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SHOOT YOU DEAD!
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Posted on 10/15/2004 12:26:11 PM PDT by martin_fierro
Murder musical is killed off after just one week
By Nigel Reynolds, Arts Correspondent
(Filed: 15/10/2004)
The ill-fated £2 million musical Murderous Instincts, heavily panned by most critics when it opened last week, is to close after one of the shortest runs in West End history.
The "salsa comedy murder mystery", produced by maverick American producer Manny Fox, ran through eight directors and many disagreements before opening in London and Nichola McAuliffe, the show's star, said publicly that rehearsals were "like a motorway pile-up".
The show opened last Thursday at the Savoy Theatre and will close on Saturday. One insider said that only 130 people attended Monday night's performance.
Mr Fox, a cigar-chomping New Yorker described as "mad as a box of frogs" by one of his cast, told The Telegraph on Monday that he was returning to his new home in Puerto Rico to raise £1 million from banks to save the show.
He was believed to be still there yesterday as he ordered the closure of the show. Associates describe him as an irrepressible figure. One said that he had received an e-mail from Mr Fox yesterday saying: "I close in London on Saturday. Next stop Broadway."
The shortest West End run is believed to be two performances of the musical Money to Burn at the Venue theatre last year.
Murderous Instincts earned some of the toughest reviews in recent history. One critic said: "This farrago of a show has all the heat of a frozen margarita and all the suspense of a game of Cluedo."
He went on: "When it dies, as it surely soon will, it'll be less a murder than a mercy killing." Almost alone, The Daily Telegraph's Charles Spencer called it "fabulously bonkers" and said that it could become a cult hit if it could run long enough.
On a pre-West End run in Norwich, Mr Fox had a stand-up row with the then director Bob Carlton in the theatre's stalls. Mr Fox's wife, Cinda, who wrote the musical, then threatened to bar her own husband from rehearsals. Mr Carlton departed two days later.
The mood backstage last night was said to be one of "gallows humour". The cast are guaranteed a fortnight's pay from a bond deposited with Equity, the actors' union, but there was concern about whether technicians and backstage staff would be paid in full.
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SHOOT YOU DEAD!
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Well, I'm glad I never tried to get a play I wrote in college produced. "Bloodbath: A Musical Commedy", featuring the never-to-be-hit songs including "Theme from Bloodbath" and "Love Theme From Bloodbath", still sits in my desk drawer with a 4.0 grade on it.
And there it will stay, until I die probably ;0)
Sweeny Todd :\
Original simile!
I like it, I like it......
ribbit.
Affairs, abortions, sexual preferences and possible murder, all grist to this musical mill... including songs with lines as varied as "Corpse, corpse, where did you hide her corpse?" and "It's so much fun to be gay".
I gather that "It's so much fun to be gay" is supposed to be the toe-tapping show-stopper, but only the gayest rags could find it commendable.
Yep. A keeper. :)
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