Shortest Running musicals of the last Decade

As we move into the new decade, we thought we'd look back at the past 10 years of theatre. Some of the most memorable theatrical moments of the decade were some of the less successful shows. We looked back and picked out some of the shortest musical runs of the past 10 years, excluding shows that played and fulfilled limited runs, we looked at shows that closed early. So take a look! Do any of these shows deserve revivals? Tweet us and tell us your favourite one! 

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg

This musical started life in the UK with a try-out at the Leicester Curve in early 2011 before opening at the Gielgud Theatre in London's West End on the 5th March 2011 with a cast that included Joanna Riding, Carly Bawden, Andrew Durand, Dominic Marsh, Meow Meow and Cynthia Erivo. The show closed on the 21 May 2011, making the run just over two months long.

Lend Me a Tenor

The musical, based on the play of the same name, played an out of town try out in Plymouth in 2010 before opening at the Gielgud Theatre in Londons West End on the 2 June 2011 with a cast that included Cassidy Janson, Matthew Kelly, Joanna Riding, Michael Matus, Damian Humbley, and Sophie-Louise Dann. The show closed on the 6 August, making the run just over 2 months.

REVIEW: Flashdance at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking

Adapted from the screenplay of the surprise 80s hit film, Flashdance stars Strictly Come Dancing star Joanne Clifton and former A1 member Ben Adams as her love interest Nick. The films influence on popular culture in the early 80s was clear to see and won numerous accolades and made stars for the MTV generation.

Pity that the phenomenon doesn’t extend to this woeful stage version which doesn’t so much leap and bound into the New Victoria Theatre, but rather stumble clumsily into it, held together only by a strong performance by Joanne Clifton.

Clifton is an excellent Alex, in a much improved outing from her previous UK tour as the lead in Thoroughly Modern Millie. She seems at ease in the role of confident, sharp-witted Alex who dreams of being a ballet dancer and showcases her dancing skills and strong singing voice. Sadly she is the only one who dazzles in this production.

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Flashdance at the New Wimbledon Theatre ★

This production was reviewed in October 2017 by Mark Swale, one of our regular reviewers. After personally seeing the original tour and London production this show I was really hoping this would be an exciting show so was looking forward to reading the review. However, this experience wasn't the most joyful evenings...

"This show lacked any style or vision, nothing was interesting or different... This Sell-a-Door production fails to hit the mark, a show which has potential has been miscast with poor creative decisions. Wet. And not in the way you want."

Thoroughly Modern Millie at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking ★

This show was reviewed by one of our harsher (but brilliant!) reviewers, Andy Edmeads. He went to see the show on tour back in May 2017 at the New Victoria Theatre in Woking and what he saw didn't seem to hit the mark. This show has some cracking numbers in but clearly, this wasn't the good kind of cracking!

"The direction was flat and formulaic... Thoroughly Modern Millie is a dire evening out and this felt like a tired and lazy production... This is a show that really is best left for low-budget am-dram companies to wheel out in an emergency."

REVIEW: Flashdance at the New Wimbledon Theatre

Based on the 1983 film, Flashdance first made its way onto our local stages back in 2008 with a UK tour of the show, starring musical theatre legend Victoria Hamilton-Barritt and the late Bernie Nolan. It transferred into London’s West End in 2010, again featuring Ms Hamilton-Barritt, at the Shaftesbury Theatre before closing after 16 weeks. Since then we have seen a US tour production and many international ones, this time Sell-a-Door production have brought it back to the UK. I wish they hadn't. 

This show lacked any style or vision, nothing was interesting or different. A boring concept which I’m sure anyone with the amateur rights to the show will do exactly the same. Possibly to a higher standard. 

The choreography of the show, which is meant to be the highlight, was instead predictable and uninspiring. Just because you add in lots of girls doing splits in different positions, doesn’t mean I’m going to be interested. In fact, it means the total opposite. 

Victoria Hamilton-Barritt | Interview

Victoria trained at Central School of Ballet and Urdang Academy of Performing Arts, when she graduated she was cast in the UK Tour of Oh What a Night! In the role of Cat and then moving with the production to Germany. Her other credits include Stephanie Mungano in Saturday Night Fever (UK tour), Connie in the Saturday Night Fever (Scandinavian tour), Carmen Diaz in Fame (Aldwych), Anita in West Side Story (international tour) Maria and understudy Susan in Desperately Seeking Susan (Novello), Alex in Flashdance (UK Tour and West End), Rizzo in Grease (West End), Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy (Leicester Curve) and has appeared in Bohemian Rhapsody (international tour). She is currently playing Diana in the London Revival of A Chorus Line at the London Palladium. She was kind enough to take time out of her busy schedule to answer a few questions…


Your family has a musical background, how influential was that for you growing up?
Very much so in the sense I was always being entertained by my uncles who always made a racket with pots and pans and anything else they could find around the house! They are both musicians who played in bands The Clash for a brief time before the band got super famous and other bands that would play the north west London scene of Kensal rise and Camden. They are a talented drummer and bass player and pots and pans terrorists! My dad sang the soho night life were he did his Billy Fury and Elvis numbers! 

Hannah Levane | Interview

Hannah Levane trained at the BRIT School of Performing Arts before going on to train at Arts Educational. Her credits include Keisha in Flashdance, Teacher and Alternate Killer Queen in We Will Rock You, Taylor in Disney's Tour of High School Musical and Annie and covering the roles of Bess and Clara in Porgy and Bess. She is currently about to embark on a UK Tour playing Michelle and covering the lead role of Deloris Van Carter. I was lucky enough to catch up with her before the Tour starts for a chat...

You've been performing for a few years now, but what age did you realise that you wanted to perform?
I was taken to all different types of shows as a kid back in the days when kids went free a lot of the time it was a great way of my mum and I enjoying something together, I saw operas and plays, ballets, concerts and big west end shows as well, I remember being about 6 or 7 and asking my mum after seeing a show once "do people earn money doing that" she said yes, and told me that some people make a great life from doing it and are actors all their lives. I remember thinking yes please that's the life for me and I told her so straight away. "mummy I'm going to do that, I'm going to be an actor".