Broadway Shows that have completely changed since opening night

[PopAria]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:15pm

Can we say that all Bway shows have changed over time, even after opening night? Isn't Lion King going through some changes ? And the whole thing with Mary Poppins getting a new song after 3 years on Broadway,... We all know in about 2 months the spider-man spectacular extravaganza is going to be different and will probably be selling out like Wicked is right now. or not, idk.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:26pm

I don't know about "completely" but here are a few:

2 songs were added when Ethel Merman went into "Hello Dolly"

Cuts were made to Les Miz to bring it in under 3 hours. I think Gavroche's "Little People" number was cut.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:27pm

Lloyd Webber and Boublil/Schoenberg are notorious for making changes after opening. Virtually none of the original cast albums represent the final products. In addition, The Scarlet Pimpernel went through two major revisions after opening.

[Orangesaretuesdays]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:34pm

Love Never Dies although thats london

[Tag]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:38pm

I believe the ending (musically) of Miss Saigon was altered.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:40pm

There were a lot of lyric changes to Miss Saigon as well.

[Patash]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:43pm

I'm confused by your question, since you raised the point about Spiderman. Are you asking about shows that changed after they OPENED -- or shows that changed after their FIRST PREVIEW?

[luke-h***]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:44pm

London, but here's a good example.
I've sene Les Mis four times, and every single time there has been something different.

When I saw it in London for the first time in 2008, the pre-Master of the House section was completely gone, as well as a lack of little Eponine. The second time I saw it, it was the tour in 2009, with a new verse added to Lovely Ladies, the pre-Master of the House back in, and Little Eponine being present. The third time, was the tour again, the new Lovely Ladies verse was gone and I do believe Little People was significantly shorter than the first time I saw the tour, and the O2 concert had countless changes once again, no Little Eponine, "Hey Eponine what's up today..." all cut, as well as everything in between, it just went straight into "Stay out of this, but Eponine.." etc etc.

It seems to me, that Les Mis in particular is constantly changing. I know only two of those are the same production, but my brother had seen it three times prior to that in London, and said that there were prominent changes each time.
It's odd how it's such a celebrated show, and there's not really a definitive version.

[Overkill]

Posted: 11/29/10 at 2:48pm

The Addams Family has changed almost completely since it's out of town previews. But that's different.

Avenue Q has made some changes, especially when it moved off-Broadway.