What Is JEOPARDY By Peter Filichia
Last week, I pointed out that the fourth iteration of JEOPARDY, which debuted on September 10, 1984, celebrated its thirty-fifth anniversary.
In the spirit of the game, I gave thirty-five answers to which you were challenged to respond with thirty-five questions. Unlike contestants who must buzz in a split-second after they think they know the question, you’d had almost a week to answer – uh, question. Let’s see how you did:
1: Kander and Ebb’s song that is arguably the most life-affirming song found in any Broadway musical.
1: What is “Yes”? (from 70, GIRLS, 70).
2: The performer who dominated three songs in this once-unappreciated score and who returned to it thirty-one years later in a terrific concert version but only as Narrator.
2: Who is Angela Lansbury? (The musical is ANYONE CAN WHISTLE.)
3: The musical that starred a then-married couple that was written by a triumvirate whose most popular song ended the first act of ALL SHOOK UP.
3: What is MAGGIE FLYNN? (Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones starred in this musical written by George David Weiss, Hugo Peretti and Luigi Creatore; all three penned “Can’t Help Falling in Love.”)
4: The lighthearted and sexy musical that took its title from a most serious Walt Whitman poem.
4: What is “OH CAPTAIN!”? (Its title was inspired by Whitman’s poem “O Captain! My Captain!” that displayed his grief at the Lincoln Assassination.)
5: The song that was originally written for a film, but became so well-known that when a stage revue included it, its performers were able to sing it in a foreign language; by then, they – and everyone else — knew the words by heart.
5: What is “New York, New York”? (It’s heard in foreign languages in AND THE WORLD GOES ‘ROUND).
6: The last great song written by Irving Berlin appeared in a revival of his biggest hit – and now routinely appears in its every revival.
6: What is “An Old Fashioned Wedding”? (It first appeared in the 1966 ANNIE GET YOUR GUN revival.)
7: The Drama Desk-winning Best Musical that had a song whose title was a variation on the word “jazz.”
7: What is THE PROM?
8: The toe-tapping, infectious number that opened Act Two and brought its musical director up from the pit and onstage to lead it.
8: What is “Come Follow the Band”? (The musical is BARNUM.)
9: The Tony-winning musical in which not one performer sang a single note.
9: What is CONTACT?
10: The nifty song that Karen Ziemba sang in Pig Latin.
10: What is “Yes! We Have No Bananas”? (The musical is BULLETS OVER BROADWAY.)
11: The husband-and-wife team who both appeared in this short-lived musical with a Tony-nominated score. (She can be heard on the cast album of a 1959 hit and he on a 1960 one.)
11: Who are George S. Irving and Maria Karnilova? (The musical in which they both appeared: BRAVO GIOVANNI; the 1959 hit in which she appeared: GYPSY; the 1960 hit in which he appeared: IRMA LA DOUCE.)
12: The spritely song that followed about a half-hour of no music whatsoever.
12: What is “But, Mr. Adams”? (The musical is 1776.)
13: The song that has three distinctly different versions on the smash-hit show’s original long-playing record, its first CD issue and its revival cast album.
13: What is “Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Love”? (The musical is A CHORUS LINE.)
14: The team’s first flop that didn’t have an overture on its original cast album, but it finally was recorded – and stirringly — on a much-later studio cast album.
14: What is ALLEGRO? (Rodgers and Hammerstein were the writers.)
15: The London cast album of this landmark (and sensational) score simply replaced the original leading man with his Broadway replacement who simply sang over the original tracks.
15: What is COMPANY? (Dean Jones left and Larry Kert took over.)
16: The show that had an outrageously funny interpretation of “Gee, Officer Krupke.”
16: What is BLAST?
17: The musical full of smash-hit songs that had a character named Bonnie in its original version who was renamed Erma for a revival more than a half-century later.
17: What is ANYTHING GOES?
18: The legendary lyricist who took one of his partner’s melodies from their very successful film and morphed it into a magnificently funny nine-minute masterpiece for the stage version.
18: Who is Alan Jay Lerner? (The background music in the film of GIGI became “The Contract” in the subsequent stage version.)
19: The dazzling opening number from an ‘80s failure that was sung by its songwriter and later showed up in a biomusical where the future songwriter sang it as a child.
19: What is “When I Get My Name in Lights”? (It was first heard in LEGS DIAMOND and then in THE BOY FROM OZ.)
20: The musical that doesn’t have a golden rainbow, apple or boy, but something golden that’s even more valuable.
20: What is CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY? (The Golden Ticket is what’s valuable.)
21: The song from the Tony-winning musical that had the same name and same verse both on stage and on screen, but then had a completely different melody and lyrics in the film.
21: What is “The Glamorous Life”? (The show and film is A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC.)
22: The actress who appeared in thirty-two Broadway plays (and won Tonys for two of them) who finally got to sing in the film version and on the soundtrack.
22: Who is Maureen Stapleton? (She appeared in the BYE BYE BIRDIE film and was one of the singers on “Kids!”)
23: The recording that not only offers a Pulitzer Prize-winning musical but also joins it with its sequel.
23. What is OF THEE I SING and LET ‘EM EAT CAKE?
24: The out-music (meaning what the orchestra plays as theatergoers file out) that ends with the musicians uttering a guttural sound of approval.
24: What is “Double Talk Walk”? (The musical is CITY OF ANGELS.)
25: The actress who appeared in a much-underrated musical set on Seventh Avenue and then contributed to an utterly terrific studio cast album to a long-ago hit that dealt with the same neighborhood.
25: Who is Barbra Streisand? (The musical in which she appeared was I CAN GET IT FOR YOU WHOLESALE; the studio recording is PINS AND NEEDLES.)
26: The two performers who opened this mammoth hit with a Tony-winning score left it after a year but both returned twenty-one months later.
26: Who are Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick? (The musical is THE PRODUCERS.)
27: The dazzling score that in one of its many hit songs originally cited Carmen Miranda, but for a revival that happened after she’d died, replaced her with Zsa Zsa Gabor.
27: What is FINIAN’S RAINBOW? (“If This Isn’t Love” in 1947 mentioned Miranda; in 1960, which yielded a superior recording, it cited Gabor.)
28: The ‘60s Tony-nominated musical whose revival included two ‘60s pop hits by the same songwriting team.
28: What is PROMISES, PROMISES? (The Bacharach-David additions to their original score are “I Say a Little Prayer” and “A House Is Not a Home.”)
29: The snazzy song for Evelyn Nesbit and Harry Houdini that appeared on SONGS FROM RAGTIME but was cut before Broadway and didn’t make the original cast album.
29: What is “The Show Biz”?
30: The song from THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW that didn’t make THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW.
30: What is “Once in a While”?
31: The show-stopping song that was added to the score and put Kristin Chenoweth on the Broadway map.
31: What is “My Personal Philosophy”? (The show is YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN.)
32: The musical whose two billed-above-the-title actresses won Tonys in the same category that year.
32: What is NEW GIRL IN TOWN? (The actresses were Gwen Verdon and Thelma Ritter.)
33: The actress who got a Tony nomination for playing two roles in her first Broadway musical and got a Tony for playing four roles in her next one.
33: Who is Barbara Harris? (She played both Daisy Gamble and Melinda Wells in ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER and later portrayed Eve, Barbara, Ella and Passionella in THE APPLE TREE.)
34: The musical that was a hit in America that had a leading male character who wasn’t American but spoke English and a leading female character who hailed originally from a non-English speaking country.
34: What is ONCE? (“Guy” is Irish and “Girl” is Czechoslovakian.)
35: The musical in which two characters have a difference of opinion on a song from TITANIC.
35: What is AVENUE Q? (The song is “Mix Tape.”)
As Mary Flynn sings in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, “Now you know!”
