Favorite/least favorite changes and cuts to shows

I have been listening to the London cast recording of Sister Act, and it got me thinking about shows that make changes and cuts from one production to another or during previews. What are your favorite/least favorite changes shows have made? Here are mine...

Favorites
- Annie revival reinstating the overture after not having it at the beginning of previews
- Women On The Verge moving Madrid to the beginning of the first act
- Lion King cutting Morning Report
- Addams Family changing the opening from Clandango to When You're An Addams
- Spider-Man adding A Freak Like Me
- Jekyll & Hyde revival reinstating Bring On The Men
- Jekyll & Hyde revival cutting the repeats of Facade
- Shrek changing Donkey Pot Pie to Forever

Least Favorites
- Women On The Verge cutting Shoes From Heaven
- Women On The Verge cutting My Crazy Heart as the opening number
- Spider-Man making cuts to Arachne's character (especially Think Again)
- Sister Act getting rid of the Prologue when it came to Broadway
- Jekyll & Hyde revival cutting No One Knows Who I Am
- Beauty and the Beast tour cutting No Matter What
- King and I revival shortening the overture

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Least favorite:
* Cutting "Tattletale" from 9 to 5 between Los Angeles and Broadway.

Least Favorites:

Cutting the extended "Anne on My Arm" dance sequence after the Boston tryout of La Cage Aux Folles.

Replacing "Having Someone There" with "I Belong Here" in previews of The Grand Tour.

Cutting the best song in Titanic, "I Give You My Hand," in previews.

And the unkindest cut of all: cutting "From This Moment On" from Out of This World.

Bywayphreak that's funny because I loathe 'No Matter What' I never understood why the quirky inventor would sing a ballad. I would have loved the tour! Ha

Just about everything re-imagined with Spider-man. The show was so much better before the changes. Yes, it took way too long for Julie Taymor to get the show in shape, but where she was going - and almost got to before stopped - was brilliant compared to the dull version that is now so popular.

Updated On: 11/8/17 at 11:52 AM

The Show Biz was cut either in previews or very soon after the show opened in Toronto and replaced by a different song for Evelyn and Houdini called I Have a Feeling. By the time the show opened in Los Angeles (still pre-Broadway), I Have a Feeling was gone, replaced by solos for Evelyn and Houdini in Atlantic City. If I remember correctly, the last significant change made to the show before the New York opening was a rewrite of those solos.

Updated On: 6/21/13 at 01:58 PM

Favorite:
AMERICAN IDIOT: adding 'Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)' as the curtain call. I thought it was a cheesy idea when I heard about it, but when I saw how it was done, I loved it.

Least:
INTO THE WOODS: cutting the revelation that the Narrator is the grown son of the Baker.

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I still hate how they cut the trio during the Wandering Child scene in PHANTOM.

Even though "Maybe" is definitely the superior piece, "Everything" in NEXT TO NORMAL had some beautiful lyrics that I wish had made an appearance after they cut it. I especially loved "this normal they sell you is no special deal / and no one should tell you the way you should feel / or what's real" AND "I know that in time you will sing a new song / and I will be nearby and humming along"

Also dealing with "Maybe", I like the 'devil you know' verse and it took me a few viewings of the show on Broadway to realize they had cut it. I spoke with someone close to the production and they said it inspired laughs during previews when people made the connection between Alice and the Side Show lyrics.

A day without "Tick Tock" is like a day without sunshine.
A day without "Bolero D'Amour" is like a day without "Tick Tock".

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Updated On: 6/21/13 at 09:11 PM

It just went straight into "Maybe I'm tired of the game..." after Diana sings "I'm dancing with death I suppose, but really who knows?"

I think I saw it three times before I noticed it and it apparently happened within the first couple of previews. I do think it was a silly reason to change it, but it was a hardly-noticeable cut. I'm glad its on the recording though.

Costco is great! I also loved Growing Up Unstable. Kitt performed it at the Times Center in August 2010 when they were holding events to introduce the new cast. It's more angsty than anything else Natalie has in the show but I missed it.

There were lots of little pieces of the show that were cut when it transferred, definitely for the better. The off-Broadway soundboard has a lot of fun little exchanges in the beginning of the show with Diana and her family. In My Psychopharmacologist and I, there's a little flashback and Diana's says "Happy 21st birthday, Dan Goodman! Guess what your present is okI'lltellyou. We're going HELICOPTER SKIIING! They take you up and they drop you on a mountain and you ski down... And I know we don't know how to ski but how hard can it be?" Alice played crazy well and just her vocal affectations when delivering those lines makes me miss them. The off-Broadway version was a little lighter and showed a playful essence of Diana when she was manic but when they cut things like Costco and those silly exchanges, it made her illness more potent and obvious. The emotional intensity of the Broadway incarnation of this show still blows my mind.