Stand-by Joined: 10/21/11
What is your favorite cut song or song that was removed for future productions?
Mine would have to be "Boom Crunch" from Into the Woods.
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/16/07
I always gravitate back to "Pleasant Little Kingdom" and "Bang!"
I love Ann Miller's rendition of "Can That Boy Foxtrot" in Follies.
I still rally enjoy "Good at what I Do" (I think that's the name) from Catch Me if you Can. Norbert really showed off his incredible talent in this song. Oh well, he still won the Tony!
I love the cut songs from Once on this Island: "Come Down from the Tree" and "When Daniel Marries Me."
"Love Begins"
"Worst Day of My Life"
"Don't Wanna Fall in Love"
.. Three great songs cut from the Broadway flop version of WONDERLAND
The original opening number for FORUM. No, it didnt really work, but it's still a great piece.
I love Costco from Next to Normal. I really wanna hear the cut songs from Wonderland!
I second "Boom Crunch" although "Last Midnight" is perfect in my eyes.
I would have to say "Feeling Electric" from Next to Normal. It doesn't fit anywhere in the score, but it's just so catchy and amazing!
I also like "Do A Little Business" from the NYTW version of RENT, even though it's very very 80s and would've gotten outdated very quickly. I might also just like it because I hate "You'll See" with a passion...
Broadway Legend Joined: 2/20/04
I hate that the current licensed version of "She Loves Me" cuts out "Tango Tragique".
Broadway Legend Joined: 9/30/08
So - I tried to post but it disappeared.
My favorite cut SONG is "Shoes" from LUCKY STIFF (just too funny with the new title to this thread). I heard it for the first time at Raul Esparza's master class at Davenport Studios this past July. The young man who sang it was very talented, and the song was a great match for his personality and performance style.
Ugh my long post just disappeared. Serves me right... I'll post highlights from it.
SeanMartin--do you mean Invocation (which I don't think made it to previews) or love is in the Air?
Thereare so many Sondheim ones but off the top of my head... I'm very fond of Happily Ever After (which oddly is perhaps the Sondheim song that pops into my head the most--even if it's not a typical shower song), Ban!, Silly People and Uptown/Downtown probably top my list.
I've never heard much love for Boom Crunch before but I love it too. I also love Second Midnight and Soldiers from Sunday (though I get why both were cut from their respective shows, it's nice to have decent recordings of them).
Neither Fiorello or Happy Time are scores I play too often 9though I like both) but from Lost in Boston I love What Am I Doing Here and If You Leave Me Now from each *so* much.
Come Down from That Tree from Once On this Island and The Show Bizz from Ragtime.
Other people's lists make me curious to hear some of these songs--I never thought to investigate any cut Rent songs for example.
Pretty obscure but from the workshops I thought Don't You Break My Boogie for Tales of the City was fantastic--a mix of disco with a ton of story points mixed in, and much better than the song that replaced it in San Fran.
I think there are probably tons more but I'm drawing a blank.
I admit as a teen I used to be obsessed with cut songs and often, probably just because they were obscure, thought they were better than what replaced them. I've had more common sense since then, and realize why most of them (most, not all) were cut or replaced.
"I hate that the current licensed version of "She Loves Me" cuts out "Tango Tragique"."
This makes me think of fave songs, or in some cases "numbers" that were on the original recording or on Broadway but are more frequently cut now, but I love.
Such as Bolero D'Amour from Follies and Tick Tock from Company (yes, more people than not seem to argue that neither are missed, but I find them important parts of each show).
Fie on Goodness and Take me to the Fair from Camelot, etc...
A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC- "Silly People"
I agree that both FOLLIES and COMPANY are greatly diminished with rhe removal of "Bolero d'Amore" and "Tick Tock", respectively. Frankly, I've always found "Who's That Woman?" to run a close second to the Bolero number in terms of concept and execution of the theme of time's passage in FOLLIES. It almost seems as if someone has it in for the memory of Michael Bennett.
Uptown Downtown - Follies
I'm Lost - The Apple Tree
Big Fat Heart - Seesaw
Marking Time - Pippin
At the moment... "This Never Happened Before" from Bonnie and Clyde.
Oh, and Flamchen for Grand Hotel.
I haven't seen B&C yet, so I have to ask:
does Clyde sing "This Never Happened Before" in regards to his sexual dysfunction?
JustOldBill, you're not the first to say that about Bennett's contribution--and yes, as staged by Bennett, Bolero was not a mere dance interlude but perfectly visualized the Follies theme before Who's That Woman does so in a slightly different way. I find it odd that it's cut in the current two act revival when it was included in the one act version (since now the acts are fairly short so time isn't an issue--but I guess it means casting Vincent and Vanessa at least the elder couple--I'm sure some of the young chorus could do the younger version).
I admit, dance is a big part of what I love about musicals--when it's done to add to the story and theme. Being a Sondheim fan(atic), I've come to terms with the fact that from his Lapine shows on dance really doesn't have much of a role in his shows (and I didn't think adding more of it to the Woods revival accomplished anything), but it does frustrate me that it's invariably the first thing to go from his earlier shows--I've even heard of regional productions of Anyone Can Whistle dropping the Cookie Chase, many productions of Pacific Overtures cutting the Lion Dance (which is a huge turning point in the musical), the revised Merrily has virtually no dance (I assume because it's now more of a realistic show than one presented by students), but Companya nd Follies are the ones that bug me the most.
I think the recent concert of Company, even if I wasn't fully won over by how Tick Tock was staged, showed that it's an important part of the musical and not just an excuse to let Donna McKechnie dance as many directors of revivals seem to say. (that youtube clip of Donna dancing it at the Company reunion concert--even if due to her health at the time she doesn't do it full out--is brilliant).
There's also the argument about that Mr. Sondheim has been trying to remove what is basically the work of other composers from his scores (David Shire- "Tick Tock" and John Berkman- "Bolero d'Amore"). Thank God Richard Rodgers never treated Trude Rittman so shabbily. We'd be living without "The Small House Of Uncle Thomas", most of Agnes de Mille's contributions and heaven knows what else.
I knew Sondheim wrote the very brief basic theme of Bolero, but didn't know who did the actual piece. This is mentioned in the Follies is Shipping thread (well partly because I just posted there), but I'm not sure I fully buy that argument. Sondheim has always been pretty open about who did the dance mmusic in his pieces and never tried to pretend it was his, and it seems more like they're easy pieces to cut due to budget and time, but I may be being too easy on him. (The 90s revival of company did include Tick Tock but of course it was I believe cut from the recording and from the subsequent licensed script of that revised script).
I know it's more an issue of time--just like orchestrations are--but I've often wondered why Sondheim hasn't tried to do more of his dance music (what little there is in his shows). In that essay listing Sondheim's record collection and his favorite music, a LARGE chunk is ballet music (particularly, as he says, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and of course Ravel), and frankly I think any modern ballet choreographer could make a great piece out of a re-arrangement of his score for Stavisky.
Ten Percent - Chicago
Bring On The Men - J/H
My Pa - The Yearling
I know Steve-o never liked the Bolero (and neither did Prince and Goldman, it was Michael's baby) and I feel like Tick Tock was the same situation ---- they don't really progress the plot, though they both have great dance arrangements.
Have there been quotes on that? Steve only says good things about the Bolero in Everything was Possible though much of it is paraphrasing--though I know Prince obviously gave it all to Bennett.
I do think they advance the plot--at least as much as half the other songs in Company and Follies do--and with all due respect, I think anyone who thinks that either pays no attention to dance when it happens on stae (just tunes out--as I have some theatre friends who do), or saw it done poorly. Maybe plot isn't the point, but theme is.
Tick Tock is all about why Bobby/April having sex isn't the same connection as the other couples, and adds to why he doesn't end up or feel connected to her--it also serves as a great break between their scene and the morning after Barcelona. Bolero in one number brilliant captures the entire theme of Follies, something Who's That Woman does as well but to less heartbreaking results.
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