Favorite Cut Songs

[rougeduck]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:18pm

What are everyone's favorite songs that ended up being omitted from the actual musicals? One number that comes to mind is the powerful "Think Again" from Turn Off the Dark that was clearly the best song in the show but could never have worked with the new plot.
Also "More to the Story" from Shrek was just gorgeous.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:21pm

I love the "Momma's Talkin' Soft" counterpoint to "Small World" that was originally in Gypsy. If the show wasn't perfect as it is, I would definitely be in favor of putting it back in. It actually gives the little girls something to do other than act as glorified scenery.

[newintown]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:27pm

The "Lost in Boston" series of recordings is full of them.
Lost In Boston

[Barcelona]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:37pm

I really like "Growing Up Unstable" from Next to Normal

[ajh]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:44pm

I really love "Maid Of The Mist" that was cut from The Full Monty....just beautiful.

[carolinaguy]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:45pm

As a separate song, I love "Little People" from LES MIS. But I completely understand and support the decision to cut it from the show.

[fosca3]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:46pm

I've always liked 'Multitudes of Amys' from COMPANY

Updated On: 8/2/11 at 02:46 PM

[fosca3]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 2:51pm

It's not a cut song -- but when they made the cuts to shorten LES MIS, I really missed the extra lines between Valjean and Cosette in 'In My Life'

They cut the lines that showed how much Cosette loved Valjean ('In my life, I have all that I want, you are loving and gentle and good')

What they leave just makes her sound angry with him, and I think it totally changes the tone of their relationship at that point

[jamiekennywicked]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 3:35pm

I quite liked "tattletale" from 9 to 5

[zepka102]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 4:00pm

I've been obsessed with the Women on the Verge recording... was supposed to see it, but it closed a week before our day of going. I just found out Shoes From Heaven was cut during previews. Why?? It's gorgeous and is a great song to end the show!

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 4:06pm

Follies has several wonderful cut songs: "Who Could Be Blue?"; "It Wasn't Meant to Happen"; "Little White House"; "Can That Boy Foxtrot!" Most of these songs ended up in Marry Me A Little and have been recorded on Sondheim compilations and solo albums.

"Evenin' Star" from 110 in the Shade, which was restored for the 2007 revival. I think it really defines the character of Starbuck in an intriguing way.

Of course, "There Won't Be Trumpets," which most people don't realize was cut from the original production of Anyone Can Whistle because it was recorded.

[fingerlakessinger]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 4:17pm

"Heroes"- Wonderland
"For Goodness Sake"- WICKED

[thejcm]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 4:18pm

I really like "She's Gone" which was cut from SideShow. It's on the Ripley/Skinner Raw at Town Hall CD and Alice sounds great singing it. Who was originally supposed to sing it?

[AC126748]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 4:24pm

Alice sang "She's Gone". I'm not sure how it fit into the context of the show, but she sang the hell out of it in concert.

[IdinaBellFoster]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 4:57pm

There's Always A Woman, ANYONE CAN WHISTLE

Growing Up Unstable, NEXT TO NORMAL

[Unknown User]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 5:17pm

BRING ON THE MEN from jekyll and hyde

[philly03]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:30pm

"I Have a Feeling" - Ragtime
"I Wouldn't Have Missed It For the World" - Bonnie & Clyde
"Heroes," "Love Begins," "Worst Day of My Life," "Down the Rabbit Hole" (as a solo), and "Don't Wanna Fall in Love" all from WONDERLAND

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:50pm

"There's Something about a War" from FORUM. Yes, it brings everything to a dead halt, but it's still a great number.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 6:58pm

"Where Do I Go From Here?" from Fiorello. Liz Callaway sings it exquisitely on Lost in Boston II.

[bk]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:35pm

Yes, the Lost In Boston series is a treasure trove of great cut material - it was such fun to do them, and we're actually about to do a trial fully-staged production combining Lost In Boston and Unsung Musicals (one act each) at the end of this year.

""Evenin' Star" from 110 in the Shade, which was restored for the 2007 revival. I think it really defines the character of Starbuck in an intriguing way."

Very few people know the story of how this came to be. It's not quite accurate to say it was "restored" for the 2007 revival (it had been in other productions just prior to that). So, here's the real story:

I'd wanted to record Evening Star on the very first volume of LIB - and then on the second and third - I wanted my close personal friend Guy Haines to sing it. And every time I'd listen to it there was just something that didn't work for me and I couldn't put my finger on it. But I knew whatever was bugging me about it was why the song had been cut in the first place and why every director who's done the show since had tried to work it in only to end up not using it.

When we got to LIB IV, I listened again and it finally came to me - I finally figured out that the song was simply not complete. It had two A sections and a short two-line coda. I called Harvey Schmidt immediately and told him about my brainstorm. He wasn't immediately convinced and hemmed and hawed, but I'm quite pushy when I believe in something and I was determined to do the damn song. I asked him to think about it overnight and that we'd talk the next day. The next day arrived and so did a Fed Ex package containing a cassette. On the cassette was the most perfect bridge for Evening Star - it made the song - and it made the song complete, at long last. I was in tears. Of course, it was only the music.

I called Harvey and told him it was absolute perfection. He then told me that he'd spoken to Tom and Tom had said he would never write a lyric to it. I told Harvey to just remind Tom about all the Schmidt and Jones songs I'd recorded, as well as the revival cast of I Do! I Do! and a studio cast album that Tom really wanted done, Collette Collage. I told him I'd be happy to call and be pushy, but Harvey said he'd call but not to get my hopes up. Later that afternoon I got a fax with that wonderful lyric. We recorded it, they loved it. And the next thing you know, it went into a production in Washington and then LA (with Marin Mazzie and Jason Daniely) and now it is an official part of the show. Sometimes it pays to be pushy :)

And now, I'm about to hear it again as we're rehearsing for a Schmidt and Jones evening that plays tomorrow night at the Gardenia in LA - for any LA folks we've been doing these Kritzerland at the Gardenia shows (all based on albums I've done) for a year now - they're grand fun. We have great casts, and I'm told Guy Haines will be there to sing Evening Star :). We also have Will Collyer, Michael G. Hawkins, Michaelia Leigh, Lauren Rubin, and Camille Saviola, along with Melody Hollis and special guest Rex Smith.
Updated On: 8/2/11 at 07:35 PM

[North2009]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 7:42pm

"The Show Biz" from RAGTIME.

[rougeduck]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 8:20pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40Duuj_FIg4 I just found this and am so happy...I don't really care about deeply furious though.

[willrogers2008]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 8:21pm

"Ten Percent" (CHICAGO) and "Show Bizz" (RAGTIME)

[OhTossums2]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 8:37pm

Blood On the Pavement from Hairspray!

[jasonf]

Posted: 8/2/11 at 10:09pm

Come Down From the Tree and When Daniel Marries Me from "Once On This Island.