Faculty/Staff Detail

Thomas Hischak, emeritus professor of theatre, and theatre major Mark A. Robinson ’98, have co-written a book about musicals since 1989 that misfired on Broadway. The e-book, Musical Misfires: Three Decades of Broadway Musical Heartbreak, examines 151 musicals that did not run long enough to be considered hits. Such shows were once called flops but that, the authors argue, is no longer an appropriate description. The book cover is designed by graphics design major Karen Hischak ’12.

“Some of these were superb pieces of musical theatre that, for one reason or another, couldn’t find an audience, did not please the critics, couldn’t pay the high weekly bills, or just were not right for the time and place in which they opened,” Robinson said.

Oft-overlooked gems like “The Scottsboro Boys,” “Grey Gardens,” “Sweet Smell of Success,” “Xanadu,” “If/Then,” “Caroline, or Change,” “Bright Star,” “Steel Pier,” “The Last Ship” and “Tuck Everlasting” are explored alongside such famous musicals as “American Idiot,” “Victor/Victoria,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “Sister Act,” “All Shook Up,” “Be More Chill,”  “Shrek the Musical,” “Seussical” and “Young Frankenstein” that never reached hit status on Broadway.

“This is a book for anyone who loves musical theatre, both its triumphs and its heartbreaks,” said Hischak.

Juke box musicals, cutting-edge musicals, movie adaptations, teenage musicals, biographical musicals, history musicals and even horror musicals are among the many genres included in this journey through Broadway shows from 1989 to 2020 in search of success.

Robinson is the author of such books as the two-volume reference series The World of Musicals and Sitcommentary: Television Comedies that Changed America, as well as a regular writer for various theatre websites and records companies.

Thomas Hischak is the author of The Oxford Companion to the American Musical and more than 30 other books on theatre, film and popular music.

Together, Robinson and Hischak penned the popular The Disney Song Encyclopedia in 2009.

Karen Hischak is a graphic designer for Hampton Golf Corporation and a freelance designer of print and online graphics.

Illustrated with 42 photographs and filled with backstage stories, reviews from the press, and commentary on why the musicals were not hits, Musical Misfires: Three Decades of Broadway Musical Heartbreak is available on all sites in which e-books are sold.