Shows Improved by Later Revisions

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/3/10 at 6:47pm

Discussion of They're Playing Our Song made me think of this question: what shows were improved by revisions made to them after they were first premiered or licensed?

Don't post shows that WEREN'T improved- there's a separate post for those.

[binau]

Posted: 10/3/10 at 6:57pm

Sunset Boulevard?

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/3/10 at 9:38pm

Cabaret, for sure.

And Little Shop of Horrors, although people could argue whether the improvement phase stopped with the superlative film, or continued to the film-inspired Broadway revision. I, for one, loved the new orchestrations.

[philly03]

Posted: 10/3/10 at 9:44pm

The Scarlet Pimpernel's other versions.
People always like to defend SP 1, but it was very boring. The latter versions took more advantage of funny, swift moving plots and of course for the better, took advantage of Frank's music more.

[jv92]

Posted: 10/3/10 at 9:45pm

Ragtime, maybe. It moves at a swifter pace with the revisions. Sometimes it's a little choppy though, musically.

[once a month]

Posted: 10/4/10 at 9:17am

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, when it grew from 20 minutes to warrant Broadway prices.

[Out In The Sticks]

Posted: 10/4/10 at 10:29am

Me and My Girl

[daredevil]

Posted: 10/4/10 at 1:07pm

Sondheim and his co-creators have made changes in Company, and extensive changes in Merrily We Role Along. The motives of Frank, the main character, were fairly obscure in the original; there seems to have been a major attempt to make his motives clearer in the more recent versions, also the original did not contain a "little Frankie", Frank's son. This character appeared in the Kennedy Center version performed at the Sondheim festival of 2002. Other changes include the character of Gussie, originally, she was simply a wealthy man's wife when she meets Frank, now, she is an important musical comedy actress. The original opening and closing of the musical, which had Frank returning to his high school to give a speech, and also contained the school alma mater, has also been cut.
I think these changes have helped to clarify things a bit, they still don't explain why Frank thinks producing movies is more important than writing musicals, nevertheless they show that Sondheim and his book writer (George Furth) put a lot of effort into rethinking the show.

[frontrowcentre2]

Posted: 10/4/10 at 3:42pm

Daredevil, I agree with you in part about MERRILY. I also think some of teh changes make it easier for a first time audience to keep track of the events.

Did you see the original 1981 version? I saw it twice and even though the show as a whole didn't gel the individual scenes played very well.I have seen the revised version 3 times now (Kennedy Centre, Shaw Festival and a local production) and appreciate the changes.

I regret the loss of the opening and closing graduation scenes...the final tableau of the class of 1955 - their faces beaming - as the class picture was taken was just devastating. I also prefer "Rich and Happy" over "That Frank." I understand why the change was made. I just feel "That Frank" isn't as good a song.

I think the best MERRILY would combine elements of both existing versions.

[WOSQ]

Posted: 10/4/10 at 4:23pm

Camelot - the post-opening revisions made a deeply flawed show into just a flawed one. Read the published script which is the one that opened and then watch the show as is licensed these days. Several scenes, a couple of songs and Morgan Le Fey are all gone from the finished show. Maybe 15-20 minutes total.

Merrily and Candide are much improved by later revisions although neither work, and I don't think they ever will. The best version of Candide is the stripped down 1974 Hugh Wheeler #1 version; the one that clocked in at 1:45 with no intermission.

[darquegk]

Posted: 10/5/10 at 11:00am

Smile. So much.