Mary Poppins Movie: What Didn't Make It...

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 9:01pm

I don't have the London Cast album of Mary Poppins and the track listing is a little bit tricky, so I was wondering if someone would be kind enough to tell me what songs have been entirely cut or replaced in Mary Poppins. I heard Mr. Banks' songs were replaced (a shame because I love The Life I Lead and all its reprises) and that Fedelity Feduciary Bank was also gone. I think it's odd that these went to the chopping block since they all add a lot to the story, even if they are not the most popular or hummable songs in the film. Is anything else entirely gone or replaced?

Sorry if there is already a thread on this. With all the Mary Poppins discussion on the board I couldn't tell with a search.

[Yankeefan007]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 9:03pm

Cut:

The Life I Lead
Sister Sufragette
I Love To Laugh
and the Lullaby

Posted: 11/18/06 at 9:15pm

do you mean

what songs didnt make it into the original movie?
what songs from the movie didnt make it into the london stage production?
or what songs from the london production didnt make it into the broadway version?

[Heybeenfood]

Posted: 11/18/06 at 9:55pm

I think it means what from the movie didn't make it into the stage show. I know the show shouldn't be a carbon copy of the movie, but I really did miss the tea party on the ceiling.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 2:13pm

Very sad that The Life I Lead is cut, it's Mister Banks' theme throughout the whole movie and it sets up a lot of exposition without being boring. It's also very hum-able.

So is Fidelity Feduciary Bank in there after all?

I also think it is odd that some of the enormous number of original songs the Sherman brothers wrote for the movie didn't get into the show, some of them are very catchy.

The new songwriters clearly didn't do much research on the matter since in one interview they were practically insulting the Sherman brothers for not writing a song to the line "Practically Perfect in Every Way," because it's such a sing-songy line. The Sherman brothers DID write a song based around this line, called Practically Perfect.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 2:14pm

Oh, I'm truly pissed that Stay Awake was cut. It's one of my favorite songs from the film. It's actually my second favorite, after Feed the Birds.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 2:20pm

"what songs from the london production didnt make it into the broadway version?"
were there any?

[PaintTheMusic]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 2:51pm

All of the songs from the London version have made it to Broadway, unless I'm mistaken.

As far as the songs that didn't make it from the movie, I think it's a shame that "The Life I Lead" was not used, considering that the song replacing it is pretty awful in my opinion. For some reason, hearing Mr. Banks sing the "pricision and order..." portion of "Cherry Tree Lane" makes me cringe. It sounds like a poor substitute for the bouncy and clever "Life I Lead". I understand that the stage version needs to be original, but that new song just doesn't live up to the other new material.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 2:53pm

i really wish "Stay Awake" was still in it...

[bill mobley]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 2:55pm

I'm sorry that Sister Suffragette was left out. Ok, I know it's a little silly, but it's a fun song. In the relatively comic-strip world of Mary Poppins, the song was perfect.
"Well done, Sister Suffragette!"

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:01pm

"As far as the songs that didn't make it from the movie, I think it's a shame that "The Life I Lead" was not used, considering that the song replacing it is pretty awful in my opinion. For some reason, hearing Mr. Banks sing the "pricision and order..." portion of "Cherry Tree Lane" makes me cringe. It sounds like a poor substitute for the bouncy and clever "Life I Lead". I understand that the stage version needs to be original, but that new song just doesn't live up to the other new material."

I wonder why it was replaced to begin with then...that song is such an integral part of the entire movie. Did they replace that excellent reprise of it at the end of the movie where he's talking to Bert, and Bert starts singing "Spoonfull of Sugar"?

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:05pm

as of what i know, yes, Mr. Banks sings a reprise of "A Man Has Dreams" then and then Bert sings "A Spoonful of Sugar" reprise

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:07pm

Thanks!
Good, so the tune of The Life I Lead at least makes it in. Do you know if there is still the scene with the reprise of The Life I Lead where Mr. Banks reprimands Mary and she tricks him into taking the children to the bank with him?

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:16pm

I think all of the replacement songs are inferior to the original songs. Even Sister Suffragette, which was great to meet this woman who was extremely politically active for the rights of women... except in her own home. Her complexity as a character, and the humorous and charming way it was presented was totally removed... not for the better, either.

I missed the tea party on the ceiling, and Uncle Albert, and the chalk-drawn horse race at the track. And the "pearlies" raucously singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

I also missed the gaggle of gruesome nannies near the beginning of the story that are blown completely out of their queue, as Mary comes gliding in to ring the doorbell.

Basically... I missed the film.

I'm definitely open to change and reinterpretation. I thought The Lion King was magnificent, and an improvement over the film. But I don't like change whenever it takes a big step down from its source material. Mary Poppins is the most universally critically acclaimed film in Disney history... and to "mess" with it in ways that confuse plot, "dumb down" or dilute character is... really terribly unfortunate.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:21pm

"Even Sister Suffragette, which was great to meet this woman who was extremely politically active for the rights of women... except in her own home. Her complexity as a character, and the humorous and charming way it was presented was totally removed... not for the better, either."

I totally agree with you. I hear Being Mrs. Banks is a good song and a necessary song as well, and I do hope so.

I've seen videos of the new Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and I like it, bit I fail to see why they took out some of the lyrics.

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:22pm

some interesting stories from the Sherman Bros commentary on the MARY POPPINS soundtrack recording bonus disc...they'd written two songs that didnt make it into the movie...THROUGH THE EYES OF LOVE, which they thought was their masterpiece, & THE LAND OF SAND.

Julie Andrews didnt care for THROUGH THE EYES OF LOVE, she felt it didnt have enough "snap".

THE LAND OF SAND scene was cut during the writing stages & the tune repurposed as TRUST IN ME in THE JUNGLE BOOK!

i like the Laura Michele Kelly version of PRACTICALLY PERFECT...but i *do* think they dumbed the whole show down from London.
Even the logo is dumbed down.
Updated On: 11/19/06 at 03:22 PM

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:37pm

i know! i really love the logo with her made up of flower petals.

god! they act like us americans are dumb
Updated On: 11/19/06 at 03:37 PM

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 3:44pm

"I hear Being Mrs. Banks is a good song and a necessary song as well, and I do hope so."


It's only necessary if you care for the direction they took for Mrs. Banks's character. I do not. She is far too modern and "self aware" to fit in Edwardian England. I love original idea of this subservient perfect London wife who also happens to throw rotten eggs at the prime minister and risk jail to help the women's movement. It adds mystery, wit and sparkle to her... and she doesn't excuse it or analyze it. She is perfectly happy to do both quite cheerfully, and I've always loved that (and the brilliant way Glynis Johns played her). She simultaneously wants a better life for herself and her "sisters," while she also loves and respects her husband. To over-analyze oneself is something we've come to embrace in our age of Dr. Phil and Oprah, self-healing and self-awareness. I'm not knocking the improvements made and the lives helped by this approach... but it's totally wrong for 1910 London. And it trips up the "new" story and Mrs. Banks, and IMO lands like a giant dud on the stage of the New Amsterdam Theatre.

I found the setting and staging of "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" to be one of the strangest and most unsettling head-scratchers of the entire show. Why is this Jamaican woman playing crazy-scrabble with Mary, Bert and the Banks kids?? It's not a magical scene that evolves unexpectedly out of something else. It's just heaped upon us suddenly... we go with it (or not, in my case)... and we're taken out of it again, with no explanation, no set-up, or need for it.

At least in the film this song was presented as a climax to the chalk painting scene. Showing the children how much fun they can have with their imaginations. A normal outing in the park can turn into something fantastic if you let it.

Also, visiting a sick relative (Uncle Albert) can turn unexpectedly into a symbolic "tea party on the ceiling" if you let it.

This approach to Mary's "magic" was completely lost on this particular creative team.

Updated On: 11/20/06 at 03:44 PM

[AnythingCanHappen]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 4:41pm

i dunno if it is really fair to compare the two. with the exception of the big songs... there is SO MUCH that is different.

[TomMonster]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 4:46pm

Remember, the show is not only based on the movie, but also the original books. This was a stipulation of Travers herself. That's where many of the new elements and deletions occur. The Disney film drifted quite far away from the original stories in tone and story.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 4:55pm

*cough*
(for the better)

Again, does anyone know if the reprise of The Life I Lead where Mr. Banks reprimands Mary and she tricks him into taking the children to the bank is in it? I think it's odd that they kept the second reprise ("A Man Has Dreams") if they don't have the original song, so I wouldn't be surprised if they had the first reprise. I hope they do.

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 4:59pm

"This approach to Mary's "magic" was completely lost on this particular creative team."

I am sorry to hear that, and it certainly sounds like you know what you are talking about with the "new" Mrs. Banks, I wil probably agree with you once I see the show for myself.

[best12bars]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 5:01pm

I'm a huge fan of the original four books, and I know them well. I grew up with them.

I don't believe Disney drifted that far away in 1964, and neither did Pamela Travers herself, who had FULL creative approval of all aspects of the movie... something completely unheard of today. In fact that's why it took so long for the film to be made... nobody would agree to such demands from an author. Disney finally did, and it was a HUGE risk. She could nix something at any point if she chose to, and they couldn't even release it without her final approval.

[TWSFan4Ever]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 5:03pm

but didn't P.L. Travers greatly dislike the use of the animated animals and people?

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 11/19/06 at 5:09pm

"I don't believe Disney drifted that far away in 1964, and neither did Pamela Travers herself, who had FULL creative approval of all aspects of the movie... something completely unheard of today. In fact that's why it took so long for the film to be made... nobody would agree to such demands from an author. Disney finally did, and it was a HUGE risk. She could nix something at any point if she chose to, and they couldn't even release it without her final approval."

So I've heard...and yet she still is said to have been bitter about the movie.

One of the most interesting things I've ever heard is her recorded discussions with the Sherman brothers and the movie's producers on the second disc of the recent Mary Poppins soundtrack re-release. It could have been a much different, but I think equally interesting, film. It also has a lot of the unused songs.