It has been said that Mel Brooks based the premise of The Producers on his experiences in flops like this.
Adams and Strouse, flush with the success of Bye Bye Birdie, and Brooks, still a relatively unknown television comedy writer, concocted an old-fashioned musical reminiscent of such lighthearted fare as Good News, albeit one with a gay subtext enhanced by director Joshua Logan, who filled the stage with his trademark beefcake scenes filled with flexing muscular men stripped to the waist. The show was beset with problems from the start. Brooks never completed the second act, leaving the task to Logan, a noted script doctor whose comedic sensibilities didn't jibe with those of Brooks, and the difference in writing styles was obvious. Additionally, Logan's emerging bipolar disorder was beginning to affect his work. Once Ray Bolger agreed to play Fodorski, the script was tailored to showcase his talents, but turning the musical into a star vehicle for a performer who no longer was the audience favorite he once was ultimately proved to be a mistake.
