Cutting songs from a performance

[Javi]

I saw the Gwen Verdon documentary and it was mentioned that at certain performances, she would decide to cut Where Am I Going?

Im guessing nobody today would cut a song on Broadway? Or does it happen?

Who were other performers who had the power to cut songs on a given performance? I believe Yul Brynner did that in The King and I. Have you been to a performance where a song thats usually in a show was cut?

[temms]

Not a whole song, but when I saw THE PRODUCERS with most of the OBC (Matthew was out, but at this point you usually got only one lead or the other), the black male ensemble member was also out, so they cut the “Credits all de mornin’/And I debits all de evenin’” section of “I Want To Be A Producer”.

[rjm516]

Not because of a performer's power, but in last year's famous Company revival, which everyone but me loved, the understudy for Bobbi was black so when she was on they just cut the entirety of Tick Tock (it was staged with a sudden influx of Bobbi lookalikes and so they only that many white women). I love diversifying casts and understudies but you have to ensure you can still do the show as intended, guys. It was pretty bad. 

[WldKingdomHM]

They cut, “Raven” out of a performance of Brooklyn. Apparently the actress was very sick at the time.

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

temms said: "Not a whole song, but when I saw THE PRODUCERS with most of the OBC (Matthew was out, but at this point you usually got only one lead or the other), the black male ensemble member was also out, so they cut the “Credits all de mornin’/And I debits all de evenin’” section of “I Want To Be A Producer”."

Honestly, while I understand what it's meant to reference, I've always felt sort of uncomfortable about that bit; that's one change they maybe should have stuck with.

[poisonivy2]

Not cutting a song but when Oak played Pierre they cut a lot of his accordion accompaniment. 

[carolinaguy]

There's the famous story about the chaotic tryout of the musical Chu-Chem, when a cast member turned to the audience at one point and said, "There was a song here, but you'll be better off without it."

[Mister Matt]

Not because of a performer's power, but in last year's famous Company revival, which everyone but me loved, the understudy for Bobbi was black so when she was on they just cut the entirety of Tick Tock (it was staged with a sudden influx of Bobbi lookalikes and so they only that many white women). I love diversifying casts and understudies but you have to ensure you can still do the show as intended, guys. It was pretty bad. 

That doesn't make sense.  It's clear that all the women are costumed as Bobbie and Jennifer Saayeng (Jennie) is black and was one of the Bobbies in Tick Tock when Rosalie Craig was on.

[BrodyFosse123]

I Streisand would perform a shorter version of FUNNY GIRL at certain matinees later in her run. This version trimmed verses of songs. Streisand hated doing a frozen version at every performance so these abridged performances kept her fresh. Only the FUNNY GIRL frequenters knew about these as the regular audiences had no idea they were seeing an abridged version of the show.

Also, Gwen did not enjoy performing “Where Am I Going?” as the song had quickly become a standard so major artists (most notably Streisand) had their versions being performed on their records and TV appearances so she knew her interpretation of the song would be judged.  When she wasn’t up to it, the song would be out of that performance.  

[Javi]

Interesting about the ‘Company’ cut because when they did ‘Company’ here with a new professional theatre company that had even brought Sondheim to Sydney, during the run, the actress playing April got sick. Since there were no understudies, instead of cancelling the show, they just removed her songs for that performance. Someone in the show reported it to Sondheim and there was a lot of drama. Even to the point that there was a possibility the whole run would be cancelled.

[BenjaminNicholas2]

Re: The Producers

Honestly, society needs to just quit finding ways to feel uncomfortable and be offended.

The genius of Mel Brooks is that he goes for everyone.  It's funny.  It's humor.  Laugh at yourself, as it's always being done as a caricature.  The Producers (as well as his other films) is brilliant when done by a cast who knows how to sell the jokes.

 

[SweetLips22]

I'm on your train BN2

[LizzieCurry]

Here's what happened with Company! I was thinking of this incident as soon as I opened the thread.

http://www.playbill.com/article/cousens-makes-cuts-in-australian-company-angers-composer-and-apologizes-com-142420

[Impossible2]

poisonivy2 said: "Not cutting a song but when Oak played Pierre they cut a lot of his accordion accompaniment."

And then cut the entire show x

[GavestonPS]

Javi said: "I saw the Gwen Verdon documentary and it was mentioned that at certain performances, she would decide to cut Where Am I Going?

Im guessing nobody today would cut a song on Broadway? Or does it happen?

Who were other performers who had the power to cut songs on a given performance? I believe Yul Brynner did that in The King and I. Have you been to a performance where a song thats usually in a show was cut?

"

(Emphasis added.)

What would Brynner have cut? The King only sings one song, one reprise and a bit of "Shall We Dance? I suppose the reprise might be skipped, but I don't see the point. It's not like the role requires a lot of high notes.

Still, I should say I worked with Brynner on one leg of a K&I tour. A lot of his demands were nonsensical.

[Javi]

GavestonPS, Yul would remove ‘Puzzlement’, although this was on the tour. Check out this article as an example: https://www.artsbeatla.com/2019/04/yul-brynner/

This is what he says specifically:

“But I was seriously disappointed by the fact that the King’s only solo number, “Puzzlement,” seemed to have been cut from the show—and I could not imagine why since it was the song that defined his character.”

[OlBlueEyes]

I have read that during Brynner's last tour or so that he was unable to sing the song due to his advancing lung cancer, which sounds logical. Whether it goes deeper than that and he skipped the song before the lung cancer became a hindrance I do not know.

I believe that he died only a few months after his last tour with The King and I. With a little better timing they perhaps could have had him actually die at the end of his death scene. That would have been one for the ages.

[Joe Mayo]

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "temms said: "Not a whole song, but when I saw THE PRODUCERS with most of the OBC (Matthew was out, but at this point you usually got only one lead or the other), the black male ensemble member was also out, so they cut the “Credits all de mornin’/And I debits all de evenin’” section of “I Want To Be A Producer”."

Honestly, while I understand what it's meant to reference, I've always felt sort of uncomfortable about that bit; that's one change they maybe should have stuck with."

A lot of shows try to pay homage to earlier theater in the shows. Would you not see a revival of showboat?

Book of mormon has quite a bit of references in the choreography if I recall.

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

Honestly, no. (Not for any politically correct reasons; just not a fan of Showboat. And before you start, yes, I know its importance, but I'll live just fine without having seen it.)

[TheQuibbler]

When I saw The King and I, Kelli O’Hara was clearly very ill (she didn’t return for Act Two) and they cut “Shall I Tell You What I Think Of You.”

[Joe Mayo]

g.d.e.l.g.i. said: "Honestly, no. (Not for any politically correct reasons; just not a fan of Showboat. And before you start, yes, I know its importance, but I'll live just fine without having seen it.)"

If you understand the importance, I wonder why you are offended by the producers line paying homage to it.

[NOWaWarning]

Alexis Smith cut “Could I Leave You?” from several performances of Follies during the Boston try-out due to illness.

[qolbinau]

rjm516 said: "Not because of a performer's power, but in last year's famous Company revival, which everyone but me loved, the understudy for Bobbi was black so when she was on they just cut the entirety of Tick Tock (it was staged with a sudden influx of Bobbi lookalikes and so they only that many white women). I love diversifying casts and understudies but you have to ensure you can still do the show as intended, guys. It was pretty bad."

Are we sure that was the reason? Could it have been that they didn’t think they could perform it with a cast member down? (Given the understudy would typically appears in that scene).