4. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1966)
Source: wikipedia.org
Following the success of the movie, a musical version of Truman Capote’s novella was rapidly thrown together with a score by Bob Merrill (Funny Girl) and Abe Burrows (Guys and Dolls, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?) editing the script, but the strange mixture of morbidity and nonchalance forced Merrick to make the following announcement after just four previews:
“Rather than subject the drama critics and the theater-going public—who invested one million dollars in advance sales—to an excruciatingly boring event, I have decided to close.” Yikes!
3. Dude (1972)
Source: wikipedia.org
Another show to lose $1 million was Dude, a chaotic and psychedelic show the saw both a director and choreographer resign, as well as the lead replaced shortly before going into previews, resulting in an incomplete revision of the script. Needless to say, it didn’t work out, and the show closed after two weeks.
2. Moose Murders (1983)
Source: wikipedia.org
This quirky murder mystery had such a bad first preview that Eve Arden walked out of her leading role. One critic wrote that the show was so bad, he didn’t even care to write about it. It opened and closed on February 22, 1983.