Not all shows on Broadway last as long as The Phantom of the Opera or The Lion King. Many shows run for only a few weeks (or days) before closing—or close before they ever open at all.
Test your theatre knowledge—Can you name these 21 short-lived musicals that played the Great White Way?
Linzi Hateley and Betty Buckley in Carrie.
Peter Cunningham
Carrie Playbill - May 1988
Robert Preston and Bernadette Peters
Mack & Mabel
Barbara Cook, Jerome Courtland, Ernest Truex, and Edith Atwater in Flahooley.
Flahooley Playbill - May 1951
Carol Channing and cast
Friedman-Abeles/©NYPL for the Performing Arts
The Vamp – 60 Performances
Cast
Kenn Duncan/©NYPL for the Performing Arts
Rockabye Hamlet – 7 Performances
Chita Rivera and Doug Henning
Merlin – 199 Performances
Elliott Gould and Lesley Ann Warren
Drat! The Cat! – 8 Performances
Gabriel Barre and Brian Lane Green
Starmites – 60 Performances
Anita Gillette and cast
Kelly
Carol Burnett and Jack Cassidy
Friedman-Abeles / The New York Public Library
Fade Out - Fade In – 271 Performances
Cast of It's a bird…it's a plane…it's Superman
Friedman-Abeless/©NYPL for the Performing Arts
Superman Playbill - March 1966
Anne Marie Bobby and Jodi Benson
Smile Playbill - Opening Night, Nov 1986
Donald O'Connor and Chita Rivera
Bring Back Birdie Playbill - March 1981
Elaine Stritch
Goldilocks – 161 Performances
Alyson Reed and Will Gerard
Photo by Martha Swope
Marilyn: An American Fable – 17 Performances
Ellen Greene
Friedman-Abeles/New York Public Library
Rachael Lily Rosenbloom and Don't You Ever Forget It! – Closed during previews
Bob Dishy and Liza Minnelli
Flora the Red Menace Playbill
Judy Kuhn
Rags – 4 Performances
Betsy Joslyn and Edmund Lyndeck
A Doll's Life – 5 Performances
Valerie Harper in the chorus
Subways Are for Sleeping Playbill - Feb 1962
Stephen Collins and Peter Riegert
Censored Scenes From King Kong – 5 Performances
