Posted: 2/15/18 at 12:36am
Kind of piggybacking off of a previous post, what are some cut songs from Tony winning and Tony-nominated shows that were a travesty they were cut (due to length of show, show re-tooling, context, etc). I'm interested in hearing your opinion of songs and why there were cut
Posted: 2/15/18 at 1:54am
There are so many. One that comes to mind immediately is "When I Went Home" from Peter Pan. It was cut during the previews in San Francisco and eventually replaced by "Distant Melody." "When I Went Home" is gorgeous but so melancholy it stopped the show in all the wrong ways. The song was used in the recent NBC TV version with Allison Williams but abridged and at a faster tempo than originally intended and lost some of its effect. There's a wonderful recording on one of Bruce Kimmel's Lost in Boston albums. (Bruce Kimmel posts here as "bk." )
BTW, Distant Melody was originally given to Kathleen (aka Kathy) Nolan as Wendy. It was so successful that Mary Martin had the song re-assigned to her. It took years for Nolan to forgive her, if she ever really did.
Another example from a more recently produced show would be Come Down from the Tree, cut in previews from the original Once on This Island. It also is to be found in a fine recording on one of Mr. Kimmel's Lost in Boston albums, as well as on one of Audra's albums. I have no idea why it was cut, since it's the best song in the score.
Updated On: 2/15/18 at 01:54 AM
Posted: 2/15/18 at 2:01am
Posted: 2/15/18 at 2:10am
I'll also add Ten Percent, cut from Chicago. Sung by Roxie's agent, he defends his cut of her earnings in a brisk, cynical, lilting song that is superior to many of Chicago's remaining songs. David Rounds was by all accounts brilliant in the role out of town. But the show was running way overlong and one of simplest ways to cut a substantial amount of time was to delete the character's entire story arc. (Other smaller cuts were made throughout.) Again, one of Mr. Kimmel's L in B albums has a fine recording by Harry Groener .
Posted: 2/15/18 at 2:16am
"Suddenly Lucky" was a soft shoe number Rodgers and Hammerstein cut from the Thanksgiving Show in South Pacific. When Gertrude Lawrence asked for a number to do with the children in The King and I, someone remembered it and Hammerstein wrote new lyrics beginning with "Getting to Know You...."
Updated On: 2/15/18 at 02:16 AM
Posted: 2/15/18 at 2:41am
R&H's "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" was written as a duet for Oklahoma! but either not used or cut in previews, I can't remember which. It was then filmed for Meet Me in St. Louis, sung by Judy Garland to Tom Drake, but cut before release. It was then sung by Frank Sinatra to Betty Garrett in Take Me Out to the Ballgame, but again cut before release. It was finally used successfully in the 1990s Broadway version of State Fair, sung by John Davidson and Kathryn Crosby. Instead of being sung by a young couple, it was sung by an older couple remembering their youth.
Both Garland's and Sinatra's versions are on youtube but I can't get them to post inline.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 3:04am
In recent memory, I thought "Lulu's Pie Song" being cut from WAITRESS was a sad change. It was a simpler and more effective finale.
The counterpoint of "Mama's Talking Soft" that went with "Small World" in GYPSY was also a sad cut, why don't they just reinstate it! "Small World" is a slog without it.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 3:05am
One more before I go to bed: Irving Berlin's wonderful Mr. Monotony was written for Judy Garland to sing in Easter Parade, filmed, but cut. (It's a supplement on the DVD and easily found on youtube.) It was then used in both Miss Liberty (1949) and Call Me Madam (1950) on Broadway but again, cut from both.
Debbie Gravitte finally brought the house down with it in Jerome Robbins' Broadway in 1989, winning a Tony for her efforts.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 8:24am
Totally agree with the ending of Waitress being "Lulu's Pie Song"
I love "Congratulations" from Hamilton yet understand why it was cut but i think it was a great song between Angelica and Alexander. Glad we can at least hear it on the mixtape.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 8:29am
Posted: 2/15/18 at 8:32am
Mr. Kimmel's Lost In Boston series really is the starting point for this conversation - I wish he was still turning those out. There are several tracks that I always love to hear: "What Am I Doing Here?" (Promises, Promises), "Italy In Technicolor" (Street Scene), "Man and Wife" and "Guess We May As Well Stay Married Now" (I Do! I Do!) and "Flaemmchen" (Grand Hotel) - and many more. I particularly love the tracks that are orchestrated so as to resemble the show's original charts.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 11:30am
I am totally on board with the decision to cut "Little People" from Les Mis, but I think they lost something when they cut Cosette's "I Saw Him Once", which led in to "In My Life". It's a lovely melody and gives Cosette a little more pathos--plus much of the story revolves around her and she doesn't get a moment of her own. I'm sure it was done for time, but cutting a verse of two of "Master of the House" or the Thenardier waltz could make that up.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 11:55am
That story about Kathleen Nolan isn't exactly right - at least in what she has said publicly. Yes, the song "Distant Melody" was taken away from her out of town, but by her own admission it was, at the time, the absolute right thing to do. The show was having a lot of problems, one of which was that Mary Martin simply didn't have enough to do in the second act. Since Martin really was the entire reason the musical PETER PAN was happening, Nolan said she completely understood and supported the decision. This is from an interview she did for a book called "The Peter Pan Chronicles."
Posted: 2/15/18 at 11:56am
Also very recently..."In The Bedroom Down The Hall", cut from Dear Evan Hansen. Such a beautiful, heart breaking song for the two moms. Once the opening was changed I guess it became somewhat redundant, among other reasons. So happy to have the fully orchestrated recording with the incomparable Jennifer Laura Thompson and Rachel Bay Jones.
Updated On: 2/15/18 at 11:56 AM
Posted: 2/15/18 at 12:40pm
Personally, I love Little People but I do think they made the right choice in cutting it.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 12:58pm
"There Won't Be Trumpets" from ANYONE CAN WHISTLE is the first thing that came to mind. You can see why they cut it, the monologue Laurents wrote for Fay is built for applause, so the song seems redundant. But it's a great song and I'm happy it's been inserted back in.
Posted: 2/15/18 at 1:04pm
"I'm Lost" cut from THE APPLE TREE. This, I believe, was to be one of Barbara Harris' final numbers in the third act which would've torn the roof off the place (and in Ms. Harris' hands was a bit similar to "What Do I Have That I Don't Have?" from CLEAR DAY). Gratefully, it's on one of Bruce's CD's and it makes one wonder why it was ever cut in the first place and how wonderful it would've been performed by Harris. In fact this whole thread should be a tribute to Mr. Kimmel and his wonderful series of cut songs from shows..
Posted: 2/15/18 at 1:15pm
"Tick Tock (Goes the Clock)" from PROMISES, PROMISES. A big energetic Michael Bennett production dance number featuring 3 secretaries (one being Donna McKechnie). It was cut in Boston but musical sections from the dance break part of the number exist in the opening sections of the Overture. The fully orchestrated musical number exists (performed by Lisa Mayer, Judy Malloy and Debbie Pavelka) on the LOST IN BOSTON recording. It is simply electrifying.
Posted: 2/20/18 at 11:01am
Heard a video of Will Roland sing Goin' Viral cut from Dear Evan Hansen. It's a hilarious and well written song and he sings it very well, but I think it would feel weird in the show.
Posted: 2/23/18 at 9:49am
"Who Could Be Blue?" cut from Follies.
Posted: 2/23/18 at 12:17pm
Costco from Next to Normal
Posted: 2/23/18 at 6:12pm
Thanks for the lovely comments about the Lost in Boston series, which we all loved doing - all four volumes of it. By the time we did the final volume, the market was so glutted and sales just couldn't justify doing any more. Michael Lavine, who decided to do his own take on our series, does them but it's just piano and that never interested in me - what interested me was having them sound the way they were supposed to sound. But maybe someday we'll do another volume, as there were still songs I was dying to do.
Posted: 2/24/18 at 6:36pm
Posted: 2/24/18 at 9:07pm
theatregeek6 said: "Costco from Next to Normal"
Was about to semi-jokingly add this myself!
Posted: 2/24/18 at 9:14pm
This isn't really a 'cut' song, but it's a song that was never really added... Back in 2009, the next to normal writers decided to use Twitter to create a new song for the show. They took suggestions from fans (via Twitter) and wrote a new song, Something I can't see. It was performed by Louis Hobson and Aaron Tveit (the original Doctor Madder/Doctor Fine and Gabe) in a concert in 2009. However, the song has never truly been inserted in the material in subsequent productions (or even in the Broadway production itself), which I think is a pity, since it's beautiful.
