Cut!: Songs Dropped From Musicals Quiz

Answer: When I Go Out Walking With My Baby

"When I Go Out Walking With My Baby" was dropped from Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Oklahoma!" More than fifty years later, it was part of the score of "State Fair," a stage version of a movie musical for which they had created the score. "My Best Love," "My Girl Back Home" and "Now You Leave" were all songs cut from Rodgers and Hammerstein musicals ("Flower Drum Song," "South Pacific" and "The King and I" respectively), but none were later used in a stage version of a movie.

Answer: Let's Take an Old-Fashioned Walk

"Let's Take An Old-Fashioned Walk" was dropped from the film "Easter Parade," which was replaced in the film by "A Couple of Swells." Irving Berlin then added the song to the score of the Broadway musical "Miss Liberty." "Mr. Monotony" was also dropped from "Easter Parade" and added to "Miss Liberty" (where it was dropped), but it was not in the spot eventually occupied by "A Couple of Swells." "Let's Go West Again" was dropped from the stage and then the film version of "Annie Get Your Gun." "Boys and Girls Like You and Me" was dropped from the stage version of "Oklahoma!", the film "Meet Me in St. Louis" and was eventually heard in the stage version of "State Fair."

Answer: What Do I Care For The Birds and Bees?

"What Do I Care For The Birds and The Bees?" was written for Buffalo Bill's assistant Dolly Tate and Annie Oakley's siblings for the 1966 revival of "Annie Get Your Gun." It was dropped from the score prior to its opening. "An Old Fashioned Wedding" was also written for the revival, but was not dropped. "I'll Share it All With You" and "Who Do You Love, I Hope?" were both written for the original production of "Annie Get Your Gun" in 1946.

Answer: Say a Prayer For Me Tonight

"Say a Prayer For Me Tonight" was dropped from Lerner and Loewe's stage musical "My Fair Lady," then added to their score for the film "Gigi." "My Fair Lady" and "Gigi" bear some similarities in their plots. Years later, when "Gigi" became a stage show, "Say a Prayer For Me Tonight" was the ONLY song from the film to be cut!

Answer: Love Is Only Love

In the film version of "Hello, Dolly" Barbra Streisand as Dolly sang "Love is Only Love," a song that was cut from the stage version of "Mame." Miss Streisand thought the song was excellent until she found out it had been written for somebody else!

Answer: "Suddenly Lucky"; "Getting To Know You"

"Suddenly Lucky" was written so Cable could express his thoughts on his love for Liat in "South Pacific." It didn't properly fit the spot, so Rodgers and Hammerstein substituted "Younger Than Springtime." However, they remembered the song when Gertrude Lawrence requested a song that she could perform with the children in "The King and I," and they revamped "Suddenly Lucky" into "Getting to Know You."

Answer: Even though it was dropped, it was brought back for the film.

"Then You Take Me To The Fair," although cut from "Camelot" after the show opened on Broadway (cuts were made to try to tighten a very long show), was in fact brought back for the film version.

Answer: It was an attempt to soften the ending

In an attempt to soften the ending of "No Strings" (where the two lovers part), "Yankee Go Home," which some thought was the best song in the musical, was cut. The song can be found on the score of "No Strings" that Richard Rodgers donated to the Library of Congress.

Answer: The Polka Contest

Songs about butterflies were all the rage in the 1890s, the time when "Hello, Dolly!" took place. To satirize this, "Come and Be My Butterfly" was written for the stage show at the Harmonia Gardens. The song didn't work (perhaps the reference was too obscure for most theatergoers?), so the livelier Polka Contest was substituted after the show opened on Broadway.

The script for "Hello, Dolly!" published in the Best Plays of 1963-1964 includes "Come And Be My Butterfly;" the official playscript substitutes "The Polka Contest".

Answer: Two

Believe it or not, the answer is two. Jule Styne and Bob Merrill wrote a title song for the stage version of "Funny Girl" that was dropped out of town; so the show opened with no title song. They wrote an entirely new title song for the film version, which was used. "Funny Girl" may have been the most re-written show in Broadway history--it has been reported that its final scene was re-written forty-two times prior to its Broadway opening!

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