LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Show Queen |
by Kenn Harris |
Sondheim Revisited
To those of you who enjoyed last year's Sondheim Quiz, see how you can do here. 1. At different times, in the same production, both Nathan Lane and Whoopi Goldberg played the same role. Name the show and the role. 2. What was Sondheim's special contribution to the original cast album of Gypsy? 3. What Sondheim musicals featured the following actors in their original Broadways casts? a. Ronald Holgate b. Ruth Kobart c. DJ'amin Bartlett d. Ken Jennings e. Patricia Elliot 4. What is the name of the haunting song Sondheim composed for three callow young sailors to sing moments before they are brutally slaughtered? Please identify the show. 5. With what other major Broadway composer/lyricist did Sondheim have a sort of war of words concerning which of the two wrote "real" Broadway musicals? 6. Name the Sondheim character who famously asks, "Does anyone still wear a hat?" Name the show, the song the line interrupts, the character, and the actress who created the role. 7. In recent interviews, Sondheim has confessed that he is embarrassed by one lyric he wrote for an early triumph, claiming it is psychologically weak and not politically correct. It is one of Sondheim's greatest popular favorites. Name the song, the show, and its composer (Sondheim just contributed the lyric). 8. What is the name of the Sondheim show that has had many workshop and regional productions, but has never made it to Broadway? 9. What happens onstage while a witty number from Pacific Overtures is being sung? 10. Payoff time! Identify each of the following Stephen Sondheim songs by show and the actors who introduced the songs on Broadway a. "Pretty Little Picture" b. "It's the Little Things You Do Together" c. "No, Don't Look at Me" d. "There Won't be Trumpets" e. "City on Fire" f. "Every Day A Little Death" g. "That Dirty Old Man" h. "Leave you?" i. "Children Will Listen" j. "Being Alive" ANSWERS 1. In the late 90s Miss Goldberg followed Lane in a hit Broadway revival of A Funny Thing Miss G. was more of a "Pseudolette," flirting with the hunks in the chorus, the way male Pseudoli make eyes at the showgirls. 2. Sondheim spoke the line "You ain't getting 88 cents from me, Rose." Apparently, the producers did not want to pay a non-singing actor for speaking one line. 3. a. A Funny Thing b. A Funny Thing c. A Little Night Music d. (Not the Jeopardy whiz!) Sweeney Todd e. A Little Night Music 4. "Pretty Lady" from Pacific Overtues 5. Jerry Herman, composer of Mame and Hello Dolly. Herman's Tony victory speech after winning for La Cage Aux Folles was hardly conciliatory, although Herman claims there are no hard feelings between him and Sondheim. 6. Company, "The Ladies Who Lunch," Joanne, and of course, the legendary Elaine Stritch. 7. "I Feel Pretty," West Side Story, music by Leonard Bernstein. 8. Bounce 9. A Shogun is being slowly poisoned by his mother, who, by the way, is played by a man in drag. 10. a. A Funny Thing, Zero Mostel b. Company, Dean Jones, Beth Fowler, Barbara Barrie, Charles Braswell and Elaine Stritch and ensemble. c. Follies, Dorothy Collins and John McMartin d. Anyone Can Whistle, Lee Remick (the song is often cut but a fabulous number!) e. Sweeney Todd, Beth Fowler f. A Little Night Music, Patricia Elliot and Victoria Mallory g. A Funny Thing, Ruth Kobart h. Follies, Alexis Smith i. Into The Woods, Bernadette Peters j. Company, Dean Jones (Jones played a few weeks and was replaced by dear Larry Kert who became associated with the song and, indeed, the show.) Kenn Harris is a NYC theatre critic, and author. Email kharris106@nyc.rr.com. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 19, No. 09 July 17, 2009 |