The Flopperoo Quiz
It may not be Thanksgiving (or anyone’s
birthday) but I’m always ready to talk “turkey” about musical
disasters on Broadway. So come along for the ride, see how much you
already know, and glean some “dish” along the way.
1. The toothsome star of many 40s flicks and a brilliant 70s
show, took a dive in this one night stand, in which she played an aging
musical comedy star reduced to touring the dinner theatre circuit, where
she kept confusing the lyric to Mame with those for Hello, Dolly. Name
the lady and the unfortunate show.
2. One of Broadway’s favorite divas of the past generation
found herself lost in Boston in a bizarre new musical in which she played
a schizophrenic housewife with bizarre appetites and a homicidal streak.
In spite of a first rate score by Jule Styne and Bob Merrill, audiences
hated the show and booed steadily throughout the performances.
Most concerned seem to have been relieved
when producer Alexander Cohen closed the show after one week. Name
the show and its unfortunate star.
3. This Broadway-ized version of a cornerstone of world
literature tried out for a year being constantly rewritten along the way.
Nothing could save this leaky ship from sinking. It ended with a one night
stand at The Palace, allowing two of the industry’s most talented, if
obnoxious and egomaniacal performers, a chance to fall on their buns in
front of a paying audience, Name the
show and its unpleasant stars.
4. Even the mighty team of Rodgers and Hammerstein had a flop.
This musical, based on a novel by Steinbeck, just didn’t gel. Its cast
included a doomed young singer/ actress adored by “boomers” and a
beloved opera star who, ironically, is said to be the first woman to use a
microphone in a Broadway show. Oh yes, the show had a semi-hit tune. Who
introduced it?
5. This invader from Hollywood produced a musical based on a
famous fictional character. The New York reviews were so deliciously
hateful that there was not a single quote usable in advertising, or in the
theatre.
The “hero” swung across the trees half
naked nightly (that was the best part of the show!), but only for a year
or so, not the decade or more that its producers predicted for it. What
was the show? Who produced it?
6. Broadway’s very best team of librettist/lyricist decided
one day that they would create a sequel to an important nineteenth century
play—a script which contained nothing remotely musical or comical. They
shouldn’t have, but they wrote it anyway. It was a five performance
disaster at the Mark Hellinger Theatre, home of My Fair Lady. Who
were the hubristic pair who wrote it, what was the title of the show, and
what play was it based upon?
7. Two of TV’s biggest stars were humiliated by appearing in
this messy show, based upon a popular novel and a much-loved movie. Both
the great Abe Burrows and Edward Albee had their turns as writer/directors
of the show. Finally, the exasperated producer pulled the plug during
previews. The two stars returned to even greater triumphs in
Hollywood. Name the show, the work that
inspired it, and the stars.
8. This musical, based on an exotic source,
got drubbed by the press. One scribe wrote, “this musical purports to be
about the Civil War. It was, more likely the cause of it!” Name
the show, the work it is, however loosely, based on and the woman who
played the lead.
9. A beautiful colleen active in Holly-wood, often at the
side—or across the knee—of John Wayne, once starred in a Broadway flop
that told the story of a woman who goes to India and finds true, if
forbidden love, with her son-in-law. Her daughter dies in the first scene.
There was also a stage full of children who sang a frightful song about
UNICEF, in which “the part that sits down on the couch” is rhymed with
“Ouch.” Ouch indeed. Name the show
and its leading lady.
10. Show
queens agree on few things. One, however, is, that the show
mentioned here is the must beautiful “flop” with the greatest score in
Broadway history. Last month it received a superb revival by City Center
Encores. Lots of us are crossing our bejeweled digits that it will be
transferred on Broadway. Name the show,
its composer lyricist and original stars.
Answers
1. The lovely Alexis Smith, so icily fine in Follies was trapped
in Platinum.
2. The show was Prettybelle, the star was the great Angela
Lansbury who bounced back pretty quickly.
3. The show was Mitch (Man of La Mancha) Leigh’s Home, Sweet
Homer, a bombastic retelling of the Odyssey of Homer. The delightful stars
were the ever sweet Joan Deiner, and Mr. Charm himself, Yul Brynner.
4. The show was Pipe Dream. Judy
Tyler, a wonderful artist who had played the native-American Princess
Summer-Fall-Winter-Spring on the Howdy Doody Show, and who was killed in
an automobile crash before she could fully realize her promise, played
Suzy.
Helen Traubel, late of the Met, was Fauna.
The sort of hit song, “And all at once, you love her” was sung by Bill
Johnson, another great performer who died too young.
5. The musical was Tarzan, produced by the
Disney Organization.
6. Betty Comden and Adolph Greene wrote A
Doll’s Life based upon Ibsen’s A Doll’s House. Trust me, it didn’t
come close to their other show about single women in the workplace, Bells
Are Ringing.
7. The musical was Breakfast At
Tiffany’s, based upon Truman Capote’s novel. It starred Mary
Tyler-Moore and Richard Chamberlain, our very own “heartbreak kid” who
has never once played a gay role in a Broadway show.
8. My Darlin’ Aida, based on the Verdi opera but reset in
Tennessee. Elaine Malbin of Great Neck, N.Y. created the antebellum
version of the Ethiopian Princess.
9. Maureen O’Hara flopped badly in
Christine.
10. The
show is Juno, by Mark Blitzstein, book by Joseph Stein, based upon
O’Casey’s Juno And The Paycock. The original stars were Shirley
Booth and Melvyn Douglas.
Kenn
Harris is a NYC theatre and music critic and author of the biography of
opera diva Renata Tebaldi, and The Ultimate Opera Quiz Book. Kenn is both
an opera devotee and big time collector of original cast albums from
Broadway and around the world. And he loves to dish. Contact him at kharris106@nyc.rr.com
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