If all had gone as planned, tonight or any night of the year, we could have popped a disc into out DVD-player and seen Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews in She Loves Me, or Lerner and Loewe’s 1945 musical, The Day Before Spring. But alas, these and many other movies never happened, though some of them got close.

I wrote about a few of them a couple of weeks ago; click on the calendar to the right of this column, get it back to April, and then select the 28th to see what aborted musical movies I remembered.

Then I asked you if you knew of any. And you did! Some went off on tangents, but they were interesting ones, too – so I’ve included quite a bit -- in alphabetical order.

The Apple Tree -- “I remember reading in a theater column that after Debbie Reynolds saw the show on Broadway she loved it so much that she was determined to be the only one who would star in the film version.” (Tom DiMaggio)

Carnival -- Kevin Dawson: “Did you ever see Chita Rivera's screen test for this? Presumably she was to play Rosalie. Gower Champion introduced her off-camera as Janet Leigh -- a swipe at the Bye Bye Birdie movie." (Kevin Dawson)

Cats – "In 1995-96, there was much talk of an animated film. It was even in pre-production with shooting scheduled to begin September ‘95 for Universal, and co-produced by Steven Spielberg and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Initial reports had Tom Stoppard writing the script, then Patricia Knopp. It was to cost $50 million.” (Bob Rendell)

Chicago -- “There was plenty of talk, year in and year out, of a film that was supposed to have starred Liza Minnelli and Goldie Hawn. The same producers, though, stuck with it until the film did get made.” (John W. Griffin)

Finian’s Rainbow – “A couple of animation books contain artwork for this would-be film that became a victim of the blacklist and unrealistic budgeting, for the stars would all be in on percentages.” (Kevin Dawson).

Follies – “I'd heard that Henry Fonda was to be Ben, Shirley MacLaine Sally, and Gene Kelly Buddy.” (Jon Maas) “I was told it didn't happen because Hal Prince felt that MGM was reneging on promises. Bette Davis' assistant wrote of her learning ‘I'm Still Here.’” (Kevin Dawson) “Interestingly, I remember a very different cast being announced: Julie Andrews as Phyllis, Richard Burton as Ben, Jack Lemmon as Buddy and Shirley MacLaine as Sally (before the similarly plotted The Turning Point), with Davis as Carlotta and Crawford playing Hattie.” (BwayBear). “Another kind of What Might Have Been came to mind reading your column today: the national tour of Follies played the L.A. Shubert, as you mentioned, and was, in fact, its inaugural show in 1972. A few years ago, when the Shubert was scheduled for demolition, the folks at Reprise! tried very hard to book their concert production with Patty Duke, Vicki Carr, Harry Groener, Bob Gunton, et al. as the Shubert's final production. Alas, things didn't work out. I was severely disappointed, not only at losing a beautiful theatrical symmetry, but missing the chance to see Follies in a truly ironic setting.” (Laura Frankos)

Gypsy – “Before Roz and Warner Brothers, evidently for about five minutes, it was going to come from MGM, starring Judy Garland and her kid, Liza." (Broadway Mishap)

Into the Woods – “Copies of the screenplay used to be sold on eBay; word was Barbra Streisand would have been the Witch opposite the Muppets.” (Kevin Dawson) “It’s even mentioned on Wikipedia: ‘In October 1994, a reading of a screenplay -- written by Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandel was held at the home of director Penny Marshall with a cast that included Robin Williams as The Baker, Goldie Hawn as The Baker's Wife, Cher as The Witch, Danny DeVito as The Giant, and Roseanne Barr as Jack's Mother.” (Scott McClintock)

La Cage aux Folles – “Was to be done by Golan-Globus in the late '80s. Jack Lemmon and Dudley Moore were alternately spoken of for Albin opposite Sinatra's Georges (I'd have chosen Gene Kelly and Danny Kaye, though the latter would soon be dead), with John Travolta as Jean-Michel." (Kevin Dawson)

Little Me -- “If I remember correctly, Joe Levine in the 1960s bought the rights with the intention of starring the then-hot young actress Carroll Baker.” (Jim Lockwood)

Look, Ma, I'm Dancin' – “Steven Suskin wrote that it was briefly considered as a Betty Hutton film.” (Kevin Dawson)

Mame – “A TV production was to have starred Cher, produced by, then rumored to be starring Barbara Streisand. Rob Marshall and Peter Tolan were named to be working on the project.” (Broadway Mishap)

The Merry Widow – “This was first rumored for Streisand and then sometime later for Julie Andrews to star opposite Placido Domingo. As for the latter, the impetus was the simultaneous success of both Victor/Victoria and the 1982 Zeffirelli La Traviata in which Domingo starred opposite Teresa Stratas.” (Mark Dereng)

No Strings – “Nancy Kwan was going to do it.” (Val Addams.) “So was Rock Hudson. But with Kwan, the storyline obviously would have been adjusted somewhat. I guess interracial romance was still touchy, although Asian/Caucasian would have been okay.” (Tom DiMaggio) “Wasn't this also at one point announced for Miss Ross, before Mahogany?” (Bwaybear)

On the Twentieth Century – “As a teen-ager, I remember reading in one of Rona Barrett's gossip magazines that this was going to be a movie with Bette Midler and Burt Reynolds. But that was the last I ever heard of it.” (Tony Fyffe)

Rent – “There was talk that Spike Lee wanted to make it. That would have been a much different picture from the one that was made.” (John W. Griffin)

She Loves Me – “The two songs you alluded to in your original piece that Julie Andrews recorded were ‘HE Loves Me’ and ‘Dear Friend.” (George Connolly) “They weren’t actually demos for the film, but songs she recorded before being invited to do the Broadway production. They were released as 45s in England.” (David Schmittou)

Sweeney Todd -- “Yes, I know a film was made – but I would have liked to have seen the unmade Sam Mendes version of Sweeney Todd. Imagine it done by a director familiar not only with musicals, but also Sondheim musicals. It would be one in which (one hopes) the actors could actually sing! Alas, Sam went off to make Jar-Heads instead.” (Laura Frankos)

Wildcat – “I read that Bette Midler was also up for a much later film version than the one you mentioned with Ann-Margret.” (Tom DiMaggio)

Zorba – “To be retitled I, Zorba. Golan-Globus in the late '80s announced they’d be doing with Anthony Quinn repeating his recent stage role, and John Travolta as Niko. They just forgot to ask Quinn if he was interested in doing it, and he refused after it had already been announced that he would.” (Kevin Dawson) “Its was to be produced by Barry and Frank Weissler, written by Ernest Lehman, and directed by Robert Wise.” (David Kirshenbaum)

Well, I guess life is what they did while they waited for the movie to die.

You may write Peter at pfilichia@aol.com