Responding here partly also to those who replied below.
I can't say how much stars would have helped, but I think there are shows that don't need stars and there are those that at least profit from having stars, and this may be one of the latter.
I know a lot has changed in 50 years, including that we can watch the movie any time we want, not to mention everything else that has been much discussed on this board, but one thing they did right in 1972 was cast at least one genuine star in a role in which people could imagine and expect that he would be very funny. Robert Morse was not a superstar, but he was a theatre star and had done enough film and television that his name really was well known. I think Christian Borle (in a different role here), talented though he is and funny (even inspiredly so) as he can be, has not broken through in that way.
Would a star, the right star, have helped? Probably, but again a lot has changed in 50 years.
And as I discussed here recently, I am doubtful that Sugar actually did recoup, even though recoupment was announced. It had a good advance but obviously much less good reviews (after tryout hell) than the current SLIH and it never really took off at the box office. It did well enough to run as long as it did, but there wasn't even really a tour. Still, it did better than SLIH is doing so far. |
