges) to the 9-11 attacks! As the ball got rolling, the script received an extensive, jokier rewrite to appeal to American audiences who no longer cared for European "megamusicals", and the changes kept on coming with the casting of Michael Crawford as Krolock; he had creative control over his dialogue, costumes, etc. Composer Jim Steinman was ultimately fired from his own show over not showing up to rehearsals. The director and choreographer, both fresh from ''{{Urinetown}}'', proved unable to handle a production of this size and style, especially with so many dueling ideas and egos about. The result lasted only 56 performances and its reputation has so far discouraged any other English-language productions.

* ''Theatre/FunnyGirl'' went on to be a hit, but its pre-Broadway tryout suffered serious troubles. The opening performance in Boston was practically a fiasco. Feuds Barbra Streisand and Sydney Chaplin (whose name was equal in size to hers but whose ultimate role definitely wasn't), and between everyone and Jerome Robbins when he took over from credited director Garson Kanin. Ghostwriters struggled to keep up with rewrites demanded by Streisand and the Arnstein family (the show's producer was Nick Arnstein's son-in-law). Dozens of {{Cut Song}}s were thrown out, and dance routines were in a constant state of flux. The final scene was rewritten 42 times, and its final version was being rehearsed immediately prior to the Broadway opening, which had been repeatedly postponed.

** ''ThePhantomoftheOpera'' itself underwent much upheaval during its development and preview days--numerous cast changes, backstage bickering over such changes, props and equipment frequently breaking down,and massive overhauling of nearly all lyrics. Then, just as the show finally debuted, both of its lead actors took ill, and then the ''understudies'' were knocked out of commission as well.

* CirqueDuSoleil productions have their ups and downs on the way to opening night, but ''Theatre/BananaShpeel'' was truly troubled. The original concept -- a fusion of Cirque's "house style", {{Vaudeville}}, and TheMusical -- proved to be too much for one coherent show, so the major characters who were going to handle the songs were dropped and new composers hired AFTER the 2008 ''AmericasGotTalent'' finale featured the singers in question in a preview segment. Now a {{Slapstick}}-heavy show with only two acrobatic setpieces, it bombed with critics in its Chicago tryout at the end of 2009. A second revision with more acrobatics and a ''third'' score took so long to put together (with two comic principals being fired and rehired over the period) that its New York City debut was delayed by months. This ran into another problem -- Cirque's grand plan for 2010 was for ''Shpeel'' to debut in late winter and run indefinitely at the Beacon Theatre, while the tent tour ''Theatre/{{OVO}}'' had a springtime engagement and ''Wintuk'' a holiday season one. The delays meant that ''OVO'' arrived first...and ''Shpeel'', with reviews far worse than ''OVO'''s, was stuck in its shadow. The show closed in two months. Cirque tried to take it on the road afterward, but it closed permanently after one month in Toronto -- the company's first complete failure amongst its live shows.

* CirqueDuSoleil productions have their ups and downs on the way to opening night, but ''Theatre/BananaShpeel'' was truly troubled. The original concept -- a fusion of Cirque's "house style", {{Vaudeville}}, and TheMusical -- proved to be too much for one coherent show, so the major characters who were going to handle the songs were dropped and new composers hired AFTER the 2008 ''LiveActionTV/AmericasGotTalent'' finale featured the singers in question in a preview segment. Now a {{Slapstick}}-heavy show with only two acrobatic setpieces, it bombed with critics in its Chicago tryout at the end of 2009. A second revision with more acrobatics and a ''third'' score took so long to put together (with two comic principals being fired and rehired over the period) that its New York City debut was delayed by months. This ran into another problem -- Cirque's grand plan for 2010 was for ''Shpeel'' to debut in late winter and run indefinitely at the Beacon Theatre, while the tent tour ''Theatre/{{OVO}}'' had a springtime engagement and ''Wintuk'' a holiday season one. The delays meant that ''OVO'' arrived first...and ''Shpeel'', with reviews far worse than ''OVO'''s, was stuck in its shadow. The show closed in two months. Cirque tried to take it on the road afterward, but it closed permanently after one month in Toronto -- the company's first complete failure amongst its live shows.

* CirqueDuSoleil productions have their ups and downs on the way to opening night, but ''BananaShpeel'' was truly troubled. The original concept -- a fusion of Cirque's "house style", {{Vaudeville}}, and TheMusical -- proved to be too much for one coherent show, so the major characters who were going to handle the songs were dropped and new composers hired AFTER the 2008 ''AmericasGotTalent'' finale featured the singers in question in a preview segment. Now a {{Slapstick}}-heavy show with only two acrobatic setpieces, it bombed with critics in its Chicago tryout at the end of 2009. A second revision with more acrobatics and a ''third'' score took so long to put together (with two comic principals being fired and rehired over the period) that its New York City debut was delayed by months. This ran into another problem -- Cirque's grand plan for 2010 was for ''Shpeel'' to debut in late winter and run indefinitely at the Beacon Theatre, while the tent tour ''Theatre/{{OVO}}'' had a springtime engagement and ''Wintuk'' a holiday season one. The delays meant that ''OVO'' arrived first...and ''Shpeel'', with reviews far worse than ''OVO'''s, was stuck in its shadow. The show closed in two months. Cirque tried to take it on the road afterward, but it closed permanently after one month in Toronto -- the company's first complete failure amongst its live shows.

* CirqueDuSoleil productions have their ups and downs on the way to opening night, but ''BananaShpeel'' was truly troubled. The original concept -- a fusion of Cirque's "house style", {{Vaudeville}}, and TheMusical -- proved to be too much for one coherent show, so the major characters who were going to handle the songs were dropped and new composers hired AFTER the 2008 ''AmericasGotTalent'' finale featured the singers in question in a preview segment. Now a {{Slapstick}}-heavy show with only two acrobatic setpieces, it bombed with critics in its Chicago tryout at the end of 2009. A second revision with more acrobatics and a ''third'' score took so long to put together (with two comic principals being fired and rehired over the period) that its New York City debut was delayed by months. This ran into another problem -- Cirque's grand plan for 2010 was for ''Shpeel'' to debut in late winter and run indefinitely at the Beacon Theatre, while the tent tour ''{{OVO}}'' had a springtime engagement and ''Wintuk'' a holiday season one. The delays meant that ''OVO'' arrived first...and ''Shpeel'', with reviews far worse than ''OVO'''s, was stuck in its shadow. The show closed in two months. Cirque tried to take it on the road afterward, but it closed permanently after one month in Toronto -- the company's first complete failure amongst its live shows.

* ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', TheMusical take on [[SpiderMan the comic book]] and the Sam Raimi movie adaptations, had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Turn_Off_the_Dark#History hard time just getting to its preview period]] on Broadway...whereupon things went FromBadToWorse due to seemingly endless injuries to its performers, inspiring parodies on ''Series/{{Conan}}'', snarky coverage by TheOnion A.V. Club, endless snark in general from ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'', and even an episode of ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''--and *''SesameStreet''*. With a $65 million budget, it will have to sell out for three years to break even. The preview period kept getting extended, and finally theater critics had enough and wrote/ran reviews of the February 7, 2011 performance (which, had it not been pushed back ''again'', was supposed to be the official opening date)... most of which were [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/spiderman-turn-off-the-dark-terrible-or-make-it-st,51518/ scathing]]. In response, the producers (finally!) panicked and brought in script doctors, along with having Bono and The Edge write new music. Director (and famous prima donna) Julie Taymor refused to go along with the changes and was either fired or quit. It finally opened on June 2011.

* Before ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' hit Broadway, 1983's ''Merlin'' was a fantasy musical (presenting the famous Arthurian character in his younger days) that had its own overlong preview period, with an official opening that was postponed three times. The spectacle wasn't the problem -- leading man Doug Henning was a StageMagician legend who'd previously had a hit with ''The Magic Show'' in TheSeventies and his tricks for this show were equally impressive. But he didn't have to sing in the older show (StephenSchwartz gave the tunes to his supporting cast), and in this one he did...at least initially, as by the end of previews all his singing was cut. The original director was cut too, replaced by co-producer Ivan Reitman, and a second choreographer was added. Making matters worse, the Broadway production of ''{{Cats}}'' had opened just months before and was monopolizing the attention of theatergoers -- particularly families which ''Merlin'' obviously hoped to court. The producers pressed on ("It was the musical that wouldn't disappear" according to Nathan Lane, who played a bumbling villain), and it managed five Tony nominations in a weak season, but it won none and closed after 199 regular performances.

* ''Theatre/SpiderManTurnOffTheDark'', TheMusical take on [[SpiderMan the comic book]] and the Sam Raimi movie adaptations, had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider-Man:_Turn_Off_the_Dark#History hard time just getting to its preview period]] on Broadway...whereupon things went FromBadToWorse due to seemingly endless injuries to its performers, inspiring parodies on ''Series/{{Conan}}'', snarky coverage by TheOnion A.V. Club, endless snark in general from ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'', and even an episode of ''LawAndOrderCriminalIntent''. With a $65 million budget, it will have to sell out for three years to break even. The preview period kept getting extended, and finally theater critics had enough and wrote/ran reviews of the February 7, 2011 performance (which, had it not been pushed back ''again'', was supposed to be the official opening date)... most of which were [[http://www.avclub.com/articles/spiderman-turn-off-the-dark-terrible-or-make-it-st,51518/ scathing]]. In response, the producers (finally!) panicked and brought in script doctors, along with having Bono and The Edge write new music. Director (and famous prima donna) Julie Taymor refused to go along with the changes and was either fired or quit. It finally opened on June 2011.

* Before ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' hit Broadway, 1983's ''Merlin'' was an Arthurian fantasy musical that had its own overlong preview period, with an official opening that was postponed three times. The spectacle wasn't the problem -- leading man Doug Henning was a StageMagician legend who'd previously had a hit with ''The Magic Show'' in TheSeventies and his tricks for this show were equally impressive. But he didn't have to sing in the older show (StephenSchwartz gave the tunes to his supporting cast), and in this one he did...at least initially, as by the end of previews all his singing was cut. The original director was cut too, replaced by co-producer Ivan Reitman, and a second choreographer was added. Making matters worse, the Broadway production of ''{{Cats}}'' had opened just months before and was monopolizing the attention of theatergoers -- particularly families which ''Merlin'' obviously hoped to court. The producers pressed on ("It was the musical that wouldn't disappear" according to Nathan Lane, who played a bumbling villain), and it managed five Tony nominations in a weak season, but it won none and closed after 199 regular performances.

* Before ''Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark'' hit Broadway, 1983's ''Merlin'', was an Arthurian fantasy musical that had its own overlong preview period, with an official opening that was postponed three times. The spectacle wasn't the problem -- leading man Doug Henning was a StageMagician legend who'd previously had a hit with ''The Magic Show'' in TheSeventies and his tricks for this show were equally impressive. But he didn't have to sing in the older show (StephenSchwartz gave the tunes to his supporting cast), and in this one he did...at least initially, as by the end of previews all his singing was cut. The original director was cut too, replaced by co-producer Ivan Reitman, and a second choreographer was added. Making matters worse, the Broadway production of ''{{Cats}}'' had opened just months before and was monopolizing the attention of theatergoers -- particularly families which ''Merlin'' obviously hoped to court. The producers didn't give up ("It was the musical that wouldn't disappear" according to Nathan Lane, who played a bumbling villain), and it managed five Tony nominations in a weak season, but it won none and closed after 199 regular performances.

* In 1995, StephenSondheim and John Weidman received a commission to write a musical about the lives of Wilson and Addison Mizner. By 2004, when the show's score was recorded under its third WorkingTitle, ''Bounce'', production had seemingly been abandoned. It finally made it to New York in 2008 as ''Road Show''.

* The now-canceled Broadway production of the musical adapation of ''{{Rebecca}}'' was [[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/25/theater/rebecca-the-musical-and-the-vanishing-act-of-its-investor.html also looking this way]] as of September 2012. After a successful run in continental Europe, the producter canceled the London production as too costly. So ... obviously the producer, Ben Sprecher, decided they're ready for ''Broadway''.
** A mysterious British investor, supposedly named "Paul Abrams", then put $4.5 million into the play ... more than 10 times what the biggest-rolling investors usually throw into a Broadway musical, even one that's been wildly successful in London. Yet no one had ever heard of this guy. The producers later claimed they'd never even met him in person.
** Then, in September 2012, Abrams supposedly died of malaria. Yet there had been no obituaries for a wealthy man who died of malaria in British newspapers, and no death certificates listed malaria as a cause. A spokesman for the estate refused to take phone calls, and used an email address that had been created a month earlier.
** Sprecher, who has never been lead producer on a Broadway musical, had already built the sets so he lost millions when production was canceled, the FBI arrested a stockbroker on Long Island for his attempt to defraud the producers by fabricating the foreign investors who were prepared to put the $4.5 million in.
** The next month, the production was canceled
* ''Dance of the Vampires'', the Broadway version of ''TanzDerVampire'', was [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dance_of_the_vampires#Broadway probably doomed from the start]]. To summarize from the Other Wiki: It was supposed to open in 1998 but didn't until 2002, for reasons that ranged from having to find a new director (owing to the original, RomanPolanski, being unable to return to the U.S. without facing arrest on infamous rape charges) to the 9-11 attacks! As the ball got rolling, the script received an extensive, jokier rewrite to appeal to American audiences who no longer cared for European "megamusicals", and the changes kept on coming with the casting of Michael Crawford as Krolock; he had creative control over his dialogue, costumes, etc. Composer Jim Steinman was ultimately fired from his own show over not showing up to rehearsals. The director and choreographer, both fresh from ''{{Urinetown}}'', proved unable to handle a production of this size and style, especially with so many dueling ideas and egos about. The final result lasted only 56 performances and its reputation has so far discouraged other English-language productions from being mounted.

* CirqueDuSoleil productions have their ups and downs on the way to opening night, but ''BananaShpeel'' was truly troubled. The original concept -- a fusion of Cirque's "house style", {{Vaudeville}}, and TheMusical -- proved to be too many styles for one coherent show, so the major characters who were going to handle the songs were dropped and new composers hired AFTER the 2008 ''AmericasGotTalent'' finale featured the singers in question in a preview segment. Now a {{Slapstick}}-heavy show with only two acrobatic setpieces, it bombed with critics in its Chicago tryout at the end of 2009. A second revision with more acrobatics and a ''third'' score took so long to put together (with two comic principals being fired and rehired over the period) that its New York City debut was delayed by months. This ran into another problem -- Cirque's grand plan for 2010 was for ''Shpeel'' to debut in late winter and run indefinitely at the Beacon Theatre, while the tent tour ''{{OVO}}'' had a springtime engagement and ''Wintuk'' a holiday season one. The delays meant that ''OVO'' arrived first...so ''Shpeel'', with reviews far worse than ''OVO'''s, was stuck in its shadow. The show closed in two months. Cirque tried to take the show on the road afterward, but it closed permanently after one month in Toronto -- the company's first complete failure amongst its live shows.

* CirqueDuSoleil productions have their ups and downs on the way to opening night, but ''BananaShpeel'' was truly troubled. The original concept -- a fusion of Cirque's "house style", {{Vaudeville}}, and TheMusical -- proved to be too many styles for one coherent show, so the major characters who were going to handle the songs were dropped and new composers hired AFTER the 2008 ''AmericasGotTalent'' finale featured the singers in question in a preview segement. Now a {{Slapstick}}-heavy show with only two acrobatic setpieces, it bombed with critics in its Chicago tryout at the end of 2009. A second revision with more acrobatics and a ''third'' score took so long to put together (with two comic principals being fired and rehired over the period) that its New York City debut was delayed by months. This ran into another problem -- Cirque's grand plan for 2010 was for ''Shpeel'' to debut in late winter and run indefinitely at the Beacon Theatre, while the tent tour ''{{OVO}}'' had a springtime engagement and ''Wintuk'' a holiday season one. The delays meant that ''OVO'' arrived first...so ''Shpeel'', with reviews far worse than ''OVO'''s, was stuck in its shadow. The show closed in two months. Cirque tried to take the show on the road afterward, but it closed permanently after one month in Toronto -- the company's first complete failure amongst its live shows.

* CirqueDuSoleil productions have their ups and downs on the way to opening night, but ''BananaShpeel'' was troubled in the worst possible ways. The original concept -- a fusion of Cirque's "house style", {{Vaudeville}}, and TheMusical -- proved to be too many styles for one coherent show, so the major characters who were going to handle the songs were dropped and new composers hired AFTER the 2008 ''AmericasGotTalent'' finale featured them in a preview segement. Now a {{Slapstick}}-heavy show with only two acrobatic setpieces, it bombed with critics in its Chicago tryout at the end of 2009. A second revision with more acrobatics and a ''third'' score took so long to put together (with two comic principals being fired and rehired over the period) that its New York City debut was delayed by months. This ran into another problem -- Cirque's grand plan for 2010 was for ''Shpeel'' to debut in late winter and run indefinitely at the Beacon Theatre, while the tent tour ''{{OVO}}'' had a springtime engagement and ''Wintuk'' a holiday season one. The delays meant that ''OVO'' arrived first...so ''Shpeel'', with reviews far worse than ''OVO'''s, was stuck in its shadow. The show closed in two months. Cirque tried to take the show on the road afterward, but it closed permanently after one month in Toronto -- the company's first complete failure amongst its live shows.

* The popular Broadway musical, ''Theatre/{{RENT}}'' underwent some large production troubles. The idea was originally thought up by Billy Aronson. He teamed up with 29-year old composer Jonathan Larson and started writing the songs in 1989. Busy with other personal commitments, Aronson dropped the project and Larson picked it back up a couple of years later. In 1993 it had its first on-stage reading which resulted in some criticism against the musical's over-complexity and length. A workshop version was penned and performed in 1994, which resulted in even more tweaks needing to be made to the story, and Larson ''again'' having to rework the songs to fit the changes. Funding started to become an issue as many investors feared the musical's then-controversial subject matter, causing Larson to have to turn to other sources for money. When he finally got a steady cast together and the show was scheduled to make its debut in early 1996, Larson died from an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm. His death caused the first preview of the musical to be canceled and the play was performed in front of a private audience in his memory. Ultimately it made its off-Broadway premiere on time and has since become one of the most beloved musicals of the 1990s.

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