The song doesnt fit the rest of the show. that is why they take it out. It is a one line joke but the song is so long. It has nothing to do with who originally did it as Salome says. Also it is not used for character development. I am currently diretcing the show and have been all sorts of crazy research. Basically MEeskite was cut because after the orginal production, all othe rproductions wanted to be "darker" and this number really did not fit. This is the one song taht really does not represent or symbolize what is happening in the show.

check out John Lahr's article on the revival. he mentions the fact that Gilford was the only actor to make the song a success in the show.

Is it just me or did Jack Gilford remind anyone of Mel Brooks when he sang Meeskite?

nope. Jack's voice was alot higher than Mel's. and Mel has a throaty quality while jack's voice was smoother.
however the 2 did know each other quite well performing on the borcht belt.

I thought I would stick up for "Meeskite." Whether or not you like the song, it's one of the most important numbers in the show:

a) It's the moment where Schultz embarrasses himself in front of Ernst et al. He tries to get the others to sing with him and no one will, except Sally, who isn't easily embarrassed. This moment is a key point in Schneider's decision not to marry him.

b) Schultz is expressing his view that everyone is equal and people who aren't conventionally beautiful are just as good as those who are. This is the exact opposite of Nazi ideology. As he says, it's a "fable," and he's standing against the forces that are taking over Germany.

c) All the MC's songs comment on things that have happened in earlier scenes: "Two Ladies" comments on "Perfectly Marvelous," and "Sitting Pretty" (a better number than "Money, Money") comments on Cliff's deal with Ernst. "If You Could See Her" is a comment on Schultz and "Meeskite." He parodies and mocks the theme of "Meeskite," that everyone is equally beautiful. That's one of the reasons why, when they had to change the final line of the song, they went with "She isn't a meeskite at all" (which usually works better than "She wouldn't look Jewish" anyway).

Without "Meeskite" the important character of Schultz, and the important final scene of the first act, don't really work, and "If You Could See Her" is severely weakened. No one should ever cut this song; if you don't have an actor who can make it work, get another actor.

When I was back in college, I got yoinked into my former HS's production as Schultz in an emergency. Not only had I never really done any acting -- they called for help because I was in the area and a singer -- but the part was wholly out of my range (I'm a bass, and hadn't developed my baritonal tessitura yet). Nonetheless, this song MADE the part for me, and really helped me "find" Schultz as a character when I was pretty much lost as to what to do and was going on instinct.