That list is not shockingly lengthy, given (a) how many shows Merrick produced and (b) the nature of Broadway production at the time, when about half of all shows that opened closed within 60 performances or less. Three-to-seven-day flops were an almost weekly routine in the 1950s, '60s, and '70s. For ***everybody.***
And look closely at the shows you've listed: Two by Tennessee Williams. One by John Osborne. One by Brian Friel. One by Iris Murdoch and J.B. Priestley, based on Murdoch's elegant and much-admired novel. One, an extremely rare production of Brecht on Broadway. Those shows are NOT junk, though some of them clearly didn't work--but that's a different story. I'd have produced them too. And then, of course, there were a few Merrick productions that probably were just not very good. Like every other producer who ever lived.
Merrick was, clearly, willing to take chances on good playwrights and somewhat adventurous or offbeat stuff, even if the show itself was iffy somehow or just not the standard Broadway fare. An what other producer does that remind you of? Yes, that's right. Harold Prince. |
