Best/Worst Movie Musical Song Replacements/Additions

The Best

I think 'Just Leave Everything To Me' was a vast improvement on 'I Put My Hand In' for the Streisand film of Hello, Dolly! Ditto the Fanny Brice numbers (much to the composers' objections) over 'Cornet Man' and 'The Music That Makes Me Dance' in Funny Girl.

'Mein Herr' in Cabaret; 'The Lady's Got Potential' and 'You Must Love Me' in Evita; 'Listen' in Dreamgirls.

The movie version of 'The Glamorous Life' is one of my favourite things Sondheim has ever written, and I wish it was compulsorily incorporated into revivals (as in the very charming London production).

The Worst

Although a perfectly good Maury Yeston song, I dislike 'Take It All' over 'Be On Your Own' in Nine.

I've always felt that 'Suddenly' in Les Misérables, 'I Move On' from Chicago, and 'Learn to Be Lonely' from Phantom were written to garner Oscar nominations.

'Pet Me Poppa' over 'A Bushel and a Peck' in Guys and Dolls; 'Let's Go to the Movies' over 'NYC' in Annie; the synthesiser-heavy replacements for 'Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen' and 'The Music and the Mirror' in A Chorus Line (so dreadful that I don't even want to look up their titles.)

And, while 'The Glamorous Life' was a welcome addition to Night Music, I hated the Night Waltz put to words. Has Sondheim ever written a lyric as suspect as: 'Love is a lecture on how to correct your mistakes?'

Updated On: 9/11/15 at 02:50 PM

Sometimes cuts work. It depends on how skillful the director is in executing his vision.

Nine was going for a closer version of 8 1/2 and it was a disaster. Plus, there was no reason for some of the cuts. Replacing Be On Your Own with Take it All was an awful idea.

Also, I really missed all the cuts from Whorehouse, but they cut the whole Doatsy Mae subplot so by necessity those songs were cut.

They should have kept 24 Hours of Lovin' though. That movie needed a number like that.

I definitely missed the Ballad in Sweeney, but Burton's vision didn't include the concept of a Greek Chorus so I get it. While I don't care for Helena, it's a pretty good adaptation otherwise.

On the other hand is Cabaret. They cut so many great songs but it was in service to a different vision which ended up being a cinematic landmark. And the songs they added were as good, if not better, than what they cut.

I was just going to mention ^^ Something Good....as noted above.

I know My White Knight is a popular song from Music Man but I do personally prefer the replacement written for the movie instead - "Being in Love" I think is the name (but the middle part is the same).

I am sure I will think of more ....

I guess I'll be the first to say "You're the One That I Want" from the film of Grease is such a classic now, while "All Choked Up" is pretty forgettable. Also even though it's so clearly Disco-ey and not 50s enough, "Grease is the Word" is pretty damn fun.

"I Know We've Come So Far But We've Got So Far to Go" from the Hairspray movie is great. As is "The New Girl in Town"

I unashamedly love the title song "Bye Bye Birdie" in Bye Bye Birdie. On film, Ann Margret sells it so well and in that TV movie they made it AWESOME with the harmonies and much more dynamic and just so fun

I guess I'm the minority that thinks "Suddenly" in Les Mis was necessary seeing how everything with Cosette is usually so rushed.

The switching of "Cool" and "Officer Krupke" in West Side Story makes so much more sense tonally. Also on film the shark girl and guy "America" is dazzling and less punchliney for the sake of punchlines like the stage version and more story driven

God I hate "Something Good" from Sound of Music....

Updated On: 9/11/15 at 04:33 PM

rattleNwoolypenguin said: "I guess I'll be the first to say "You're the One That I Want" from the film of Grease is such a classic now, while "All Choked Up" is pretty forgettable. Also even though it's so clearly Disco-ey and not 50s enough, "Grease is the Word" is pretty damn fun.

"I Know We've Come So Far But We've Got So Far to Go" from the Hairspray movie is great. As is "The New Girl in Town"

I unashamedly love the title song "Bye Bye Birdie" in Bye Bye Birdie. On film, Ann Margret sells it so well and in that TV movie they made it AWESOME with the harmonies and much more dynamic and just so fun

I guess I'm the minority that thinks "Suddenly" in Les Mis was necessary seeing how everything with Cosette is usually so rushed.

The switching of "Cool" and "Officer Krupke" in West Side Story makes so much more sense tonally. Also on film the shark girl and guy "America" is dazzling and less punchliney for the sake of punchlines like the stage version and more story driven

God I hate "Something Good" from Sound of Music....

"

I literally agree with everything you said and was about to post the same thoughts on Grease, Hairspray, and Bye Bye Birdie

Mr Roxy said: "A few good numbers from Birdie got trashcaned from stage to film.

"

That's absolutely true, they left out good ones and ruined some others but that main title was an awesome addition

Ann Margaret sold that song. It still hurts thinking about the songs that went.

SUDDENLY ( Les Miserables film adaptation) was written to flesh out one of two key passages in the novel by Victor Hugo, which refers to Valjean having experienced two different kinds of epiphanies. The first one was when he found virtue, through the Bishop of Digne; the second one was when he found love, through his adoptive daughter Cosette. The novel dwells on how he took care of her in the early days, including the escape to the convent where they sought refuge for many years, hiding from Javert. These were missed in the stage musical. Tom Hooper's cinematic vision included highlighting this aspect of Valjean's life, where he retreated to a convent while Cosette grew up.

Btw, a cover of the song by Michael Ball suggests a different interpretation, one of romantic love. It is a versatile song.

Oh yea, good call darquegk.

I think the film version is much better, but I still really like the original.

I didn't know they included those new songs into the show. Great move. Mary Jane/Mary Lane is such a fun number.

I like "Then We Are Decided" from the 1973 film of Jesus Christ Superstar. The number does much to further explain Caiaphas and Annas' motivations. They're sort of one-note figures in the original album and stage versions. Songs like "This Jesus Must Die" are how we are introduced to them, and they come off a little like the old Christ-killer stereotype. How much of that is due to ingrained anti-Semitism in the story thanks to the original Gospel texts is up to the viewer (or listener) to decide. But "Then We Are Decided" at least interjects more insight into their perspective.

Now, I can see why people have not included it, by and large, in the stage version. First of all, its position in the film does not work on stage. On film, it's easy to cut away from "Strange Thing, Mystifying" ["They only need a small excuse / to put us all away"] and increase the tension by showing the authorities are already thinking of dealing with the problem (e.g., Judas' foreboding is not unfounded). On stage, however, interrupting the scene that incorporates "What's The Buzz," "Strange Thing, Mystifying," and "Everything's Alright" with "Then We Are Decided" ruins the arc of the scene -- an uninterrupted rising dramatic line of tension.

Some productions slot it in after "Everything's Alright" and before "This Jesus Must Die," but that just highlights the main dramaturgical problem most directors would probably have with the song. On paper, it seems like a logical choice, but in execution, put so close together, it only belabors the point of why the priests feel they must deal harshly with Jesus -- you'd hear two songs right in a row discussing much the same points, first with Caiaphas trying to convince Annas to back up his position, and then both of them trying to convince the council. An audience may or may not be as intelligent as we challenge them to be, but no audience enjoys feeling that the creative team believes they're stupid.

But then darguegk informed me of an approach that director Ken Gargaro has used in an annual production for roughly 25 years with Pittsburgh Musical Theatre. It's an intriguing production, one punctuated by the use of Renaissance tableaux, including loads of Catholic iconography, in the staging, and a lot of traditional/classical church music used for transitions and incidental scoring. Additionally, he uses "Then We Are Decided" as part of a prologue before the overture. I would go the same route, but to make the move from song to score more seamless, you cut the instrumental coda after Annas' "Then we are decided," and go right into the overture, likely accompanied by a bit of staging for dramatic effect to signal the transition into the show proper. Done right, I think it would be an interesting touch.

Updated On: 9/11/15 at 09:14 PM

I think all of the new songs in Grease are better than the ones they cut out: "You're the One That I Want," "Sandy," and "Hopelessly Devoted to You" versus "All Shook Up," "Alone at the Drive-In," and "Raining on Prom Night." Good job, movie producers, recognizing how bad these songs are. I do think "Those Magic Changes" is a lovely song, but it's completely superfluous, so I understand why it was cut.

Yeah, Tazber, the stage show has been greatly improved: "Mary Jane, Mary Lane" replaced the clunky "Dead Old Man" number, all of Mae's music has been rearranged around the more dramatic film version of her songs, and Jack's dance piece is now the "Murder" samba from the film as opposed to a boogie-woogie improv from the band. Additionally, the show is now framed as the Lecturer presenting at a PTA meeting,like the movie, as opposed to him being the narrator of the classic propaganda newsreel.

The only punches they pulled were in leaving out the baby-cannibalism from the film (the baby still gets sold, but it's no longer implied that he was killed and eaten by Oriental stereotypes), and changing the "One day I'll get cancer, or hit by a train!" line in the finale to "One day I'll get smallpox." I guess the cancer bad-juju superstition made a lot of people uncomfortable singing that line with a straight face, and it may have been found that it made audiences uncomfortable for the wrong set of reasons.

What a creative idea for a thread!

Anyway, my favorites are "Opportunity" from the most recent Annie (I just love that song) and that song that Robert Preston sang in the Mame film (because it gives his character more to do). I happen to like "Suddenly" and the axed Into the Woods movie song "She'll Be Back," as well.

What they did to the score of Forum in the film is unforgivable, which is why I think that one actually does need a remake. "Learn to Be Lonely" is a decent song, but it has no place in Phantom. I really missed the choral singing in Sweeney Todd. And I too miss "Be On Your Own," "Simple," and particularly the title song from Nine.