Musical Theatre Nerd Quiz #1

One of my favorite things to do is to make fun, yet challenging musical theatre quizzes. Let's see how much you know about musical theatre history. This first quiz is similar to one I posted on facebook a while back, so if you have taken this before, I hope you remember the answers. Take a look at the questions and post a comment with you answers! I'll let you know your scores later on. Good luck!

1. What is the only musical that Richard Rodgers wrote music and lyrics for?

a. I remember Mama

b. Two By Two

c. No Strings

d. Rex

2. Which of these musicals did not win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama?

a. How to Succeed in Business…

b. Fiorello

c. South Pacific

d. Oklahoma

3. What musical did Danny Kaye perform months of the show from a wheelchair?

a. Let’s Face It

b. Rocky Horror Show

c. Two By Two

d. Lady in the Dark

4. Which Sondheim musical features a character written specifically to be African American?

a. None

b. Company

c. Sweeney Todd

d. Merrily We Roll Along

e. Follies

5. Which of these musicals did NOT run for one performance on Broadway?

a. Dance A Little Closer

b. Carrie

c. Glory Days

d. Kelly

6. What was the original title of Oklahoma?

a. The Farmer and the Cowman

b. Green Grow the Lilacs

c. A Prairie Home Companion

d. Away We Go!

7. Which musical does not feature any relation to sports?

a. Damn Yankees

b. Wonderful Town

c. Best Little Whorehouse in Texas

d. All American

e. The Pajama Game

8. Which one of these musicals did not play at New World Stages?

a. I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change

b. Toxic Avenger the Musical

c. Evil Dead the musical

d. Rooms

9. Which of these classic musicals did NOT feature Alfred Drake in the original production?

a. Kiss Me Kate

b. Kismet

c. Gigi

d. Oklahoma

10. What Sondheim musical did NOT win Best Musical at the Tony Awards?

a. Passion

b. Company

c. A Funny Thing Happened…Forum

d. Into the Woods

e. A Little Night Music

What Musicals Would I Go Back In Time To See?

I was recently asked, "What one show would you go back in time to see if you had a time machine?" I immediately found this question easy to answer. For me, I always wonder what it must have been like to be at the New Haven Shubert Theater in the winter of 1943 to see the opening night of Away We Go (later renamed Oklahoma!). If only that audience knew what would be born that evening!

It got me thinking about some other productions I wish I could go back and see. Here is a list of 30 that got away (or I wasn't born yet to see!), in no particular order:

1. Away We Go - Opening Night at the New Haven Shubert Theater

2. Rent - New York Theatre Workshop - January 25th, 1996. This was the day after Larson's untimely passing. The cast performed a "concert" version of the piece for Jon's friends and family. For a full account of this evening, see Anthony Rapp's book Without You.

3. The Black Crook - September 12, 1866 - Niblo's Garden - Considered the first book musical, the combination of music, words and dance happened by accident. Click here if you've never read anything about The Black Crook!

4. Of Thee I Sing - Opening Night - This was the first musical to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

5. Merrily We Roll Along - Original Broadway - Although it only ran two weeks, I would have like to have seen the show before the creative team made those great changes in the early 1990s.

6. Brigadoon - Original Broadway - One of my favorite musicals, it would be a thrill to see the piece in its original form; complete with the Agnes DeMille choreography.

7. Showboat - Original Broadway - Florenz Ziegfeld chose to produce this musical for a reason.

8. Zombie Prom - Original Production Off Broadway at the Variety Arts Theater - A show I've been in and have admired, I would love to see how it was originally produced. With better marketing, this show could've been a big Off-Broadway hit!

9. On the Town - Original Broadway - At the time, Comden, Green & Bernstein were relative newcomers. How great would it be to see them in this production?!

10. Assassins - 1990 at Playwrights Horizons - Although I adore the 2004 Broadway revival, I would have loved to have seen the piece with it's original cast, in an extremely small space, with a sparce orchestration, and without "Something Just Broke."

11. Gypsy - Original Broadway - Who wouldn't want to see Merman in the role she was born to play?

12. Follies - Original Broadway & Paper Mill Playhouse - From everything I have heard, both of these productions were perfect.

13. Children of Eden - Paper Mill Playhouse - As a big fan of this show now, I'm sad that my parents never thought to take me to see this!

14. She Loves Me - Original Broadway - One of the most undderated musicals, I would love to see Barbara Cook in this classic musical.

15. 30/90/Boho Days/tick, tick...BOOM! - One of the workshops - I would pay a lot of money to have been sitting at one of these workshops where Larson sat with a band and performed all of the roles.

16. Glory Days - Original Broadway - I can't believe that this musical only ran one performance solely because of the content. It was announced late in the season and didn't have the proper amount of time to advertise. There had to be some great elements that would be worth seeing.

17. The Wild Party - Original Broadway - As it's one of my favorite musicals, sometime in my life I will make my way to the Lincoln Center library to watch this production!

18. Blood Brothers - Original Broadway/London - Although many people don't care for this musical, I find it brilliant. Although I've been in the show and have seen a few productions, I haven't been to the West End yet to see the original production!

19. Fiorello - Original Broadway - Another Pulitzer Prize winning musical, I haven't heard of many productions since the original.

20. Anything at Signature Theater in Washington, D.C. - I've admired this theatre for many years for premiering wonderful new works of musical theatre. Some include The Highest Yellow, Giant, The Fix, & The Withches of Eastwick.

21. Company - Original Broadway (1970) - Of course, I would love to have been there for opening night of this groundbreaking concept musical.

22. Love Life - Original Broadway - Although many consider Company to be the first concept musical, Love Life is technically the first musical to use these Brechtian elements in a Broadway musical. While doing some research a few years ago, I had the pleasure of reading a draft of it and hope that someday it will be revised and produced.

23. Paint Your Wagon - Original Broadway - For many years, I've been a huge advocate for this musical being revised and produced on Broadway. If you read the script and listen to the score, you would understand how much potential there is in this musical. Although there has been some revisions made over the past ten years, there unfortunately hasn't been a Broadway revival.

24. Starlight Express - Original Broadway/London - You're probably asking how this musical made my list. When I was younger and just started to examine the musical theatre canon, for some reason I was enamored with this score. I still would love to see it performed in it's all it's cheesy glory!

25. No Strings - Original Broadway - This was the only musical that Richard Rodgers wrote music and lyrics for (and won a Tony), but unfortunately it doesn't get produced much anymore.

26. The Flops of Rodgers & Hammerstein: Me and Juliet, Allegro, Pipe Dream. These three are considered flops, but the first two have a lot to examine. I personally think Me and Juliet has a fantastic book and deserves to have a revival. For many years, Stephen Sondheim has talked about how he's always wanted to fix the second act of Allegro (He was a Production Assistant on the original production). Maybe he'll adapt a new book...?

27. Carrie the musical - Original Broadway - No musical theatre list is complete without a mention of Carrie the musical. I think the authors should finally release the rights. Someone would do it; even if it's just a concert!

28. [title of show] - Original Broadway - I am embarrassed to admit that I didn't get to see this musical at the Vineyard or on Broadway (long story). Someday!

29. One Touch of Venus - Original Broadway - Immediately after the premiere of Oklahoma in 1943, One Touch of Venus validated many of the theatrical devices that Oklahoma used. It also cemented Agnes DeMille as the force for movement on Broadway, as well as featuring the wonderful Mary Martin.

30. As this list has gotten way too long, here's a listing of some other musicals I would love to have seen in their original production: Marie Christine, Parade, Aspects of Love, Thou Shalt Not, Floyd Collins, Sweet Charity, South Pacific, Amour, Anyone Can Whistle, As Thousands Cheer, & Call Me Madam.

Feel free to post a comment with some of your thoughts and your own musicals you would love to have seen!

A New P.T. Barnum Film Musical Where There Isn't A Sucker Born Every Minute

After a brief hiatus (I guess I consider almost a month brief!), I'm back and ready to write about what's next in the world of musical theatre.

Today I'd like to touch on an article I read a few weeks ago that initially made me very excited, but after some thought, troubled me a bit.

Playbill.com reported that "Tony Award winner Hugh Jackman will play P.T. Barnum in a new movie musical for Twentieth Century Fox...Jennie Bicks ("Sex and the City") will write the script for the film, which will feature a contemporary score. The studio is currently in discussions with singer-songwriter Mika to pen the score."

When I first read the title of the article, "Hugh Jackman to Star in P.T. Barnum Film Musical," I was very excited to hear that Mark Bramble, Michael Stewart and Cy Coleman's musical Barnum was being adapted for the screen. Now that I read that it's going to be a completely new piece with contemporary music, it seems this piece might be heading down a tricky rabbit hole.

There is always a fundamental question when writing a score for the musical stage: what should the aural world of this story sound like? More specifically, if the piece is grounded in a certain time period or setting, does the music need to be faithful to that?

A great example of this great debate are the two adaptations of Joseph Moncure March's poem The Wild Party. When the rights for this property were released into the public domain in the late 1990s, both Michael John LaChiusa and Andrew Lippa jumped at the chance of adapting this poem for the musical stage. LaChiusa's view of the aural world was straight out of the Prohibition era of the poem's setting, while Lippa's score had a contemporary feel, complete with electric guitars. Which one serves the source material better? That's for you to decide.

For my money, I prefer LaChiusa's adaptation. I love when a musical that is grounded in a specified time period uses the sound of that era as an advantage for clear musical storytelling.

Which brings me back to the most important question about the new P.T. Barnum musical: Is the story of a 19th Century American showman like P.T Barnum best served being told through a contemporary score? When Bramble, Stewart and Coleman asked themselves that question in the late 1970s, they decided against telling this story with a contemporary score. The production ended up being nominated for 10 Tony Awards (winning 3).

I don't want to make it sound like I don't believe this new movie musical can be successful. In fact, I'm one of the biggest advocates out there for the creation of new musical films. I just think the studio might want to reexamine the source material and make sure they have the best aural world for their story.

(As a short side note, how great would it be if after the movie premiered, some Broadway producers put together a revival of Barnum starring Hugh Jackman? Seeing him perform "There's a Sucker Born Every Minute" would sell like a new High School Musical movie!)