Interesting Facts You Didn't Know About Your Favorite Shows..

[ljay889]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 5:00pm

What are some interesting facts you didn't learn about your favorite show(s) until recently?

For me it is Chicago..

Out of town they had a character who was Velma's agent. He had a big song called "Ten Percent." I knew about this, but what I didn't know is that... after out of town..when the show was starting to rehearse for Broadway. The creators had to make a tough decision. Cut the role of Velma's Agent OR Mama Morton! Obviously they chose to cut the agent. But I couldn't believe Mama was almost cut. I think she is a very strong supporting character; the show wouldn't be the same without her. It would almost be like cutting from Carlotta from Follies. I was shocked to hear this from John Kander on the 10th Anniv DVD of Chicago.

So is there anything you didn't know about your favorite shows until recently that suprised you? Updated On: 10/10/06 at 05:00 PM

[ahmelie]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 6:56pm

I can't think of anything.

But what if Mama was cut and we were sitting here going "Wow, I can't believe the Agent was almost cut! She's such a strong character." Haha.

[jv92]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 8:21pm

The agent was a male. He sang, as ljay said, "Ten Percent", an absolutely wonderful song that ranks with "When You're Good to Mama" as the best written for the show. Fred Ebb's performance on the recent special edition CD set is absolutely wonderful. I never saw David Rounds in the part, but from the demo, Fred should have done that part!

[ahmelie]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 8:29pm

Interesting, I'll have to go get said DVD.

Posted: 10/10/06 at 9:17pm

In the original production of Sweeney Todd, the wood for Pirelli's wagon was made of wood from a junkyard. The wood had woodlice and they had to infiltrate the costumes and sets.

[AudreyTwoTwo]

Posted: 10/10/06 at 10:07pm

I know that this isn't technically the show, but...

In Wicked, Elphaba gets her name from the author of the Wizard of Oz's initials.

L. Frank Baum

eLPHaBa

[broadwaystar2b]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 12:25am

I didn't find out until relatively recently that Trekkie Monster from Avenue Q was original created as a "Trekkie" down to the original puppet who wore the Star Trek uniform and had Spock ears

[thevolleyballer]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 12:38am

Until closer inspection, I had no idea that Nicky from Avenue Q had a beard. I was completely oblivious. I didn't realize until after I had seen the show twice (once from second row center)!

I'll say one thing, though. When I found out about Jonathan Larson's death in proximity to Rent's opening, I was floored. Though it wasn't recent, it was definitely the most interesting fact I could ever be told about one of my favorite shows.

[deloverly]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:04am

That in a way original draft of RENT, Maureen was HIV positive too.

[ErinDillyFan]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 9:15am

Maybe OT, but "Somewhere over the Rainbow" was cut from "The Wizard of Oz", I can't remember who through a fit to get it put back in. Apparently, no one at the studio liked it and it didn't test well.

It is one of the most fascinating parts of musicals to me, the songs and people that get cut.

[Eastwickian]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 10:51am

All the choreography in The Witches of Eastwick is about control - the townspeople only dance when they are being directed by Darryl or Felicia, and music for each borrows and corrupts the other's themes. Also, the score for the Witches of Eastwick demo CDs makes much more sense (musically) than what ended up on stage in London.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 3:21pm

I hadn't heard that wood lice story but it reminded me of reading a story that Angela told about her costume. Apparently one of the wardrobe people thought her dress didn't look dirty enough and she ground a plate of spaghetti into it--of course, after a while, it began to stink and almost made her vomit. Yum! The costumer had come from SNL and was used to making do in a split second. After that, they used dye to fake the food stains.
Updated On: 10/11/06 at 03:21 PM

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 3:28pm

i like this thread very much....

and not so much my favorite show...but still interesting:

comparing la boheme and rent you get some pretty awesome stuff that larson put in there. it seems like after i haven't listened to the OBCR for a while, i always find something new that i didn't correlate to la boheme before. there's the obvious stuff, but the more subtle stuff is pretty impressive.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 3:34pm

Hmm.

There are a whole lot of these on the Stage Door of Beauty and the Beast.

Some I know of, off-hand:
A lot of the Wicked musical phrasing has Wizard of Oz influence - the Unlimited section is Somewhere Over the Rainbow rearranged.
In Wicked, the ruby slippers aren't ruby - they're silver with red lights shining on it.
Eugene O'Neill's Strange Interlude was a play written in 10 Acts - it began at 5 PM with a 45 minute dinner break from 7:15 - 8. The show started up at 8 and ended at 11:30.

My personal favorite:
Alan Aykbourn's play House and Garden was really 2 plays: House & Garden. The concept? Stage I and II of MTC's City Center location were used and the plays were interconnected. Characters went back and forth in between each play, during the show itself. They were timed down to the minute for each entrance and exit into the alternate play.

[worrell4077]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 3:35pm

I didn't know that Jersey Boys was originally titled "Oh What A Night" until I read the program.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 3:36pm

West Side Story originally ended with Maria shooting Chino and then shooting herself. Anita explained everything to the shocked onlookers. So the original ending of West Side Story was supposed to be exactly like Romeo and Juliet just like the rest of the show.

[Dre2387]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 3:46pm

In Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, there was more to the balcony scene then there was in the show. Supposedly there was suppose to be a some sort of pantomine thingy between Andre and Muriel before they started to speak. Norbert thought it was hilarious and was very curious when Jack O'Brien took it out. But supposedly Jack want it to be funny but not over the top.

Also, the opening song n the tour is different from the one on Broadway because David Yazbek didn't think "Give Them What They Want" was the best he could have done. But after hearing how people don't like the new one, I think he should have just stuck with the old one. It was fine.

[lildogs]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 3:48pm

The original title of A Streetcar Named Desire was The Poker Night, to which Martha refers out of the clear blue in her Act III monologue in Virginia Woolf...Albee had put in a little Tennesee joke in his show.

[actor]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 4:46pm

Elphaba doesn't really fly or cast spells. It's all make-believe.

[Mattbrain]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 5:09pm

Ha ha ha!!!! Very funny!!! Why do people always use these threads to rip on Wicked? Can we stay on topic?

Updated On: 10/11/06 at 05:09 PM

[ahmelie]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 5:20pm

"That in a way original draft of RENT, Maureen was HIV positive too. "

As was Joanne, actually, Mark was the only one without HIV.

And the bit in Without You where Mark and Roger fight was reversed, Mark was insulting himself and Roger defending him. "Perhaps it's because you're the only one of us to survive"

Oh, the interesting things I have left over from my short lived RENT obsession...

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 5:20pm

Quick, someone write a song parody...

[actor]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 7:20pm

"Defying Gravity" parody.

Glinda and Elphaba: Why are you happy, my dear frieeeend.

*guards rush in*

Glinda: Ew, who are you. Get your paws off!! Oh my GOD! It's Elphaba you want, not me you hounds. Go for the ugly one, not the one dressed like a d*mn princess!

Elphaba: Shut up Galinda!

Glinda: It's Glinda thanks you your little sheep friend Mr. Dillamond.

Elphaba: It's Dr. Dillamond and he's a goat!

Guards: Ok, which one of you is the witch?

*Glinda and Elphaba point to each other*

Glinda: Nooo!! The one with the silly black hat.

Elphaba: I thought you said it was pretty during the dialogue of "Dancing Through Life".

Glinda: I lied...deal with it!

*Half of guards rush to Elphaba, half rush to Glinda*

*Guards throw Glinda off stage and into audience*
*Guard is about to stab Elphaba when!...his ADD kicks in and he forgets to put the spear into Elphaba, watching Elphaba fly off of the ground*

Elphaba: Alright! It's meeeee!!!

*guards all simultaneously trip and fall in slow motion*

Elphaba: So if you wanna find me, look that way. That crook says I should fly, but since I'm flying solo, since I've been set free, I'm gonna murder those who'd ground me. Take that message back from me!!! Tell yourselves how I'm flying. Yeah that's right! Defying Gravity! What are you gonna do about it??? Soon I'll match them in renown. And what does renown, me-he-hean, also no a*shole that there is or isn't....is ever gonna f*ck with MEEEEEEE AGAIN!!!!!!

Glinda: I hope you die-eye.

Crowd: Look at her, she's ugly.

Elphaba: Don't F*ck with me-he-heeee!!!

Crowd: Her flat chest blinds our eyes!!!!

Elphaba: OHHHHHHHHHHHHH (my period)!!!!!

Crowd: Bloooodd!!!

*Elphaba drops broom*
*Glinda screams*
*Elphaba cackles*

----END OF ACT 1----

[broadway_show_fan]

Posted: 10/11/06 at 7:41pm

Info I got from Patti Cohenour when she took me on a tour of The Light in the Piazza backstage:
-The entrances that lead to the apron, down right and down left, have really really steep stairs. Vicky, Kelli, Patti, and Katie have all fallen down those stairs while making quick entrances.
-There are two different hats: one that is just a costuming piece and one that looks just like the costuming piece but it has a tiny little circle on the top, allowing it to be flown.
-The Piazza cast had a "mascot" named Edwina. If you wantched the telecast, you can see it in the hallway outside of Vicky's dressing room by the water cooler, during the interview section at Intermission (she goes to fill a coffee cup at one point and I think you get a clear shot then). It's this crazy-looking dummy dressed up in random stuff with a Halloween mask.
-They redid all the lighting for the PBS Live from Lincoln Center production and it kind of threw off the cast.

For All Shook Up:
-Each of the ensemble members had a name for their character. Anika Larsen's character was, I believe, "Vivian" (or maybe "Vivien"). When Julie Reiber took over Anika's track, she was the "twin" of "Vivian" and named her character "Violet."

[Yero my Hero]

Posted: 10/12/06 at 2:24pm

Re: the ruby/silver slippers in Wicked:

The slippers are supposed to be silver. They're silver in the original book. The only incarnation of The Wizard of Oz that ever had ruby slippers was the MGM movie, and that's just because they wanted to have fun with the brand-new technicolor technology.

Yes, I know all kinds of random trivia bits on TWOO. The part of the Wicked Witch seems to be cursed. The first woman cast in the movie (I forget her name) quit because the makeup was too ugly. The second woman, Margaret Hamilton, who played her in the movie, was severely burned during her exit from Munchkinland once. I think she also fell off her broom during one of the flying scenes. Then, if you add in Elphabas, Idina fell through the trap door and broke a rib and the first tour Elphaba (sorry, I forget who it was) suffered an injury that delayed the start of the tour.

Yep, part's cursed. I'm just glad I escaped it when I played the Witch in junior high. :-p