Cutting Musical Numbers in Tours...

[OneSongGlory90]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 11:43pm

So I saw The 25th annual putnam county spelling bee non-eq. tour tonight and I laughed til I cried. I loved it but i noticed that they cut Chip's Lament (my unfortunate erection). Are they allowed to do this and does anyone know why?

Its a great tour so if its coming to your city, check it out. You will love it!

[TheatreFreak05]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 11:45pm

They didn't cut that song in the equity tour. I have no idea why they would cut it in the non eq

[OneSongGlory90]

Posted: 10/23/08 at 11:53pm

Maybe their trying to bill it as a family show?

[lakezurich]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 12:18am

That is so disappointing!

[RentBoy86]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 12:41am

Maybe for the shear purpose of staging? When I saw the Equity tour he was roaming through the audience throwing candy, and maybe, since it's non-Eq they didn't want to splurge on the candy or the theaters they were going to weren't equipped to handle the staging?

I heard they performing down the hall while I was waiting at an audition, and they sounded great.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 12:45am

Oh GOD, that sucks. It's a great song. Not just for the potty humor.

[Broadway Baby 2]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 1:49am

Maybe they cut that number to be more kid friendly. I know some numbers are cut if the scenery or equiptment needed is to difficult or big to travel with. It is allowed and often nescessary to cut numbers for tours.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 10:26am

If they're trying to be more kid-friendly, did they change how Chip lost at "tittup," and did they also change his final monologue?

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:10am

Yeah, it's a bummer, but the theatre can do anything they want. It's not up to the touring company or the cast (they were just as disappointed to cut the song as anyone) but if the theatre doesn't want it in there, then it's not in there.

So they do it on a case-by-case basis, and apparently your theatre just didn't want the hassle of potentially offending their patrons. It has nothing to do with staging or cost, and if you see it somewhere else you will probably see the number.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:15am

Yeah, it's a bummer, but the theatre can do anything they want. It's not up to the touring company or the cast (they were just as disappointed to cut the song as anyone) but if the theatre doesn't want it in there, then it's not in there.

Isn't that up to the licensing company?

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:18am

The licensing company CAN make that decision, but what I'm saying is that in this particular case, they didn't. The song is in the show on this tour. I know the company, I know the cast, I watched the dress rehearsal. And they told me they were cutting the number in some venues in middle America at the theatres' request. And that's not unusual; I've seen that happen many times. So, depending where in the country you are, there's a good chance you will see the number.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:33am

Is this phenomenon exclusive to non-Equity tours? I can't think of a time a venue did (or would have) asked the Les Miz tour to omit "****" and "ass" from Master of the House, for example...

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:41am

"And they told me they were cutting the number in some venues in middle America at the theatres' request. And that's not unusual; I've seen that happen many times."

Many times? With what shows? I've never heard of this happening.

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:44am

That's a good question that I can't answer. I can't think of any examples of an Equity tour doing this, so perhaps it is a non-Equity thing.

[DooWahDiddy]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 11:48am

Sorry, my last response was to LizzieCurry.

Erin, it usually has to do with cleaning up language... a lot of "god damn"s become "damn"s, sexual references get toned down, and in a very rare case a whole scene could be cut because there's no way around it.

Trust me, I hate it. I think the show should be what it is... but it's not up to me, and I guess getting people in the seats is what's important.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 12:08pm

Why did they even bother booking the show, then? This is like the people who bring 6-year-olds to Jersey Boys and then are appalled by the language...

[Jon]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 2:13pm

Actually, it all comes down to greed on the part of the playwright and composer. They certainly have the legal right to forbid any cuts, but then they might lose the booking. They'd rather have the royalties than their artistic integrity.

[dottedquarterrest]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 6:30pm

that is correct, in most venues, the show will play as its original one-act with no intermission and the erection song. Approved modifications or "clean shows" are done at venues' requests. Updated On: 10/24/08 at 06:30 PM

[fashionguru_23]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 6:55pm

I know that "Pop" was cut from The Wedding Singer tour, due to hi-tech scenary for the number, and it was deemed "too problamatic" for that particular set to tour, so they cut it.

[NGD2225]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:04pm

Well I know the school version has "My Unfortunate INFECTION" couldn't they have done that?

[Schmerg_The_Impaler]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:05pm

Haha, that's almost worse than the original...

[bwayfan9]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:09pm

They cut some versus in the Hairspray non-eq tour

[NGD2225]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:11pm

Yes, from what I caught Prudy's first lines in WOL are cut as well as Tracy's Easy Bake Oven torch dialogue.

[bwayfan9]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 7:20pm

what is that line that prudy says

and what is the Easy Bake Oven Thing


(that's the only production I've seen)

[broadwayboy522]

Posted: 10/24/08 at 10:35pm

The reason that the Hairspray tour has random line cuts is that at their first stop they did the 90 minute Vegas version. When they continued the tour they went back to the full version for the most part but kept a lot of the random line cuts here and there.