Here Are the Answers! By Peter Filichia
Last week I gave you some trivia questions and brainteasers
from the podcast I do most every Sunday on
www.broadwayradio.com . Every question I detailed involved
a musical whose cast album, be it an original and/or a
revival, can be found here at Masterworks Broadway. Just in
case you were flummoxed by the questions or didn’t
endeavor to take the test and do as well as Noel Katz and
Arthur Robinson did, here are the answers:
1– THE PAJAMA GAME, which involves a factory strike, was
the Tony-winning musical whose film version opened on an
apt holiday: Labor Day.
2–What “It’s a Hit” (MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG), “The
Rumor” (FIDDLER ON THE ROOF), “One More Kiss”
(FOLLIES) and “Only a Moment Ago” (NO, NO, NANETTE) all
have in common was that these songs didn’t appear on the
original LPs but had to wait for CDs to accommodate them.
3–The world-famous Broadway book musical that had two
female lyricists was PETER PAN with Carolyn Leigh and later
Betty Comden.
4–What Tony-winning musicals REDHEAD, THE SOUND OF
MUSIC, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY
TRYING, CABARET, COMPANY, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC,
RAISIN, ANNIE, AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’, SWEENEY TODD,
JEROME ROBBINS’ BROADWAY, THE WILL ROGERS
FOLLIES, THE PRODUCERS, HAIRSPRAY and KINKY BOOTS
all have in common was that they wound up winning
Grammy Awards for their cast albums.
5–In HAZEL FLAGG, Benay Venuta played an editor, but
when the film version reached the screen (as LIVING IT UP),
her husband Fred Clark played the role.
6–What TWO’S COMPANY, CALL ME MADAM, THE GIRL
WHO CAME TO SUPPER, FLOWER DRUM SONG, MAGGIE
FLYNN and THE GRAND TOUR have in common is that all
starred Oscar-winners: Bette Davis, Paul Lukas, Jose Ferrer,
Miyoshi Umeki, Shirley Jones and Joel Grey.
7–Before SWEET CHARITY began its pre-Broadway tryout,
Barbra Streisand recorded its song “You Wanna Bet?” But en
route to Broadway, the decision was made to retain the
melody but rewrite the lyric to create a title song. When the
film version was made, the second lyric was retained but
was given a new melody.
8–What ANNIE, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, ON THE TOWN
and PAL JOEY all have in common is that they have songs
that state where they take place: “N.Y.C.,” “Anatevka,” “New
York, New York” and “Chicago.”
9–The 45-rpm single made from a 1970s off-Broadway cast
album whose title became the name of the “group” singing it
was “Day by Day” by “Godspell.”
10–SHENANDOAH originally was titled SHENANDOAH, THE
ONLY HOME I KNOW. Although the last five words were
dropped between the Goodspeed and Boston tryouts, the
song “The Only Home I Know” stayed in the show.
11–“I Could Have Danced All Night” – that MY FAIR LADY
standard — was also heard in SAY, DARLING; the joke was that every actress who came in to audition for (the mythical musical) THE GIRL FROM INDIANA sang it.
12–The person nominated for a 1960s Grammy for which he
didn’t write a word – only to get a Tony in the 1970s for a
musical for which he wrote hundreds of words — was Ed
Kleban; as a record producer, he received a nomination for
HALLELUJAH, BABY! As a lyricist, he won a Tony for A
CHORUS LINE.
13–The Tony-winning musical that had a title song only in a
manner of speaking is KISMET, for that’s the Turkish word
for “Fate” – which was the name of the third song in the
show.
14–The film that retained a title song’s melody but dropped
all of its lyrics is SILK STOCKINGS. (Now that I think of it,
the answer could be FANNY, too.)
15–The two performers who each won a Tony for appearing
in the same musical – and shared the same birthday – are
PETER PAN’S Mary Martin (Dec. 1, 1913) and Cyril Ritchard
(Dec. 1, 1897).
16–The opening number of Stephen Sondheim’s COMPANY
includes the lyric “Bob, we’re having people in Saturday
night” – and those last two words are the title of an earlier
Sondheim musical.
17–The musical that saw every member of the family win a
Tony is HAIRSPRAY: Dick Latessa as the father, Harvey
Fierstein as the mother and Marissa Jaret Winokur as the
daughter.
18–What Lily Garland, Joe Hardy, Paul San Marco, Signor
Pirelli and Sweeney Todd have in common is that they
respectively either changed or had their names changed
from Mildred Plotka, Joe Boyd, Efreyen Ramirez, Daniel
O’Higgins and Benjamin Barker.
19–The Tony-winning musical that has “Guys and Dolls” as
characters is DAMN YANKEES; that’s the way the chorus
members are described in “Two Lost Souls.”
20–The performer that appeared regularly on GREEN ACRES
and also appeared in the film version of 1776 was Arnold the Pig. He’s only seen in an exterior shot, but he got his own air-conditioned dressing room.
21–MAME tells us that “The Man in the Moon is a Lady.” But
nine years earlier, WEST SIDE STORY had Tony make the
same observation in a conversation with Doc.
22– Henrik in A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC wouldn’t like “Bloody
Mary” (SOUTH PACIFIC), “I’ve Grown Accustomed to Her
Face” (MY FAIR LADY), “I’ve Got Your Number” (LITTLE
ME), “Old Friends” (MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG) and “Do It
Alone” (PARADE) because all use the word “damn.” He uses
“dammed” in “Later” and apologizes for it, although in his
case he’s merely using a homonym.
23–Two Tony-winning musicals that opened in the same
calendar year and ran concurrently for a long time – AND
had characters with the same occupation — are FIDDLER ON
THE ROOF and HELLO, DOLLY! Both had matchmakers.
24–What “You’re the Top” (ANYTHING GOES), “Do It the
Hard Way” (PAL JOEY), “It’s a Perfect Relationship” (BELLS
ARE RINGING), “I Don’t Need Anything but You” (ANNIE) and “A Moment with You” (SATURDAY NIGHT) all have in common is that they mention Fred Astaire.
25–In her first book musical on Broadway, Barbara Harris
played two distinctly different characters: Daisy Gamble and
Melinda Wells in ON A CLEAR DAY YOU CAN SEE FOREVER.
In her second, she played four distinctly different characters:
Eve, Barbara, Ella and Passionella in THE APPLE TREE.
26–The Tony-winning playwright who designed the logo for
a musical that got a Tony for one of its leading performers
was Herb Gardner, who won his own Tony for I’M NOT
RAPPAPORT long after he had done the artwork for FLORA,
THE RED MENACE, which won a Tony for Liza Minnelli.
27–In a world-famous musical – WEST SIDE STORY, that is
— a group of men (the Sharks) whistle a famous 19th
century song (“America”) that is also the title of a song
written for the show and sung by the Sharks’ girlfriends.
28–The Broadway legend that lied least about his age is
George M. Cohan, who said he was “born on the fourth of July” when he really was born on the third. The musical of his life is, of course, GEORGE M!
29–A show that closed some months shy of becoming
Broadway’s longest-running musical shuttered ten years to
the day of the opening of a show that did become
Broadway’s longest-running musical. They are respectively
SOUTH PACIFIC (Jan. 16, 1954) and HELLO, DOLLY! (Jan.
16, 1964).
30–The song from a 1960s musical that became a children's
picture book is “What’s New at the Zoo?” from DO RE MI.
31–The first movement of Grieg’s “Piano Concerto in A
Minor” is the melody that begins the overture of SONG OF
NORWAY, the 1940’s smash-hit and is also heard in the first-
act finale (“Rosemary”) of the 1960’s smash-hit HOW TO
SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING.
As Mary Flynn sings in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, “Now you
know!”
Peter Filichia also writes a column each Monday at
www.broadwayselect.com and each Friday at
www.mtishows.com . He can be heard most weeks of the
year via www.broadwayradio.com .
