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* [[Stephen Sondheim]] just ''loves'' to tinker with his musicals even after their initial productions have finished previewing, resulting in different audiences seeing different versions of each show. None of these changes are supported by all the fans, but the most controversial is the addition of "Something Just Broke" to ''Assassins''. Depending on who you listen to, it's either the master stroke that pulls the whole thing together, or a disastrous break in the dramatic arc that should never have been added and should be erased from existence.
** Even more controversial were the changes made to the 2002 revival of ''Into The Woods''. ''Assassins'', at least, has always divided both fans and audiences and has widely been regarded as a problem show; ''Into The Woods'', on the other hand, is one of Sondheim's most successful, popular and beloved works as a composer-lyricist. The decision, then, to reintroduce a totally unnecessary (and not very interesting) sub-plot about the Three Little Pigs, as well as replace several existent and already excellent lyrics with new (and, according to some tastes, inferior) ones, seems baffling.
** Sticking with [[Stephen Sondheim|Sondheim]], John Doyle's actor-musician revival of ''[[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (
*** This take was lampooned by the ''Forbidden Broadway'' cast, by the way, as "Teeny Todd."
** There's also the matter of the London version of ''Follies'', which made several baffling changes. Ben's solo "The Road You Didn't Take" was cut. "Live, Laugh, Love", was replaced with "Make the Most of Your Music" (a song which changes Ben's part from baritone to tenor). The lyrics to "In Buddy's Eyes" were altered.
* ''[[Wicked (
* An attempt was made to update iconic anti-Vietnam war musical ''[[Hair]]'' to reflect modern wars. Not only did making that change disrupt the entire show, since amongs other things the hippie culture is not prevalent and there is no draft to rage against. Not only did these changes not sit well with fans, it flopped critically, and the 2010 revival was much more faithful to the original
** Of course the 2010 one bombed too, but that had different reasons.
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