Musical Mastermind: PATRICK MARMION tests how well you know the top song-based stage shows
We may not be able to see a musical live on stage right now, but that doesn’t mean we can’t keep our show knowledge in good working order – so here’s a short quiz to help theatregoers stay sharp. Find out if you’re a musical mouse, middler or maestro. Try not to go online – as they say in school, you’ll only be cheating yourself – or peek at the answers!
1 Which Bella and Samuel Spewack musical includes the famous Cole Porter song ‘Brush Up Your Shakespeare’?
a) The King And I
b) Hairspray
c) Kiss Me Kate
d) The Lion King
Disney’s musical adaptation of The Lion King, songs written by Elton John and Tim Rice
2 Judi Dench famously sang Send In The Clowns in the 1995 National Theatre revival of which Stephen Sondheim musical?
a) Assassins
b) A Little Night Music
c) Into The Woods
d) Merrily We Roll Along
3 Which of these musicals is based on a Bible story?
a) The Book Of Mormon
b) Mamma Mia!
c) Wicked
d) The Prince Of Egypt
4 Which British football club do internationally renowned musical theatre composer Andrew Lloyd Webber and his cellist brother Julian both support?
a) Watford
b) Arsenal
c) Leyton Orient
d) Accrington Stanley
5 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Phantom Of The Opera is based on a book by which writer?
a) Gaston Leroux
b) Victor Hugo
c) Louis Theroux
d) JK Rowling
Judi Dench as Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music at the Sondheim National Theatre
6 Who was the first woman to play the title role in Mary Poppins in the 2004 West End musical adaptation?
a) Zizi Strallen
b) Scarlett Strallen
c) Laura Michelle Kelly
d) Julie Andrews
7 The musical Miss Saigon is based on which opera?
a) Wozzeck
b) Tosca
c) Carmen
d) Madame Butterfly
8 Spamalot was a musical spin- off from which famous 1970s British comedy team?
a) The Two Ronnies
b) Derek and Clive
c) Monty Python
d) The Goodies
9 Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel starred in Mel Brooks’s 1967 film The Producers, about a sleazy theatrical impresario and his nervous accountant. Who starred in the first Broadway stage adaptation, in 2001?
a) Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick
b) James Dreyfuss and Lee Evans
c) Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel
d) Mel Brooks and David Schwimmer
10 The music for the 1957 musical West Side Story based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet was composed by…
a) Jule Styne
b) Oscar Hammerstein
c) Leonard Bernstein
d) Stephen Sondheim
Imelda Staunton as Rose in the musical Gypsy, performed at The Savoy Theatre in London
11 Imelda Staunton, who is at the time of writing still due to play Hello, Dolly! in the West End in August, also starred in Chichester Festival Theatre’s 2014 production of Stephen Sondheim’s Gypsy. Who else starred in that show?
a) Her dog Molly
b) Janie Dee
c) Her husband, Downton star Jim Carter
d) Michael Ball
12 Who wrote the book, music and lyrics for the stage musical Oliver!?
a) Lionel Blair
b) Lionel Messi
c) Lionel Bart
d) Lionel Richie
13 The story of Disney’s Lion King is loosely based on which Shakespeare play?
a) Othello
b) Hamlet
c) King Lear
d) Antony And Cleopatra
14 South Pacific, which is due for a major revival this summer at Chichester Festival Theatre starring Gina Beck and Julian Ovenden, was written by which famous composer and lyricist partnership?
a) Kander and Ebb
b) Gilbert and Sullivan
c) Lerner and Loewe
d) Rodgers and Hammerstein
15 Which star, composer, lyricist and book writer of a major American multi-awardwinning musical also starred as a balloonist in the BBC’s production of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials?
a) Emmanuel Macron
b) Linda Rondstadt
c) Lin-Manuel Miranda
d) Miranda Hart