Into the Fairy Tales With Stephen Sondheim

I remember when I first heard that Sondheim was writing Into the Woods, I was thrilled. Because almost every Sondheim musical before that contained a fairy tale-themed lyric that was cut from the final show. Here’s a round-up.

According to the Marry Me a Little album notes, “Your Eyes Are Blue” was jettisoned out of town along with the actors playing Hero and Philia.

Today, this song is usually included in productions Anyone Can Whistle. However it was it seems to have been cut from the original run due to Angela Lansbury wanting more attention to her role and thus cutting one of Lee Remick’s numbers.

Reportedly, Richard Rodgers made and incredibly disparaging comments when he heard Sondheim’s first version of the lyric, resulting in a watered down lyric and some questionable melodic choices for the version that ended up in the original run of Do I Hear a Waltz? Thankfully, this version was featured in the 1973 Sondheim tribute concert and the revue Side By Side By Sondheim. The CDs I’ve heard of subsequent productions seem to all use this version of the lyric.

There were three previous songs written for the “Being Alive” slot in Company – “Multitudes of Amys” which seems not to even had made it into rehearsals, “Marry Me A Little” which now is usually used as a first-act closer, and this bitter little number.

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I’ve never heard the story of why the “Pleasant Little Kingdom” intro to “Too Many Mornings” never made it into Follies. But “Too Many Mornings” certainly does the job it needs to in the slot.

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As discussed on the video, this song was meant for Anne and Henrick from “A Little Night Music.” The final version of the show is so dramatically tight, I have no idea where this song would have fit in.

I love this moment from “Sweeney Todd,” and I especially love the version, which I could not find on YouTube, of Audra McDonald doing it with the NY Philharmonic. That said, it’s a detour as the show is careening toward its conclusion, and the audience doesn’t need further exposition on this plot point. Notably, it’s not included in the current Broadway revival. (And note how the music uses all the themes of “Poor Thing.”)

Dashing fairy tale expectations and confronting reality is certainly a theme that appears through all of Sondheim’s work. The quality of these abandoned lyrics makes a case that Sondheim could be ruthless about “killing his darlings.” And perhaps we can thank the suppression of all these lyrics for the masterwork that is Into the Woods, arguably Sondheim’s most-loved and most-produced show.