There’s a Draft in Here
In musical theatre, not all demos end up in the final product—but the Internet has allowed these unproduced numbers to find an audience. Consider the following demos that never quite got there. For each, discuss with your team: why do you think it was left out of the finished product?
Finished works don’t materialize out of thin air. Authors, artists, musicians, architects, animators—nearly all creators go through one or more rough drafts before coming up with a finished product. For the drafts below, consider how much the work changes from one iteration to the next, and research the techniques that artists can use to transfer their sketches onto canvases.
Leonardo da Vinci | Mona Lisa (Louvre) & Mona Lisa (Isleworth) (c. 16th century)
It turns out there is more than one of the famous Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci. The Mona Lisa (Louvre) and the Mona Lisa (Isleworth) are two early 16th-century paintings that frame the Two Mona Lisa Theory. While the Louvre version is globally recognized as an authentic Leonardo da Vinci masterpiece, the Isleworth version depicting the same lady at an younger age in the same pose remains a subject of intense debate among art historians and scientists regarding its attribution to the master.
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The Mona Lisa at the Louvre is widely believed to depict Lisa Gherardini, the wife of Florentine merchant Francesco del Giocondo. Da Vinci started it around 1503 in Florence, likely worked on it intermittently until his death in 1519. The painting is renowned for its use of sfumato, a shading technique that creates soft, hazy transitions between colors, particularly around the eyes and mouth. This technique is not as apparent in the painting of the younger Lisa and perhaps it is a skill the master developed over time.
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Also known as the "Earlier Mona Lisa," this version was "rediscovered" in 1913 by English collector Hugh Blaker in a Somerset manor. Proponents, including the Mona Lisa Foundation, argue it is an earlier, unfinished version commissioned by Francesco del Giocondo in 1503. They cite carbon dating (pre-1500) and geometric similarities to Leonardo's other works as evidence. There are skeptics that cite the use of oil on canvas, when Da Vinci almost always painted on wood, believing it to be the work of the master's student.​​
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Vincent van Gogh | Bedroom in Arles (1888), Bedroom in Arles (1889), & Bedroom in Arles (1889)
Vincent van Gogh painted three distinct versions of his Bedroom in Arles between 1888 and 1889. While they depict the same room in his "Yellow House," each version was created for a different reason and contains unique identifying details—most notably the portraits hanging on the right wall.
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In the first version, the paintings on the wall portrays Eugène Boch (The Poet) and Paul-Eugène Milliet (The Lover). The second version replaces the originals with a self-portrait and an unknown woman. The third version features a different self-portrait and a woman; this version is notably smaller. Could this woman be van Gogh's lover? He was known to be a hopeless romantic.
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The Original (1888): Painted shortly after moving into the Yellow House in Arles, Vincent wanted to express "absolute repose" through simple furniture and flat, vibrant colors. Also called the Amsterdam version.
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The Second Version (1889): After the original was damaged by flooding in his studio, Van Gogh's brother Theo suggested he paint a copy before attempting a risky restoration. He created this "repetition" while at the asylum in Saint-Rémy. Also called the Chicago version.
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The Third Version (1889): Created just weeks after the second as a gift for his mother and sister. Because it was a gift, he chose a smaller, more portable canvas size. Also called the Paris version.
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The room was actually trapezoidal with a skewed rear wall; the odd angles in the paintings are a realistic depiction of the house's architecture, not a mistake. The Amsterdam version has looser, experimental brushwork, while the Chicago and Paris versions feature more structured, thick impasto strokes. From the paintings and other masterpieces with many versions/drafts such as Sunflowers, we can see that van Gogh was perfecting his signature style.
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Bedroom in Arles (1888)
Bedroom in Arles (1889)
Bedroom in Arles (1889)
Edvard Munch | Despair (1892) & The Scream (1893)
Edvard Munch's Despair (1892) and The Scream (1893) are closely related works that capture the same existential moment from the artist's life. While Despair is considered a more naturalistic precursor, The Scream transformed the motif into a universal icon of anxiety by radically changing the central figure.
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Despair (1892) is the first version of Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream (1893). It expresses the feelings of anxiety he had experienced on a walk in the sunset in Kristiania a few years earlier. Munch writes in his diary in Nice, 22 January 1892, “I was walking along a path with two friends – the sun was setting – I felt a breath of melancholy – Suddenly the sky turned blood-red – I stopped and leant against the railing deadly tired – looking out across flaming clouds that hung like blood and sword over the deep blue fjord and town – My friends walked on – I stood there trembling with anxiety and I felt a great, infinite scream through nature.”
The first time Despair was exhibited, in 1892, it was called Sick Atmosphere at Sunset, and attracted huge attention. The man in the foreground bears a distinct resemblance to Munch himself. The landscape is Kristiania seen from the Ekebergåsen. The diagonal railing produces a dramatic depth in the otherwise flat perspective.
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In The Scream Munch developed the motif towards greater universality. In 1895, Munch also made a lithographic version, where he printed “I felt the great scream through nature” on some of the copies. The motif has become an icon of the anxiety and loneliness of modern man.​ In The Scream this figure has become a mysterious presence that is difficult to define. Is the figure we see a woman or a man? Is it wearing a black coat, or a dress? Is it a skull or a face we are looking at? Why doesn’t the figure have hair? These difficult and indistinct features of the figure make The Scream into a visual enigma. We know that Munch drew sketches and worked with the motif over a long period of time, but the painting technique and lack of detail give the impression that it was painted quickly and spontaneously.
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Dance (I) (1909)
Dance (II) (1910)
Henri Matisse | Dance (I) (1909) & Dance (II) (1910)
Henri Matisse's Dance (I) (1909) and Dance (II) (1910) are two monumental canvases that mark a pivotal shift toward modern abstraction. While they share the same circular composition of five dancers, they differ significantly in their emotional intensity and color palette. MoMA describes the 1909 version as a preliminary study, while the 1910 version is the final decorative panel commissioned by Russian collector Sergei Shchukin.
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In Dance (I), Matisse painted this version quickly to test the composition. He once referred to its pale, luminous quality as the "overpowering climax of luminosity". The figures appear weightless, floating across the landscape with "bean bag doll" flexibility. In the final version, Matisse stripped the image down to three primary colors—red, blue, and green—to represent Man, Heaven, and Earth.
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In both versions, there is a noticeable break in the circle where the hands of the two dancers in the foreground do not quite meet. This is often interpreted as a point of tension or as an invitation to the viewer to step into the gap and join the dance. It is also often associated with “Dance of the Young Girls,” in The Rite of Spring by Igor Stravinsky.
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In songwriting, early drafts are called demos. Sometimes, the songwriter will perform them him or herself, even if the song is intended for someone else to sing. Consider the following demos and then the finished product, then ask yourself: what changed along the way? What makes the finished product feel more “done”?
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The Beatles | “Strawberry Fields Forever (Home Demo Sequence)” (1966)
The “Strawberry Fields Forever (Home Demo Sequence)” is a compilation of John Lennon's early solo recordings of the song, primarily released on the Anthology 2 collection in 1996. These recordings capture the song’s evolution from a simple acoustic folk-style piece into the complex psychedelic masterpiece it eventually became in the studio. The sequence typically includes recordings made by Lennon in two different locations during the autumn of 1966.
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Santa Isabel, Almería (Sept–Oct 1966): While filming How I Won the War in Spain, Lennon began writing the song on acoustic guitar. These early takes often lacked the famous chorus and the "Strawberry Fields" refrain. ​
Kenwood, Weybridge (Nov 1966): Upon returning to England, Lennon further developed the track in his home music room.
These demos show him experimenting with his newly purchased Mellotron and layering his own vocals. The early demo featured acoustic guitar, solo vocals, early Mellotron. It starts directly with the verse "No one I think is in my tree". Primarily performed in the Key of C and the final song was in A and B flat.
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Lin-Manuel Miranda | “This One's Mine” (2018)
“This One’s Mine” is the original first draft of the song “Helpless” from the musical Hamilton. Released by Lin-Manuel Miranda on SoundCloud in December 2018 as part of his “Hamildemos” series, it provides a rare look at the show's early creative development.
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Miranda wrote the song to depict the first meeting between Eliza Schuyler and Alexander Hamilton. According to the Hamilton Wiki, the song was scrapped after Miranda played it for his wife, Vanessa
Nadal. Supposedly, Miranda was upset about the criticism, but later came back and wrote the version of "Helpless" that we all know. While most of the song was replaced, the iconic line “This one’s mine” was retained and moved into the lyrics of "Helpless" and "Satisfied". Although cut from Hamilton, Miranda repurposed the melody for the song “One School” in his 2014 15-minute musical, 21 Chump Street.
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Sophia Anne Caruso | “Dead Mom (Demo)” (2019)
The “Dead Mom (Demo)” by Sophia Anne Caruso is a pre-release recording of the signature anthem from Beetlejuice The Musical. Released in May 2019 via an official music video, this version served as a promotional "first look" at Lydia Deetz’s character before the Original Broadway Cast Recording was fully finalized. It was used to build momentum for the show’s digital presence, specifically highlighting Caruso's "teen angst" and rock-inspired vocal performance.
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EJAE | “Golden” (various demos) (2025)
The song “Golden” by EJAE (the singing voice of Rumi) is the central anthem from the 2025 Netflix animated film KPop Demon Hunters. While the final version is a collaboration between EJAE, Audrey Nuna, and Rei Ami (as the group HUNTR/X), EJAE has released and discussed several original demos that reveal the song's intimate and personal origins.
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EJAE has famously shared that the melody for the hook—specifically the "going to be, going to be golden" line—came to her spontaneously via voice memo while she was on her way to the dentist. The challenging A5 note was written as a metaphor for the character Roomie's fierce determination to reach an "unreachable" goal.
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The track eventually became a massive commercial hit, spending eight weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 and winning Best Original Song at the 98th Academy Awards in 2026.
“You Can Count On Me” is a cut song from the 1992 Disney film Aladdin that was first released to the public in 1994. It holds a unique place in Disney history as the first song Alan Menken composed for the project after the passing of his longtime collaborator, lyricist Howard Ashman.
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Alan Menken (born 1949) is a legendary American composer and pianist best known for his transformative work with Walt Disney Animation Studios. He is a rare EGOT winner—having won an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony—and is widely credited with sparking the "Disney Renaissance" of the 1990s alongside lyricist Howard Ashman. Menken composed the scores and songs for era-defining hits including The Little Mermaid (1989), Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), and Hercules (1997).
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Originally intended to introduce Aladdin and his relationship with Abu, the song was ultimately replaced by “One Jump Ahead.” The song was cut because the filmmakers found it too "pokey" and felt "One Jump Ahead" provided a more energetic introduction to the character's street-rat lifestyle.
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“First to Dance” (also known as “Someone’s Got to Be the First to Dance”) is a deleted song from Disney’s 18th-century historical musical, Pocahontas (1995). Written by the Academy Award-winning duo Alan Menken (music) and Stephen Schwartz (lyrics), the track was originally intended to be a message of peace and reconciliation between the English settlers and the Powhatan people. The lyrics focus on breaking the cycle of violence and the courage required to take the "first step" toward peace. Grandmother Willow sings about a vision of all people "dancing in a circle" under a tree, representing global harmony.
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​The song was eventually replaced by the shorter, more atmospheric “Listen With Your Heart,” which reused much of the same melody but with simplified, more spiritual lyrics. ​The creative team felt the upbeat, "cheerful" nature of the song was too silly or lighthearted given the escalating tensions and the imminent death of Kocoum. A demo of the song, performed by Alan Menken, was included as a bonus track on the Pocahontas: The Legacy Collection soundtrack.
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“Family Home Evening” is a rare, unreleased demo from the early development of the 2011 Broadway musical The Book of Mormon. Recorded around 2009 during the show's workshop phase, the song was intended to satirize the real-world Latter-day Saint practice of gathering families every Monday night for lessons and activities. The song depicted a "perfect" Mormon family participating in a Family Home Evening (FHE) ritual, complete with opening prayers, scripture reading, and the traditional "treat" at the end.
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While the song successfully introduced the FHE concept, it was ultimately removed for pacing and narrative focus. The show's focus shifted more heavily toward the mission in Uganda, making an extended flashback or introductory sequence in a Salt Lake City living room feel redundant.
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Dear Evan Hansen | “In the Bedroom Down the Hall” (2017)
“In the Bedroom Down the Hall” is a poignant cut song from the musical Dear Evan Hansen, officially released as a demo in November 2018. Performed as a duet between the two mothers, Heidi Hansen (Rachel Bay Jones) and Cynthia Murphy (Jennifer Laura Thompson), the song explores their parallel grief and the shared struggle of trying to connect with their troubled sons.
The musical follows Evan Hansen, a high school senior with social anxiety, "who invents an important role for himself in a tragedy that he did not earn. Although the themes of grief and loneliness are serious, the musical is anything but somber. It addresses challenging facts of life. "In the Bedroom Down the Hall" was originally going to be a part of the show, somewhere around where "To Break in a Glove" currently takes place. It was then scrapped during production, and another cut song, "This'll Be the Year", was inserted at the beginning, functioning as a duet between the two mothers. "Anybody Have a Map?" later replaced it.
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Most performers rehearse before they go on stage; some people even rehearse before difficult conversations. Investigate the psychology of rehearsal. What parts of the brain does it affect? How do you know when you’ve rehearsed enough?
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There are just no rehearsals for life. Rehearsal, in psychology, is the process of reviewing information repeatedly to help it stick in your memory. Rehearsing relates to the hippocampus, or the part of the brain that affects memory. There are two main types of rehearsal: maintenance rehearsal, where you repeat information to keep it in your short-term memory, and elaborative rehearsal, where you connect new information to things you already know to help it stick in your long-term memory. The thing is, you can't know when you have rehearsed enough. Life brings about variables and unexpected situations, and rehearsals rely on the constant. While rehearsals can be useful in situations like preparing for a big test or a speech, you never know when you've done "enough" rehearsing.
​ - Penelope​
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