Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?- Page 2
Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
ILuv2shop531
Broadway Star Joined: 7/12/07
#25Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/26/12 at 9:49pmI know the Addams Family has gone through some interesting changes song wise when it went on tour
#26Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/26/12 at 10:07pm
Eric-The biggest difference between the '87 Cabaret and the '98 Cabaret is that the latter added 3 songs from the movie and cut some from the original score (""The Telephone Song" and "The Money Song" are the two that come to mind now). I find that there are a few other textual changes, but you are right that the structure is essentially the same as is much of the dialogue.
In addition to what others have mentioned (which are perhaps the most extreme cases), Little Me has had many rewrites. Why, I'll never know. The original script is the funniest musical ever written.
ALNM has changed "The Glamorous Life" numerous times, starting with the bipolar RNT version.
Also: Sweet Charity has gone through changes (the ending specifically), Carousel cut "Highest Judge of All" and a few lines of a dialogue last time it was revived, The Sound of Music was changed to be more like the movie. It seems "Distant Melody" is continually reassigned with every major production of Peter Pan. Kiss Me Kate added "From this Moment On" in the last revival, You're a Good Man Charlie Brown was jazzed up for Broadway and lost a great deal of its charm, and the '94 Damn Yankees revival had MASSIVE rewrites.
Oh, and Grease seems to be different every time it returns to Broadway. Different, but never better.
#27Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/26/12 at 10:37pm
The Sound of Music and Grease have been changed a lot for sure. Most productions of Grease these days love to shoehorn in all the songs from the film even if they don't fit. It makes for a frustrating experience. I love the songs. They're fun and all, but they seemed to have a point in the movie. In all the stage incarnations I've seen, they just randomly bust into them for no apparent reason.
Follies has had its fair share of changes. Mostly tonally. The original script is far more cynical and darker than the current versions.
I never got the changes for Into the Woods. I like "Our Little World" and I'm glad it gives something for Rapunzel to do, but everything else they've changed just makes me scratch my head. Was anyone really clamoring for a revised "On the Steps of the Palace?" Anyone? How cute would it be if the Three Little Bigs made a cameo in "Hello Little Girl?" I do like the addition of the child narrator in the two most recent productions. It's pretty creative and fun.
#28Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/26/12 at 11:05pm"Our Little World" is pretty, but Rapunzel doesn't need it. Lord knows Pamela Winslow made a huge impression in the original production and she probably had the least amount of material of any major Rapunzel. With the right actress (meaning a GOOD one), Rapunzel can make a huge impact with the "little" she has to do.
blm2323
Stand-by Joined: 8/5/11
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#31Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/27/12 at 6:48am
The Miserable Ones.
Went from, Les Miserables, the musical that generated two separate raves from tough NY Times critic Frank Rich to...
http://www.sfgate.com/performance/article/Les-Mis-rables-review-Smaller-stale-3703331.php
http://www.indyweek.com/artery/archives/2012/02/19/when-the-spinning-stopped-les-miserables-25th-anniversary-at-progress-energy-center
http://www.atlantatheaterfans.com/2012/04/les-miserables-atlanta-theater-fans-review/ (Comment section is fun)
http://leisureblogs.chicagotribune.com/the_theater_loop/2011/02/les-miserables-cadillac-palace-theatre-chicago-review-/comments/page/2/#comments (A good review...from someone clueless. Plus, the comment section is also fun)
I'm aware that is only two negative reviews (and lotsa baaad comments, lol) and I have no problem revealing that there are many, MANY more that are complete raves of this new version; however, "I don't agree with them" isn't the only reason I don't post them, but they also all just happen to sound exactly alike, like press releases. Makes you wonder if most so-called critics even attend the shows they're supposed to review and Google and copy/paste instead. I can't even begin to guess the number of babbling press release-like "reviews" I've encountered since this thing began crossing the country in 2011.
No, it's not a crime to like the new production, its train-wreck new orchestrations, or whatever. I've always expressed relief that this lackluster thing has not made my favorite musical the laughing stock of the world. Now THAT would make me angry.
At the end of the day, I do feel sorry for everyone who has been deprived of the version that launched my love for this show. I'm sure John Caird and Trevor Nunn's; David Hersey's; Andreane Neofitou's; John Napier's; and John Cameron's work would have touched another little boy the same way it touched and inspired me. Wah!
Ah, well. Tough cookies.
#32Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/28/12 at 12:28am
I love when My Oh My brings up the changes to Les Miz. (Honestly, I do! Because it's the kind of changes I think many people wouldn't recognize or even care about, even in their fave shows, but the details that obsess me). And I agree that, like many of those UK shows (although Les Miz holds upw ithout its original production better than, say, Phantom), something seems to really get diminished with the later official productions. But... I'm not sure you could really say it counts as a show that's been changed the most over the years--in this case I think JC meant not in terms of different productions, but in terms of cuts, additions and rewrites to the text of the piece.
Wickedfan you bring up a lot of good examples--and of course you're right about the song changes for Cabaret (something that is fairly common--ie the recent London production). I *loved* the Mendes/Marshall production, but I admit it's a sticking point for me that many fans of it seem to think it was Cabaret finally being done "right", and unfairly I think, Prince's production is actually now seen by many as overly safe.
Having only seen his '87 production (and on video no less), which I know underwhelmed critis at the time who seemed to see no point in its revival (much like Fosse's Sweet Charity semi-recreation the previous season), I found it theatrically so effective and thrilling--but I mentioned that the actual textual changes for it (in terms of dialogue) were pretty much the exact same ones in Mendes' (even if he showed more graphic sexuality on stage), simply because I think that's the one big change that did add a lot--you couldn't make Cliff gay, even subtly gay, as a leading man in a musical in 1967--and aknowledging that he was (I don't get the impression his relationship with Sally was sexual at all really), does seem a lot more honest.
What Our Little World does, IMHO, is sets up from the start the Witch's relationship with Rapunzel and their dynamic. Yes, it's pretty clear without it, but it's just two songs, I love how seamlessly (for me) it fits the score, and I think it does add a tiny extrea element. Sondheim claims that he wanted a song there from the start, but was too busy to do one--which could be true or not, but... As for the revival changes--agreed--out of all of Sondheim's shows, ITW seems to be the one that commercially worked the best, I don't get the thought behind the changes (the three pigs were cut from the original San Diego production for a reason...). I suppose some found Last Midnight's final "All right mother when" bit confusing, but I don't think it ever caused a big problem for anyone.
JohnyBroadway
Broadway Legend Joined: 4/10/12
#33Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/28/12 at 1:05amThe '87 Cabaret is also the only production that uses Cliff's beautiful act one ballad "Don't Go" which I find to be very moving.
metropolis10111
Broadway Star Joined: 7/28/06
#34Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/28/12 at 8:01amNot so much here in the US but Starlight Express has gone thorough several major changes with each production. Chess as well is one of the 'fixer-uppers" Annie I think has also gone thorough several different versions
chewy5000
Broadway Legend Joined: 12/1/09
#35Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/28/12 at 10:05amMorgan James' twitter account.
#36Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/28/12 at 10:23amBut "Don't Go" and "Why Should I wake up" are essentially the same song.
#37Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/28/12 at 3:59pm
The progression of Sally's aborted baby across the revisions to Cabaret goes from "It's cliff's baby" in the original, to "it might be Cliff's baby, or it may belong to a rather taciturn Malaysian" in 1987, to "it's not Cliff's baby- Cliff is exclusively homosexual" in Mendes.
That is one poor, confused fetus.
NoHSMisNotAMusical
Stand-by Joined: 10/21/11
#38Which Shows Have Been Changed The Most Over The Years?
Posted: 7/28/12 at 7:19pmI can't believe no one has brought up Annie Get Your Gun yet.
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