Songs/Scenes Cut for Amateur Productions — Page 2

There was a production of BYE BYE BIRDIE in PA that infamously cut the "Shriner's Ballet".

I was about to achieve my long-held dream of playing Dolly Levi but dropped out when the director discussed his plans to cut the "Hello, DOLLY!" number because he felt it did nothing to move the plot forward. The production fell apart shortly afterwards and never made it to dress rehearsals.

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I have heard of several productions of Pippin cut the Keyhole scene with Pippin and Catherine.

When I was in my younger days -- oh some 10 years ago -- I was in a theatre company that performed 1 full-length musical and then 1 shortened musical a year. The second musical, the shortest, was maybe an hour and included major points in the plot. The funny thing is ... I now think our shows were extremely bad, because the shows weren't in tact. We did Lil' Abner ... we started with Typical Day ... Went to Druthers ... Went to Jubilation T. Cornpone ... Rag off'n the Bush ... and then the ending where the Government Man (Me) allows the city to not be bombed. I look back and think, Why did we ever do that!!!!

That is so bizarre about MILLIE - I would have let them sue and than I would have pointed to the Broadway, London, touring and other regional productions which have had no problem using the script with the original Asian characters. Absurd.

Bottom line - if you for whatever reason can't do the show as written - don't do the show.

Bye Bye Birdie
A verse was cut from "An English Teacher" ("Then it was goodbye, Geoffrey Chaucer; Hello, William Morris/Goodbye NYU; Hello, Almaelou...") which didn't bother anyone too much, because there are two "English Teacher" reprises. However. When the vice principal videotaped the show so it could be distributed to the cast, he made some cuts. The middle of "Honestly Sincere" was nowhere to be found; the same thing happened to the first half of "Kids (Reprise)" - The worst, though, was that Mae Peterson's entire bit at the train station was cut: the scene went from Conrad in a dress to Albert waving goodbye to a train leaving. It bothered me the most, since I was Mae.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Don't ask me why, but they cut "Pretty Little Picture." I couldn't figure it out, especially since (as Domina) I was requesting they cut "That Dirty Old Man" because, to be frank, I couldn't do it justice.

Once Upon a Mattress
My God, they ripped it to shreds. This was all removed:
-The Queen's first monologue
-The scene where Sir Harry is sent to find a princess
-Every time Fred falls in the moat
-The character of Lady Mabelle
-Any and all references to the Jester or his father dancing
-"Very Soft Shoes"
-The "Rapunzel" verse of "Happily Ever After"
-In "Man to Man Talk," the entire verse about the Bee and the Boy-flower Dust.

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My director ridiculously changed "Passin out the whisky" to "Passsin out the beverage" in Guys and Dolls and cut out the drunken Havana brawl.

When West Side Story was performed at my old school, they cut the bit where Anita is threatened by the Jets after Bernardo's death. I'm not quite sure what that was about, but the teacher who produced it said that the scene suggested she had been gang raped by all the Jets (had been, not would be) and was inappropriate for a school audience. Nobody complained.

Re. Tommy: I'm in a production now and we have cut Fiddle About but kept Acid Queen.

A private school in my area put on INTO THE WOODS and cut the whole the second act...They said a) It was just too challenging for the cast and b) the second act is pointless. I for one am on the pro second act list. I think it proves that everything you do will come back to you some way.

But yeah, that was pretty bad.

When I played Patrick in "Mame", the director cut the song "St. Bridget", so the show opened with "It's Today"...

Well, watching the show without knowing of what had been cut, it wasn't too bad in the sense that it was understandable... but knowing what had been taken out, it was a little embarrassing.

Sir Harry just sort of *decides* to go find a princess and brings back Fred, who swims the moat, but doesn't fall back in - she just flirts with the knights while other dialogue happens in that scene.

The Lady Mabelle dialogue had been removed, so there was one girl that Sir Harry danced with who ended up next to him after the "Quiet" scene. Too bad, because her character had some simple laughs.

The verse removed from "Happily Ever After" was merely for time, I think, and it didn't make much difference.

The verse removed from "Man to Man Talk" made for an interesting song, if you listened to the lyrics - all of a sudden the prince is singing about bees when they had never been mentioned before; he sings about two flowers and all of a sudden understands the secrets of a honeymoon. Overall, it was something that most of the audience didn't even pick up on, and easily forgettable.

The Jester bit. This broke my heart, as I adore "Very Soft Shoes" and our Jester had a lovely voice. He was, however, on the large side and not too skilled with his feet. The original plan was to have another actor dance in silhouette as the "ghost" of his father (in his memory) while he sang, but that got scrapped for time and because the production was behind schedule. Without the song, all dialogue referencing the Jester dancing was pretty pointless and cut as well. The director just kept saying, "This is obviously a song and bit that was added because the original guy was a really good dancer or something. We don't need it."

It was... an experience.

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The Distinctive Baritone- I belive the High School got permission to get rid of Cliff being gay, becuase it was innapropriate on several levels. Not that they felt homosexuality was wrong but it had to do with when the show was, and the actors, and the school itself.