Did your favorite or least favorite song make the cut? Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re looking at five show tunes that were needlessly cut from their film adaptations, and 5 songs that were smartly deleted or replaced by better ones.
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00:00Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're looking at 5 show tunes that were needlessly cut from
00:10their film adaptations, and 5 songs that were smartly deleted or replaced by better ones.
00:235.
00:24Missed, NYC, Annie
00:41In bringing the red-headed orphan to the screen, 7 songs were cut from the original score.
00:45The Broadway Productions lyricist and director, Martin Charnin, derided these decisions.
00:50One of the songs that was tossed, NYC, was replaced by the upbeat, Let's Go To The Movies.
01:04While that latter song has its fans, as its title suggests, NYC embraces the city that
01:10Annie and Oliver Warbucks call home.
01:22The change of song may have been made to showcase actress Anne Reinking's killer dancing skills.
01:27While she is great to watch, many fans still would have preferred NYC to keep its place
01:32in the story, and were rewarded when it was restored in the 1999 TV remake.
01:505.
01:51Didn't Miss, Once In A While, The Rocky Horror Picture Show
02:04Not only does Richard O'Brien's sci-fi musical have great songs, it has great song titles.
02:12You can conjure up The Time Warp, Over At Frankenstein Place, and Dammit Janet as soon
02:17as you hear their names.
02:18Once In A While, Brad's solo in Act 2 of the Rocky Horror Show is a pretty enough song.
02:23Compared to the rest of the score, it's as dull and nondescript as its title.
02:38Once In A While is the character's song of heartache after he cheats on Janet with the
02:42evil Dr. Frankenfurter.
02:43Although actor Barry Bostwick recorded and filmed the number, the scene was left out
02:48of the final cut.
03:014.
03:02Missed, A Bushel and a Peck, Guys and Dolls
03:14This one didn't make the movie soundtrack for a very simple reason.
03:18Producer Samuel Goldwyn didn't like it.
03:20It didn't matter that it's one of the most revered and covered songs from the musical.
03:24He didn't like it, so he made the writers replace it with a new song, the unfortunately
03:29titled Pet Me, Papa.
03:40You can almost respect a creative choice to remove a song, but this one just feels
03:44petty and ill-advised.
03:46Considering the original song became so popular that its position in the actual show was changed
03:52so the audience could hear it sooner, it seems like a bad business decision to boot.
04:094.
04:10Didn't Miss, Whose House Is This, Mean Girls
04:24Several songs were cut from the score of this teen musical, and fans were not happy.
04:29They were so vocal about it that Tina Fey even addressed it on the Las Culturistas podcast.
04:39Lost in the move to the screen were beloved tracks like It Roars and Fearless.
04:51Conspicuously absent from this list of songs the fans missed was Whose House Is This.
05:00Katie Heron's ode to self-destruction and partying is a little too repetitive and on
05:05the nose.
05:06It could have dragged the movie down, and it makes total sense why it was deemed expendable.
05:223.
05:32Christmas Bells, Rent
05:44Several storylines converged during this Act 1 showstopper in a way that would absolutely
05:49be thrilling to see on film.
05:51So the fact that the 2005 movie is missing the song with the most cinematic possibilities
05:55does not sit well with fans.
05:57Rent is a long show, but of all the songs to cut, Christmas Bells just isn't it.
06:07Performed by the entire ensemble, Christmas Bells takes place in the hours leading up
06:11to a protest.
06:13Full of desperation and longing, it's a counterpoint to the holiday during which it takes place.
06:17It's also one of the songs that drives home what's really at stake for the characters.
06:36Without it, the movie comes off more twee and empty.
06:393.
06:40Didn't Miss, Find Yourself a Man, Funny Girl
06:55Once Hollywood came calling, the movie version of this Broadway show was rewritten and tailored
06:59to its new star, Barbara Streisand.
07:01Songs from the musical that didn't feature her were largely eliminated.
07:05Many others were replaced with other songs from the repertoire of the real-life Fanny
07:09Bryce.
07:23But this jaunty tune, sung by the Bryce's old neighbors, was an easy cut.
07:35It's not much of a song, it's more of a diversion, and it doesn't advance the central romance
07:40between Fanny and Nick Arnstein.
07:42Furthermore, it was one of several scenes involving Fanny's mother that were also largely
07:46dropped in the transition from stage to screen.
07:492.
07:51Missed, Mama I'm a Big Girl Now, Hairspray
08:05When the movie version of Hairspray rolled around, fans were not pleased at the cutting
08:09of one of its most celebrated numbers.
08:11Mama I'm a Big Girl Now features Tracy Turnblad, Penny Pingleton, and Amber Von Tussle fighting
08:16against their mother's oppressive parenting.
08:23Unfortunately, the makers couldn't justify the song's inclusion.
08:35Pacing-wise, it slowed down the story.
08:38More damning, though, was their aversion to three-way split-screen.
08:41They felt it would be too stylistically different from the rest of the numbers in the movie.
08:45They were at least kind enough to put a version of the song over the end credits, sung by
08:49star Nikki Blonsky and two former Tracy Turnblad actresses, Rikki Lake and Marissa Jarrett-Winokur.
08:552.
09:12Didn't Miss, Don't Tell Mama, Cabaret Director Bob Fosse made so many changes to
09:30the Tony-award-winning musical that some fans think of the movie as a separate entity entirely.
09:35Whole subplots from the show are disposed of to focus on Sally Bowles, a performer at
09:40Berlin's Kit-Kat Club.
09:41Her introductory song in the show, Don't Tell Mama, is a body number about what her
09:45mother might do if she found out what she does for a living.
09:56Fosse replaced it with the stunning song-and-dance number, Mine Hair.
10:00Liza Minnelli and the ensemble do some unforgettable chair-ography that'll make you forget all
10:05about Mama and whatever it is you weren't supposed to tell her.
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10:381.
10:39Missed, No More, Into the Woods
10:56Broadway fans were right to be skeptical that Disney would honor Stephen Sondheim's more
11:00adult take on classic fairy tales.
11:03The show's second act is a profound meditation on grief and loss.
11:06Unfortunately, the movie cut some of the score's biggest emotional payoffs.
11:10No More is a duet between the despondent Baker and his deceased father.
11:31Of all the songs that were cut, this one makes the least sense.
11:40In the show, it serves as the climax to the Baker's narrative, convincing him that he
11:44must accept his wife's death and face the future.
11:58Without it, the movie doesn't have nearly the emotional punch.
12:011.
12:02Didn't Miss, An Ordinary Couple, The Sound of Music
12:14In the original show by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Maria and Captain Von Trapp
12:18declare their love over the duet An Ordinary Couple.
12:22The makers of the 1965 film version made the wise decision to sub it out for the devastatingly
12:27beautiful Something Good.
12:29Although An Ordinary Couple is a good song, it's hard to argue with the end result.
12:43Once you've seen Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer's rendezvous in the hazy moonlight
12:47of the gazebo, it's hard to imagine a more perfect piece of music.
12:51Rodgers composed the new song himself, as Hammerstein had passed away a few years before.
12:56It retains all the old-fashioned, highly romantic charm of their best work.
13:16What musical song were you sad to see cut from the movie version?
13:19Tell us in the comments!