Shows With The Biggest Pre-Broadway To Broadway Changes

[ucjrdude902]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 1:57pm

Anyone got any good knowledge?

[QueenAlice]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 2:04pm

GRAND HOTEL had a huge, huge overhaul from its first preview out of town in Boston to opening night on Broadway - only a month or so later. 

[AEA AGMA SM]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 2:22pm

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum famously struggled with its opening number during out of town tryouts, which was then impacting the rest of the show since they were having trouble setting the tone right from the start. When they finally came up with "Comedy Tonight" it reportedly seemed to drastically improve everything that followed since it was now so perfectly set up by the new opening.

[morosco]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 2:25pm

MY ONE AND ONLY went through radical changes during tryouts in Boston.

HOW 'MY ONE AND ONLY' CAME TO BROADWAY

[newintown]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 2:34pm

There are many famous stories - two for Hello, Dolly! alone: replacing the Act I finale production number "Penny In My Pocket," with its huge set and complex staging, with "Before the Parade Passes By," with an entirely new set and costumes. And Dolly's 11:00 Number, "No, A Million Times No" (in which she flew offstage at the end), was replaced by "So Long Dearie."

Speaking of cut sets, the Kaufman and Hart comedy Once In A Lifetime threw out an entire enormous nightclub set, when they rewrote the last act.

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 3:19pm

What made "penny in my pocket" such a complex staging? And she flew? Like Mary poppins style?

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 3:29pm

2002's Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp dance show MOVIN' OUT.  The disastrous Chicago tryout incarnation was completely rethought and a completely new production arrived on Broadway and became a hit. 

 

[newintown]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 3:31pm

According to reports (I wasn't there), "Penny In My Pocket" took place at an auction; as Horace roamed the room, behind his back, Dolly kept buying things in his name - a grandfather clock, rowboats, the red dress she later wore to the Harmonia Gardens - all of which were assembled into an enormous mound that Horace scaled for the end of the song. The number was reported to cost $100,000 (in 1964!).

Again, according to reports, "A Million Times No" was a faux opera aria (I may have this confused with "The Goodbye Song," which may or may not have been a different song); I've read (in the Gilvey Gower Champion bio) that Dolly flew either in or out on a piece of scenery.

Updated On: 2/13/18 at 03:31 PM

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 3:39pm

Didn't the 70s revival of No, No, Nanette undergo drastic changes during its tryout?  I remember reading that it nearly closed out of town. 

Spamalot cut two Sara Ramirez numbers where she appeared as a witch and a cow, streamlining the role down to just the Lady of the Lake.  The witch number wasn't bad, but cutting The Cow Song was a very wise choice (it stopped all the action leading up to the first act finale and the song itself had nothing to do with the film and added nothing to the plot...plus, they costumed her in a cow dress!).  In the end, it made a lot more sense that King Arthur and Lady of the Lake were the only static roles in the show with all the other actors playing various parts. 

The Addams Family made some significant changes to the book and score.  I actually preferred the original opening number, Clandango.  The new number makes a bit more sense, I suppose, but I felt like the choice to explain The Addams Family to the audience was a bit patronizing and simplistic.  Thank God they replaced Second Banana, the second act number for Morticia.  I felt so bad for Bebe having to perform it.  Her character arc was completely contradictory to the history of the character.

Aida went through a massive redesign when its original set kept failing.

The Jekyll & Hyde that ended up on Broadway was almost unrecognizable and vastly inferior to its premiere and tryouts.

2002's Billy Joel/Twyla Tharp dance show MOVIN' OUT.  The disastrous Chicago tryout incarnation was completely rethought and a completely new production arrived on Broadway and became a hit. 

I only saw the Chicago tryout.  I don't remember it being completely overhauled.  Based on video clips I saw of the Broadway production, it looked pretty much exactly as I saw it in Chicago.  What was changed?

Updated On: 2/13/18 at 03:39 PM

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 3:53pm

Mister Matt said: "I only saw the Chicago tryout. I don't remember it being completely overhauled. Based on video clips I saw of the Broadway production, it looked pretty much exactly as I saw it in Chicago. What was changed?"

According to Wikipedia, they cut a few numbers following previews in Chicago.

 

[JSquared2]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 3:58pm

DANCE OF THE VAMPIRE --- which was destroyed (almost) single-handedly by Michael Crawford.  He was coming off PHANTOM and he demanded (and received) creative control and re-wrote the book to make it more of a "Producers-like" comedy.

[LizzieCurry]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 4:04pm

But there wasn't a pre-Broadway run, right?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 4:38pm

He was hardly coming off Phantom either, it had been over a decade. Crawford wasn't the only one to blame, anyway.

[uncageg]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 4:56pm

Jekyll and Hyde still upsets me! The pre-Broadway production was wonderful. I actually liked the sets better and, if memory serves me correctly pretty much all of the concept album music was included. By the time the tour returned, BRING ON THE MEN had been put back in, thank God. I am glad that I got to see the CONFRONTATION mirror before they lost the right to use it on Broadway. It was incredible and got a partial standing ovation the evening I saw it in Denver.

Updated On: 2/13/18 at 04:56 PM

[Fordham2015]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 4:58pm

The Visit cut an intermission 

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 5:23pm

uncageg - That Confrontation mirror sequence was fantastic!  Also, Lucy's death scene was absolutely CHILLING in its prior form.  I'll never forget the loud gasps from the audience when Hyde suddenly appeared and the squirming of folks watching her creepily quiet and bloody murder.  At the time of that production, J&H seemed poised to be a worthy rival to Phantom of the Opera on Broadway, then it all started going wrong...

In the original Alley production, they used a second actor that appeared in the mirror (sort of like in Angel of Music in Phantom of the Opera) with Dave Clemmons singing Hyde to Chuck Wagner's Jekyll (they were also the best Valjean/Javert duo I ever saw in Les Miserables).  In the first J&H Broadway tryout (my favorite version), the only song not performed from the 2-CD concept recording was The World Has Gone Insane.  Everything else was in the show.

According to Wikipedia, they cut a few numbers following previews in Chicago.

Looks like 2-3 numbers (though the note regarding And So It Goes as first act closer is ambiguous as to when it was ever performed).  I'd have to find my old Playbill to see if I saw Running on Ice or New York State of Mind, though the latter may have originally been a curtain call number.  I just remember seeing that catwalk holding the band slowly lower diagonally to the front of the stage during Scenes from an Italian Restaurant (reprise) as the finale and it was STUNNING.  I absolutely loved the show and sadly, it was the last time I got to see Mark Arvin perform.  I knew him from his days as a principal with the Houston Ballet and he was such a sweet guy.  He went too soon as is truly missed.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 5:37pm

Aida had a disastrous out of town tryout in Atlanta, back when it was called Elaborate Lives: The Legend of Aida. The show was revised extensively, with a new director, choreographer, designer, etc. before the Chicago tryout a year later. If you can find any bootlegs of the Atalanta production, you’ll see it really bares nothing more than a passing resemblance to what eventually ended up on Broadway.

The Chicago tryout, a year later, featured many casting changes (Adam Pascal came on board in Chicago, for one), as well as the (acclaimed) designs of Bob Crowley. That was much closer to what later opened on Broadway, though they did cut the dangling tomb after it fell one night, as well as one song (a forgettable song called Our Nation Holds Sway).

Updated On: 2/13/18 at 05:37 PM

[JSquared2]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 5:47pm

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "He was hardly coming offPhantomeither, it had been over a decade. Crawford wasn't the only one to blame, anyway."

 

It was his first Broadway show after Phantom -- so yeah, he was coming off that show.  And I specifically said he was only (almost) singlehandedly responsible --- so I guess you flunk reading comprehension for today.  But thanks for playing!

 

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 6:03pm

Dear Putting the "square" in "Squared,"

"Coming off" is usually used in this context to refer to something immediately following the previous effort, which Crawford's turn in DOTV did not. My apologies; I had no idea you were in the process of revising the English language. As for one parenthetical aside while otherwise laying the blame at his feet, I was merely emphasizing a point you made very poorly. But thanks for the condescension. It suits you.

All my love,

g.

Updated On: 2/13/18 at 06:03 PM

[BroadwayNYC2]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 6:10pm

15 years ain't "coming off." But thank for playing!

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 6:21pm

Has anyone heard any of those cut songs from Dolly? Like The Goodbye Song, or Million Times No?!

[broadwayboy223]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 6:21pm

Has anyone heard any of those cut songs from Dolly? Like The Goodbye Song, or Million Times No?!

[RippedMan]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 6:22pm

Why’d Jekyll lose the rights to the mirror?

[g.d.e.l.g.i.]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 6:48pm

BroadwayNYC2 said: "15 years ain't "coming off." But thank for playing!"

Exactly! Thank you!

[ggersten]

Posted: 2/13/18 at 6:57pm

Does Finding Neverland count between the UK and the US? 

Also Charlie and Chocolate Factory from the UK to the US?

Meanwhile, Home Sweet Homer at one point had a book by Erich Segal and a scene with the Cyclops (which was gone by the time the show was in Los Angeles).  Segal and the Cyclops were not there for the one official performance.  New book - new "musical staging" - same bad show.