Continuing with my series of flops I wished I'd seen...here's one of the greatest, known for its record number of previews (71 performances) and brevity of run (9 performances). Ouch! I'm talking about Nick & Nora, of course.

Not the stylish pajamas, but the Broadway musical based on The Thin Man by Dashiell Hammett (author of The Maltese Falcon, famous for his hardboiled detectives, blacklisted in the '50s)

On the face of it, this should have been an out-of-the-park hit.

It appeared at the Marquis, and Arthur Laurents was the librettist and director, score by Charles Strouse and Richard Maltby, Jr. It starred two of my favorite musical theater stars: Joanna Gleason (Into The Woods) and Barry Bostwick (The Rocky Horror Picture Show) in the title roles of Nora and Nick Charles. Of course, Mandy Patinkin couldn't save Wild Party, so maybe that's not saying much.

And before we go too much further, let me state that I am a HUGE a fan of Nick and Nora Charles. I was introduced to Nick & Nora in The Thin Man movie series of the 1930s and 1940s, starring Myrna Loy and William Powell.

I just loved the relationship between Nick & Nora in those movies. They lived a lavish lifestyle, wandering the country solving crimes, drinking like fish, and generally sarcastically bantering with each other. However, their sarcasm contained very real affection. And although it was only hinted at, they gave the impression that they had a really fantastic sex life.

So what happened with the musical?

Laurents himself describes it as "...the biggest flop of my career..." and most critics agreed...it just didn't work. The greatest failure? No chemistry between Nick & Nora, which in a show about a couple called Nick & Nora, is a really, really big problem.

However, the original cast recording is available on Amazon, and it's worth a listen. Perhaps it will get a loving rewrite and restaging in about 10 years and return triumphant...