During the show's planning, Walter Cronkite was sought after for the Narrator.
When Joanna Gleason departed, Christine Baranski was mentioned as a possible replacement. Similarly, Cyndi Lauper and Lainie Kazan were mentioned as possible replacements as The Witch.
Some online sources give the number of previews as having been 43, but we think that the correct number is 42 as there was no Wednesday matinee during the first week of previews, which started on a Tuesday night (playing a Tuesday through Sunday schedule).
The opening was originally scheduled for October 29, 1987, but soon after previews started, it was announced that the opening would be delayed a week, to November 5, to allow time for additional changes to be made.
During previews, the song titled "Boom Cruch!" was replaced by "Last Midnight." For a time during previews, a hybrid version was performed, starting with "Boom Crunch!" and switching near the end to a version of the last section of the song that would eventually be known as "Last Midnight."
The list of musical numbers in opening-night playbills featured a misprint for "Last Midnight," which was listed as "Lost Midnight." Some of the playbills may have had handwritten corrections, changing the o to an a.