Mitch Leigh may well have had the worst track record in Broadway history after achieving one spectacular success with Man of La Mancha in 1965. From 1970 to 1993 he wrote the scores for 5 Broadway shows, all of which were short lived commercial failures: Cry for Us All, Home Sweet Homer, Sarava, Chu Chem, and Ain't Broadway Grand.
2 more examples: Gerard Calvi, whose one Broadway success was La Plume de Ma Tante, and Marguerite Monnot, who wrote the score for Irma La Douce.
Calvi's follow up show La Grosse Valise played only 12 previews and 7 (official) performances. He never returned to Broadway and pretty much provided incidental music for French films for the rest of his career.
Monnot was mostly known as a songwriter for Edith Piaf. I believe La Douce was her only musical show -- she passed away in 1961 at age 58. |