Musicals That Cut Entire Plotlines

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 10:14am

I've been noticing more and more recently that so many of the famous musicals we know today jettisoned entire plotlines from their original versions to the final and most famous editions.

For instance, Rent, which dropped the "investing in real estate" plot that once drove a significant portion of act 2;

Evita, who turned Che into a mix of Che Guevara and "Che Everyman," when it deleted the origin story of Guevara's rise and fall as a chemist/capitalist (the ever-present b-plot of the original concept album).

Next To Normal, which pared down the plot twists at the end of Act 2 and MOSTLY got rid of a complicated sub-plot about which member of the family was actually the unstable, delusional one (although it maintained the song "Who's Crazy" and the big reveal of Gabe and Dan at the end of Act 2).

Are there any other shows that streamlined down during production and dropped big plot points entirely?

PS: This MAY not be the same thing, but I was discussing Matilda: The Musical with a friend who was a huge fan of the book and the American movie. She had been upset with how little Matilda's telekinesis appeared in the musical, coming as a last-minute discovery. When I countered that Matilda has, instead, been given a wide array of mind powers from predicting the future/knowing things she couldn't possibly know to being able to absorb thousands of pages of the Western Canon in a single week, my friend countered that that was a different story- it wasn't Matilda anymore. Matilda is a telekinetic girl...

The best argument I could give was that Minchin and Kelley (probably wisely) made these changes to differentiate Matilda (the story of an abused psychic girl who is tormented at home and school and has an abusive and dysfunctional family, before bonding with a sympathetic teacher) from a certain OTHER musical which had rather a bad reputation at the time of Matilda's inception and premiere.

[brldisteach2]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 11:06am

For Matilda: Actually, the telekinesis is not a HUGE part of the book. The musical kept the big moments-knocking over the glass, writing on the chalk board...

For other shows, Les Mis is probably a good example, but the book is so long that they would have to cut several of the sub plots. One thing I liked was the movie putting the scene back in where Fauchevelant (sp?) helps hide Valjean and Cosette in the church.

[Colle]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 11:24am

Another plot point that was in an earlier draft(in the French concept) of the musical Les Miserables but was cut, was about Marius and his grandfather. That was also put back in the movie.

Posted: 8/18/13 at 11:25am

Wicked cut out the explanation that both girls spent several years being held back in kindergarten and that is why both Galinda and Elphaba are in their mid-40's when they go off to Shiz.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 11:38am

The recent Cabaret revival cuts down the character of Cliff and makes the show completely about Sally. It mostly cuts out the love story plot and plays up the decadence of the time. For me, it's unbalanced because Cliff is the narrator of the piece and he's reduced to one duet (Perfectly Marvelous).

Updated On: 8/18/13 at 11:38 AM

[Scarywarhol]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 11:42am

Yeah, everyone seems to forget that Roald Dahl pulled the telekinesis almost at the END of Matilda. It's only the Americanized movie that really makes it a thread through the whole thing. I thought the musical's solution (with the storytelling) was pretty ingenious.

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 12:03pm

I don't mind that Cliff's been chiseled down for the recent Cabaret. What did he have to do in the original that was missing from the revival? In 1998 he had Perfectly Marvelous and the Wilkommen reprise, in the 1966 version he had Why Should I Wake Up in addition to that. Actually I think it's very effective not to have Cliff sing very much at all until the Wlkommen reprise. It sets him apart from everyone else, which is largely the point of his presence in Berlin.

[kieranbec]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 12:30pm

The Elizabeth Taylor sequence was cut from Bombshell.

[mikem]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 12:47pm

What plot twists were taken out of the end of Act 2 of Next to Normal? I don't remember hearing about that before.

[Nickhutson]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 12:53pm

Yes - in Dahl's novel, the "powers" don't come to the very end. Ignore the movie; it's junk.

I heard for Little Mermaid's broadway show, they cut Vanessa from the stage show.

I also wonder which ending Disney will choose for Hunchback of Notre Dame when it comes to Esmerelda's death.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 12:53pm

Early versions of the show were framed by two devices removed from later versions-

1. Gabe and Henry were doubled roles, and Henry's resemblance to the imagined "Superboy" that haunted Diana was one of the catalysts of her downward spiral.

2. The show chronicled the psychiatric treatment of a traumatized D. Goodman- revealed at the end to be Dan, not Diana.

[darquegk]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 12:55pm

I personally prefer the way the movie and the musical deal with Matilda being psychic or telekinetic- rather than it being a last minute ass-pull, it becomes a big part of the character.

[ChairinMain]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 1:28pm

Can anyone elaborate on the "Investing in Real Estate" Plotline cut from Rent? Never heard about this.

Wicked, in its earliest form, had a much more prominent role for Dr. Dillamond. As in the book, Elphaba worked with him in his experiments on "Crystilization" whatever the hell that was, and she and Dillamond and Fiyero (who also was assisting) had a rain in spain-type number when they succeeded, leading to an awkward moment between Elphaba and Fiyero. Then Dillamond was taken away in the middle of the night. All of this vanished in San Francisco.

There was also an out-of-town sequence cut from Drowsy Chaperone in which "Monkey on a Pedestal" did not develop into a big soliloquy for Janet, but a "Dream Ballet" centered around Robert. It featured Janet and "Mimi" competing for Robert's attention, and somehow George ended up getting shot, leaving Robert with the stunning epiphany "Wait! I have to get married! OR ELSE GEORGE IS GOING TO DIE!" The Man in Chair noted that the sequence was "Cut out of town" so I suppose they knew the number was going to be short-lived.

And of course when BOUNCE became ROAD SHOW, Willie's love interest and most of her plotline was deleted entirely. Thankfully they kept her best number (The Best Thing That Ever Happened) and reassigned it to the gay couple Addison and Hollis. I think It may be the best love song Sondheim ever wrote. (OK except "Tonight". And Possibly "Too Many Mornings". But it's in the top three!)

Updated On: 8/18/13 at 01:28 PM

[TheGingerBreadMan]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 1:33pm

I really wish that Wicked would have stuck truer to the novel - I read it a few months ago and loved. I am a fan of Wicked, though it would have been much better (though not as family friendly and touristy) had they stayed true to the novel. Nobody even dies in the musical! I think the death of Dr. Dillamond in the novel is much more effective in showing how the Wizard is trying to rid of the Animals of Oz than the musical's take on it, where he merely disappears.

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 1:37pm

For the Cabaret movie they entirely cut the characters of the 2 old people & their numbers

Updated On: 8/18/13 at 01:37 PM

[E.Davis]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 1:38pm

Cliff's part is still pretty much in tact with only the elimination of his solo song. As much as they try to make cabaret about Sally and Cliff, I always feel Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider are more important of the two and the ones you end up caring for.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 2:27pm

Fiddler on the Roof originally had a song and scene involving a traveling salesman who sells Motel the sewing machine. Gino Conforti, (the Fiddler) doubled in the role of the salesman. When the scene was cut, he considered quitting the show. Also, the song "Anatevka" was originally an up-tempo comedy number that opened the second act.

Chicago had the character of a talent agent, with a song, "Ten Percent". Eliminated during previews.

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 3:16pm

^ Which is a shame because Ten Percent is a terrific song. Fortunately Mr. Kimmel recorded it on one of his Lost in Boston albums.

Didn't David Rounds play the agent?

[FlowerChild67]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 3:17pm

I'm sorry, but what is the "other" musical that Matilda did not want to be compared to?

Also, TheGingerBreadMan, I just read the novel and loved it, and I agree they should have stayed closer to the book, but there are some things that would never have worked onstage (the entire second act's worth of the
book, for instance...)

[GlindatheGood22]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 3:28pm

I assume Carrie.

[NoName3]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 3:56pm

Not quite a full subplot, but My Fair Lady had an extensive and elaborate dream ballet in which the servants dressed Eliza for the ball. It was cut after the first preview. Eliza also sang "Say a Prayer for Me Tonight" at that point in the show. It too was cut but later used in Gigi.

[TheatreFan4]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 3:57pm

Cliff's part is still pretty much in tact with only the elimination of his solo song. As much as they try to make cabaret about Sally and Cliff, I always feel Herr Schultz and Fraulein Schneider are more important of the two and the ones you end up caring for.

Which is why I can't STAND the movie. It's so boring.

[E.Davis]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 4:01pm

^^I agree. The B plot of Cabaret is just so tender and heart breaking.

[broadwayman17]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 4:52pm

I'm not 100% on this, but I think LMM said In The Heights originally had a plot line about Nina having a brother who was in love with Benny also.

[PTOPhan]

Posted: 8/18/13 at 9:56pm

I've heard that "Camelot," which I know was extensively rewritten, never used the men's chorus number "Fie on Goodness." The knights sang the number to complain about everyone's having to be nice to everyone, and to express their longing for battle. The number appears on the cast album but apparently not in the show. This song represented a subplot that was not used.