November 21, 2008 - CAMP Show Queen

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth

CAMP Show Queen

I hope y'all enjoyed last month's Rogers and Hammerstein quiz. For this holiday issue of the 2008 season, I wanted to do something festive, so I've chosen Lerner and Loewe 101. Although not as prolific as R&H, they did create the greatest musical of all time, in my opinion, My Fair Lady, among several other gems. For the purposes of this quiz, Gigi is fair game, because it ended up as a Broadway musical, and it's my favorite film except for The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (Now that, would be a musical!) Have fun!

1. Lerner and Loewe created three really big flop musicals before hitting it big. What were the three flops, what was the big hit, still performed today?

2. Which of the following songs is not from a Lerner and Loewe musical? a. "What shall I do till tomorrow comes?"

b. "Green-Up Time"

c. "Waiting for my Dearie"

d. "Follow Me"

3. Of all the major Lerner and Loewe shows, only two are not set in the British Isles. What are they and where are they set?

4. What song in Gigi did audiences find so touching that it often garnered applause, even in local movie houses?

5. What songs from Brigadoon were considered so scandalous that it left one of the leads without a song on the album? Who was the unfortunate young lady?

6. Both Julie Andrews and Rex Harrison lost songs during the pre-Broadway tryout for the little known musical My Fair Lady. What were the songs?

7. Insomniacs, and old time TV fans, please take note: When Miss Agnes Moorehead was forced to leave the Broadway Gigi due to illness, who replaced her in the role of Aunt Isobel?

8. Name the star of a Lerner and Loewe hit who boasted that he drank a fifth of vodka each night of a performance. He also boasted that by the time he left the show, he had slept with every woman in the company except his leading lady. Years later, that star "confessed" that this had given her an inferiority complex. What was the musical, who was the frustrated heroine?

9. A truly fabulous dancer, who happened, I am told, to be gay, scored an enormous personal success in a Lerner and Loewe hit. His later career took him to roles including Dream Curley on the Oklahoma! film (he had that on stage, too, Marco the Magnificent in Carnival, and Dr. Mengele in The Deputy. Name him, the show, and the role he played.

10. Okay. Song time. You know the drill. I name the song, you name the show and the artist who introduced it.

a. "I Talk to the Trees"

b. "The Heather on the Hill.

c. "On the Street Where You Live"

d. "I Still See Eliza"

e. "Come to Me, Bend to Me"

f. "The Contract"

g. "Without You"

h. "The Seven Deadly Virtues"

i. "Embassy Waltz"

Bonus Question Considered by many to be the greatest tenor of the past 50 years one of this gentleman's first professional engagements was the Mexico City company of My Fair Lady (Mi Bella Dama) He sang one of Doolittle's pals but graduated to the romantic role of Freddy, with the show's big ballad. He can clearly be heard on the Columbia/Sony cast album in "A Little Bit of Luck." Who is he?

1. Great Lady; Life Of The Party; What's Up? Three disasters followed by the delightful, tuneful Brigadoon.

2. b. "Green-up Time" is from a Lerner show, Love Life, which boasted music by Kurt Weill. You must hear Frau Weill (Lotte Lenya) singing this charming number on the Sony label.

3. Paint Your Wagon is set in California and Gigi, of course, is set in Sandusky, Ohioor was it Paris?

4. "I Remember It Well"

5. "The Real Love of My Life," and "My Mother's Wedding Day." Pamela Britton was thus excised from the recording. What a shame, they're great songs!

6. Rex Harrison's uncharacteristically ebullient "Come to the Ball" in which Higgins tries to convince Eliza to attempt another High Society event was cut after the first performance in New Haven. Miss Andrews lost "Say A Prayer for Me Tonight," sung as she gets ready for the ball. The song went on to cinematic immortality, used in a similar scene in Gigi, performed by Leslie Caron, or whoever was dubbing her. Ironically, when Gigi was made into a stage musical, the song was cut yet again, to the great detriment of the show.

7. The delightful star of stage and television, Miss Arlene Francis.

8. Richard Burton, Camelot, Julie Andrews.

9. James Mitchell, Brigadoon, Harry Beatonthe lad who tries to run away from the enchanted village but is killed in the chase.

10. a. Paint Your Wagon; Tony Bavaar. Paint is the only L&L show to deal with a "social problem." Bavaar played a Mexican youth in love with an Anglo lass.

b. Brigadoon; David Brooks and Marion Bell (Miss Bell was one of Lerner's eight wives)

c. My Fair Lady; John Michael King

d. No, not My Fair Lady! Paint your Wagon, James Barton

e. Brigadoon, Lee Sullivan

f. "Without You," My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews

g. Camelot Roddy Mcdowell

h. My Fair Lady, orchestral, no lyrics. Original conductor: Franz Allers

i. Camelot; Richard Burton

Bonus: Placido Domingo.

I close on a personal note. It has been a great pleasure for me to prepare these quizzes. Kindly accept my very best wishes for the winter holidays. I look forward to being back in February. Please feel free to contact me at kharris106@nyc.rr.com.

LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 18, No. 15 November 21, 2008