16 Broadway Musicals That Barely Made It Past Opening Night

Broadway can be absolutely merciless. A musical can spend years being written, weeks in rehearsals and previews, and countless hours getting every light, costume, song, and dance number ready. Then opening night arrives, and sometimes closing night is not far behind.

The 16 musicals below lasted no more than five official Broadway performances. That does not mean each production was performed only a handful of times. Broadway previews take place before opening night, and several of these shows had lengthy preview periods, earlier productions, or even national tours before their remarkably short official runs.

Some disappeared almost completely. Others became legendary flops, earned major award nominations, developed cult followings, or found new life years later. One even featured Jeff Goldblum. Broadway history is weird like that.

Here's Where I Belong officially opened and closed at the Billy Rose Theatre on March 3, 1968, after 20 previews and just one regular Broadway performance. The musical was based on John Steinbeck's East of Eden, with music by Robert Waldman and lyrics by Alfred Uhry. Getting through 20 previews only to discover opening night would also be closing night is a particularly brutal introduction to Broadway.

The Fig Leaves Are Falling opened Jan. 2, 1969, and was gone by Jan. 6. It managed four official performances after 17 previews. Albert Hague wrote the music, while comedian Allan Sherman supplied the lyrics and book. One person emerged with considerably better news than the show itself: star Dorothy Loudon received a Tony nomination for Best Actress in a Musical despite the production's extremely short life.

Turning Federico Fellini's acclaimed film La Strada into a Broadway musical looked promising on paper. The cast even included a young Bernadette Peters. Broadway audiences barely had a chance to see it. After 12 previews, La Strada opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Dec. 14, 1969, and closed after that single official performance.

Yes, the Robert Shaw who would later play Quint in Jaws once starred opposite Rita Moreno in a Broadway musical. Gantry was based on Sinclair Lewis's novel Elmer Gantry, with Shaw playing the title character and Moreno portraying Sharon Falconer. The production worked through an eye-popping 31 previews before opening at the George Abbott Theatre on Feb. 14, 1970. One official performance later, it was over.

Home Sweet Homer had considerably more life before Broadway than its one-night New York run might suggest. The Yul Brynner musical toured the United States from late 1974 into 1975 before reaching the Palace Theatre. Its Broadway production played 11 previews, officially opened Jan. 4, 1976, and closed the same day after one regular performance. Sometimes you can tour the country and still get stopped cold by Broadway.

You cannot accuse this one of having a misleading title. A Broadway Musical was quite literally a musical about putting on a Broadway musical. Charles Strouse wrote the music, Lee Adams supplied the lyrics, and William F. Brown wrote the book. It played 14 previews before opening at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Dec. 21, 1978. The Broadway musical about a Broadway musical then became a former Broadway musical after one official performance.

Set at an English girls' school, The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall featured a cast led by Oscar winner Celeste Holm. Clark Gesner wrote the music and lyrics and shared book credit with Nagle Jackson. Seven previews preceded its May 13, 1979 opening at the Mark Hellinger Theatre. There would not be a May 14 performance. The production closed after its opening-night show.

Onward Victoria centered on 19th-century activist Victoria Woodhull and starred Jill Eikenberry. The show spent considerably longer preparing for Broadway than actually playing Broadway. It went through 23 previews at the Martin Beck Theatre before officially opening on Dec. 14, 1980. Its total regular-performance count: one.

Twenty years after Bye Bye Birdie, its original writing team returned with a sequel. Chita Rivera came back as Rose Alvarez, while Donald O'Connor made his Broadway debut as Albert Peterson. That is a lot of talent for what followed. Bring Back Birdie endured 31 previews, opened March 5, 1981, and closed March 7 after only four official performances. Rivera still earned Tony and Drama Desk nominations for her work.

Long before Jurassic Park made him one of Hollywood's most recognizable faces, Jeff Goldblum appeared on Broadway in The Moony Shapiro Songbook. Judy Kaye, Gary Beach, and Tim Jerome rounded out the small principal cast. The musical played 15 previews before officially opening at the Morosco Theatre on May 3, 1981. It closed that same night after one performance. Somewhere, life found a way. The musical did not.

The stage adaptation of the 1954 MGM musical had already completed a national tour before reaching Broadway, including stops in Seattle, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. Debby Boone led the Broadway company. After 15 previews, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers opened at the Alvin Theatre on July 8, 1982, and closed July 11 after five official performances. Broadway may have rejected it quickly, but at least this one had already seen a good chunk of America.

Alan Jay Lerner wrote the book and lyrics for Dance a Little Closer, while Charles Strouse composed the music. The musical was based on Robert E. Sherwood's play Idiot's Delight and starred Len Cariou. It also had one of the longest preview periods on this list: 25 performances before opening night. The show officially opened at the Minskoff Theatre on May 11, 1983, then closed after that one regular performance.

Raggedy Ann and Andy had been children's favorites for decades before somebody decided Broadway was the logical next stop. Raggedy Ann: The Musical Adventure featured music and lyrics by Joe Raposo and a book by playwright William Gibson. After 15 previews at the Nederlander Theatre, it opened Oct. 16, 1986. Five official performances later, it closed on Oct. 19.

Rags is proof that a microscopic Broadway run does not necessarily mean everyone forgets the show. The musical about Jewish immigrants in New York featured music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Stephen Schwartz, and a book by Fiddler on the Roof writer Joseph Stein. It closed Aug. 23, 1986, after 18 previews and only four official performances. Then came the strange part: it received five Tony nominations, including Best Musical. Four performances and a Best Musical nomination is one heck of a résumé.

Few Broadway failures became as famous as Carrie. Based on Stephen King's novel, the musical featured music by Michael Gore, lyrics by Dean Pitchford, and a book by Lawrence D. Cohen, who had also written the screenplay for the 1976 film. The Broadway production opened May 12, 1988, after 16 previews and closed three days later after five official performances. Instead of disappearing, though, Carrie developed a cult reputation and eventually returned in a heavily revised Off-Broadway production in 2012.

Glory Days had enjoyed a well-received premiere at Signature Theatre in Arlington, Virginia, before moving quickly to Broadway. The musical followed four friends reuniting a year after high school and was written by young newcomers Nick Blaemire and James Gardiner. Broadway proved considerably less welcoming. After 17 previews, Glory Days opened at Circle in the Square on May 6, 2008, and closed after that night's single official performance.