Sondheim Songs cut *during previews*

Posted: 6/1/07 at 6:58pm

I know all too well about the myriad of sonds Sondheim has written for each product--what I wanna tyr to get a clear idea for this thread is what songs actually made it to full performance but were cut before the opening?

Off the top of my head I can think of:

West Side Story: Like Everybody Else (was this performed?)

Forum: Love is in the Air, full House of Marcus Lycus

Anyone Can Whistle: There Won't be Trumpets, Halt Lame and the Blind (?)

Company: Happily Ever After (did any other full song make it to actual previews?)

Follies: Uptown/Downtown, Can That Boy Foxtrot

A Little Night Music: Silly People, Bang! (I think?)

Pacific Overtures: Prayers

Sweeney Todd: Judge's Joanna (I believe Hal staged it--not sure...)

Merrily we Roll Along: I know Not a Day Goes By was sung by Beth--not sure if The Blob, Darling or Honey actually got to performance?

I know most of the changes made during workshops for SUNDAY, Woods and Passion--and since it was a bit of a different atmosphere--workshopping instead of previews I won't include that here...

I wish we had the chance to hear all these cuts performed with their original orchestrations the way we do for the FOllies songs and Silly People from Night Music

[commasplice]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:20pm

"Sweeney Todd: Judge's Joanna (I believe Hal staged it--not sure...)"

I'm pretty sure it was cut after the first preview.

Into the Woods - Boom Crunch, Just Like Last Night, Back to the Palace, Ready for the Woods (these were cut during San Diego tryouts, though Last Midnight originally had some bits of Boom Crunch in it during early Broadway previews)

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:26pm

Right and I guess the extra little bit in First Midnight and in the Prince/Baker's Wife song as recorded on CD were quickly cut in the Broadway run.

I know of all the San Deigeo workshop changes but workshops work kinda differently than out of town previews (Sunday with the original Gotta Keep 'em Humming being an example) so was more concentrating on the Prince shows

E

[commasplice]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:31pm

The San Diego production wasn't a workshop. It was a pre-Broadway run. I do know what you mean, though, which is why I didn't include songs like "Second Midnight" and "Have to Give Her Someone," which were cut before the show was staged at the Old Globe.
Updated On: 6/1/07 at 07:31 PM

[C is for Company]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:43pm

Sweeney had "Beggar Woman's Lullaby" cut by one of the first few previews in the revival. I liked it, but I suppose they felt it gave a little much away?

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:43pm

Good correction--I guess I often read to it refered as a workshop but technically it wasn't...

I'm PRETTY sure Beggar Woman's Lullabye (which is more lika s hort half sung reprise IMHO) was ADDED for the London 1980 (?) flop production and not cut... But I could be wrong (probably am :P )

E Updated On: 6/1/07 at 07:43 PM

[jv92]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:48pm

Hal staged Judge Turpins' Johanna. It was cut after a few previews, due to length and because the audience wasn't particularly responsive to it.

Posted: 6/1/07 at 7:50pm

Thanks for the clarrification. I knwo that Hal somewhere lso said he never really knew how to stage it successfully

E

[jv92]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:07pm

Well, Hal was lying. The audience just didn't like seeing The Judge in such a perverted number. It was staged quite well from what I hear.

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:11pm

Hahah that liar! Well I do get the feeling, regardless, Hal certainlyw asn't comofrtable with the number himself--I believe it was only him who pressed for it to be cut

[jv92]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:14pm

It was the audiences. Hal Prince was and still is a balsy guy. Had it not been for that rabbi and that obnoxious lady from out of town, Fred Ebb's "anti-Jew" lyrics from Cabaret would have stayed. (Perhaps you all feel different, but I think that it's far from anti-Jew.) The audiences didn't like The Judge's song, there was some (well, a great deal of) hubub about what he was doing, it got cut.

[just_me1981]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:15pm

Eric - you are corret. The Beggar Woman's Lullaby was added for the London production.

What about 'The World's Full Of Girls' - I know it was cut from Follies, but not sure when in the process.

[jv92]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:17pm

I believe it was cut in rehearsals.

[C is for Company]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:19pm

Of which production? I never heard it used at any point in the original Follies journey, was it conceptualized, but never undertaken?

[jv92]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:20pm

It was cut in rehearsals of the original production and replaced by Losing My Mind and Lucy and Jessie to my knowledge.

[husk_charmer]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:26pm

Actually you are wrong about "Not a Day Goes By"

First, it was never cut, it's been in the show since it began. In the original, Frank sang the first time through, and the second was with ONLY Frank and Mary. I forget what (if anything) they did at La Jolla, but by the 94 York Staging, Beth got the Act 1 version, and joined Frank and Mary in the Act 2 version.

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:27pm

World is full of Boys/Girls was never even run in rehearsal--in Chapin's book he mentions that Sondheim had the title sketched out when the Loveland sequence still wasn't written, and then that he had to type the lyrics and SOndheim got mad at him about the word Galop being mispelled (he spelled it Gallop not knowing it was the DANCE Galop). When Prince saw him re-typign the sheets he basically said "why we're not doing that song anyway" and then Sondheim mischeiveously grinned and said it was true.

jv Prince is ballsy but he still has more of an eye on the commercial product than a young SOndheim did--i'ms tanding by what I said, it was Prince who was uncomfortable with the Judge's Joanna

BTW Prince says in his autobiography that he did cut the jew line in Cabaret and in HINDSIGHT he wouldn't have--but he nonetheless did cut it--he makes it clear it was solely his decision and he wasn't pressured into it. Ballsy or not.

[ljay889]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:40pm

"No One Has Ever Loved Me" aka I Love Fosca was cut from PASSION during the Broadway previews.

It's an INCREDIBLE song, but Sondheim/Lapine didn't Georgio's character would be shouting about how much he loves Fosca. They wanted the audience to realize it themselves that he really loves her.

[COOOOLkid]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:43pm

Wait, was Judge's Joanna ever recorded?

[wonderfulwizard11]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:43pm

About the Judge's Johnanna, wasn't Edmund Lyndeck (the original Judge) uncomfortable performing the song the way it was staged?

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:48pm

I love Giorgio's song (and of course it was largely reinstated in the London production and concert)

COOOLkid the Judge's Joanna is on all major recordings (including the OBCR)

[Horton]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 8:57pm

Foxtrot from Follies was cut out of town if I remember correctly.

Posted: 6/1/07 at 9:00pm

yep that's why it was listed in the very top post

[SeanMartin]

Posted: 6/1/07 at 10:16pm

>> Halt Lame and Blind

It's "The Lame, the Halt, and the Blind (and Everyone Else Out of Their Mind)".

Posted: 6/1/07 at 11:37pm

lol I know I just didn't have my cd with the demo on hand to compare *blush* I was curious about whether it actually made it to previews though