Wait In the Wings is a YouTube channel created by Brendon Henderson, which covers the history behind various Broadway musicals, from flops, to musicals that never quite made it to Broadway, to surprising successes. He has also created Top 5 lists, analyzed movie adaptations of musicals, and will occasionally make videos about a controversy unfolding on Broadway, such as the recent Funny Girl casting.
The channel can be accessed here
This show provides examples of:
- Acclaimed Flop: In-Universe. Discussed in the video, "What even IS a Broadway FLOP?" Ultimately, he argues that this is why shows shouldn't be judged solely on whether they succeeded or flopped, because they can flop for any number of reasons and it doesn't always indicate their artistic quality.
- Bait-and-Switch: One of the big mysteries behind the failure of Rebecca: who sent the mysterious emails to a real investor warning him to back out of the project? Mark Hotton, trying to frame producer Ben Sprecher for fraud? Co-director Francesca Zambello, who had no confidence that the production would actually happen? Brendon finally reveals that the culprit was Mark...Thibodeau, the show's publicist.
- Blatant Lies: In his episode on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, when describing the first night of previews:The show went off without a hitch! It remarkably finished under the advertised show time and the critics were amazed at the depth of the story and the catchiness of the music! It went on to win 70 Tony awards and is currently listed in the National Registry as one of the greatest Broadway musicals of all time.I'm sure that's what the producers were hoping would happen.
- Deadpan Snarker: Brendon has his moments (see the Blatant Lies entry for one example), particularly when it concerns Turn Off the Dark.
- Desperate Plea for Home: Had this reaction to the length of Cinderella (Lloyd Webber) during the episode "We need to talk about Bad Cinderella" with Mickey Jo Theatre.
- Driving Question: The Rebecca episode has one question repeated throughout: "What the hell is going on?" The mystery being: who exactly were the investors that magically appeared to fund the show, and what happened that lead to them backing out at the last minute?
- Flashback B-Plot: The Rebecca episode follows two main storylines: the present day, as defense attorney Ronald G. Russo tries to figure out what happened to the show's mysterious investors, and the past, covering how the classic novel was originally adapted into a musical.
- From Bad to Worse: The episodes discussing the history behind a flop will usually go in this direction.
- Homage: The Rebecca episode has a similar aesthetic to Clue and other board games like it
- Mockumentary: The episode on Rogers: The Musical showcases the
Troubled Production of the Show Within a Show... from the perspective of someone in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. - Poor Communication Kills: As highlighted in his episode on Carrie, when director Terry Hands was told by the investors to “think Grease" in creating the look of the show. He thought they meant the country, not the hit musical, which was why he dressed the actors – playing American high school students – in togas.
- Sleeper Hit: In-Universe. The SpongeBob Musical episode covers how it became this trope. Even Brendon expressed surprise towards the end of the video, stating how he'd been fully prepared to make another video about a flop and why the whole production had been a bad idea, only to find himself enjoying the show too.
- Troubled Production: In-Universe. The series has covered many productions that either flopped or, in the case of Rebecca, never actually made it to Broadway.
