If I remember correctly, the story behind the 1994 revival not including any of those songs was that, originally, it was supposed to be a co-production with a West End producer and that person had the rights to the film material. Then something happened to break up that production team and the UK producer went ahead and produced a concurrent London production that used the film songs and the Weisslers were left to produce their Broadway revival without those songs.
Doing so certainly didn't hurt the production, which ran for years and spawned many tours, including one that played a week at City Center while the Broadway production was stll running. That gimmick got a lot of press at the time, but I can't imagine that diluting the audience was good for either production. The Weisslers must have gotten a sweetheart deal from City Center, perhaps during a time when CC would have otherwise been dark and the tour would have had to have laid off. |
