Top 10 Musicals That Went Through the Most Changes

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the stage musicals that they just couldn’t get right the first second, or maybe even the third time.

#10: “Lestat”

Bringing the blood-drenched and sumptuous world of Anne Rice’s “The Vampire Chronicles” to the stage is a tall order. Elton John and Bernie Taupin[a] tried to get the musical “Lestat” to a good place before it got to Broadway. That didn’t happen. Shows are expected to adjust between their out-of-town tryouts and their New York opening. “Lestat”’s dismal reviews meant the producers were willing to alter basically anything. From the script to the placement of songs to the overall design, they indeed managed to change pretty much everything about the production except how terrible it was. It closed after two months.

#9: “Dracula, the Musical”

Packed with enough spectacle to draw massive crowds for its world premiere at La Jolla Playhouse[b], Frank Wildhorn’s musical couldn’t revive that buzz on Broadway. For all the interest it had produced, the show was a stinker. “Dracula, the Musical”’s messy script didn’t become clearer before the count swooped down over New York. It closed quickly, playing for roughly four months. However, it would have a long second life after Broadway. It was heavily retooled, with several new songs written for it. It still sees frequent international and regional stagings.

#8: “Les Misérables”[c]

It’s not shocking that “Les Miz” had a long, arduous process. Victor Hugo’[d]s novel is huge. But before its storied opening in London, the songs had to be translated from the original French score. Lyricist Herbert Kretzmer[e] completely rewrote many of the lyrics from scratch to create the English language version that debuted in 1985. A 2006 Broadway revival also brought back several lyrics that had been cut from the original New York and London productions. Years after its London opening, the long-running show was once again restaged and revised to appeal to a modern audience.

#7: “Oklahoma!”

Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II[f] were all but inventing the modern musical as we know it. “Oklahoma!” was innovative in a way that’s hard to see now. Musicals didn’t often have songs that furthered the plot. In fact, the pair were against doing things by the book, which notably meant no show-stopping numbers. During its New Haven tryouts, if a number was so well-received by the audiences that it seemed to stand apart from the rest of the show, it was reportedly cut. Doing something new required a lot of trial and error — we can only imagine how much. “Oklahoma!” had a long, winding road before it made its history-making Broadway debut in 1943.

#6: “Grease”

This early ‘70s musical is a raunchy and vulgar subversion of ‘50s greaser movies with a focus on peer pressure and working class issues. Yup, that’s “Grease.” Or at least it was at first. But by the time it got to Broadway, things got tamer. And then, John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John got involved. Much of the 1978 movie’s success came at the expense of many of the Broadway show’s risqué humor and its ensemble cast. It also added several unforgettable songs that were too popular not to add when “Grease” was revived. This required some tinkering to make room for the movie’s ideas, with numbers being altered. Some recent productions have opted to make additional changes, honoring both the show and the film.

#5: “Follies”

Set amid the ruins of a Broadway theater that used to house the famed follies musical revue, Stephen Sondheim[g]’s show has always been considered an imperfect masterpiece. Several songs were removed or changed even before the cast album was recorded. Since its 1971 Broadway premiere, the script has seen numerous versions. Each major production seems more like an attempt to fix it than to revive it for new audiences. In a weird way, the show’s nostalgic and ethereal quality actually lends itself to never staying the same. It’s about life’s ghosts, and how the past is never quite what it seemed. Like the follies in the story, it continues to transform with the years.

#4: “Merrily We Roll Along”

This was long considered a show with great music that never quite came together at the script level. The story is told in reverse chronological order, which already made it hard for audiences to understand. But the darker tone and heavy themes required some fine-tuning. Without the budget for out-of-town tryouts, composer Stephen Sondheim, book writer George Furth, and director Hal Prince had to do most of their changes in Broadway previews. It was a chaotic period of revisions. Subsequent productions sought to fix the things that made “Merrily We Roll Along” a flop. Many felt that goal wasn’t achieved until the Tony-winning 2023 Broadway revival.

#3: “Chess”

Long before they worked on the smash hit “Mamma Mia!”, ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus[h] teamed up with Tim Rice on this Cold War musical. Musicalising the story of an international chess tournament set against tensions between America and Russia, “Chess” has never quite come together into one definitive version. It’s been seen all over the world, and every version features a slightly different script and staging. Character relationships, locations, subplots, and whole songs vary from production to production. In effect, you could see “Chess” in three different places and have very different experiences.

#2: “Carrie”

Even a fan of this ill-fated musical based on the Stephen King novel about a telekinetic teen’s prom night revenge can tell you it’s a little weird. “Carrie” is one of Broadway’s most notorious flops. Even before it tanked in New York, it underwent massive rewrites. Songs were written, removed, added back in, and then removed again. The script has been revised again since. In fact, there seems to be a new change nearly every time it’s staged. A 2012 production was praised for how well it retooled the troublesome show, but it’s yet to return to Broadway since that disastrous 1988 run.

#1: “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark”

It’s hard to know where to start with this one. Filled with effects, spectacle, and a rock music score, there were a lot of kinks to work out of “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.” Actually, there were so many kinks that the production had the longest preview period of any Broadway show. It played 182 preview performances, and still wasn’t truly ready. The premiere kept getting delayed by months, with rewrites and stunt work having to be reworked constantly. That’s to say nothing of the multiple injuries that made the show a punchline across the theater world. It finally opened for real in June 2011.

What musical do you think could have used some revisions? Let us know in the comments.

[a](BUR-nee TOR-pin)

[b]lah HOY-yuh PLAY-house)
[c](lay MEEZ-eh-RAHB-luh)
[d](VIK-tor YOO-goh)
[e](HER-buht KRETZ-muh)
[f](OSS-kuh HAM-uh-styne the Second)
[g](STEE-vuhn SON-dyme)
[h](BYURN uhl-VAY-us)