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Quiz about Musicals Literary Origins
Quiz about Musicals Literary Origins

Musicals' Literary Origins Trivia Quiz

A lot of the greatest Broadway musicals have been based on great works of literature and drama. In this quiz, I will give you the name of a musical and its story; you will have to choose the name of the work it is based on plus its author.

A multiple-choice quiz by BwayBabyCA. Estimated time: 4 mins.
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Author
BwayBabyCA
Time
4 mins
Type
Multiple Choice
Quiz #
200,070
Updated
Jul 23 22
# Qns
10
Difficulty
Easy
Avg Score
9 / 10
Plays
1459
- -
Question 1 of 10
1. "Man of La Mancha" - The story of an elderly man who chooses to live life in a fantasy world as a knight errant. What is this based on? Hint


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Question 2 of 10
2. "Camelot" - A legendary king faces the end of his great forum of knights as he discovers his queen has carried on a love affair with one of his knights. What play or novel is this based on? Hint


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Question 3 of 10
3. "Cabaret" - A seedy night club in 1930s Germany is the background to this world of decadence, sexual ambiguity and anti-semitism. What does this musical come from? Hint


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Question 4 of 10
4. "Kiss Me, Kate" - Two actors, who are divorced, try to put on a new musical show but allow their resentments to get in the way of their performances. What play is this musical based on? Hint


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Question 5 of 10
5. "Hello, Dolly!" - A society woman makes her living as a matchmaker for the socially elite in the New York area. What play is this musical's source material? Hint


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Question 6 of 10
6. "Wonderful Town" - Two sisters come to New York hoping to make it big in the Big Apple. What is this musical based on? Hint


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Question 7 of 10
7. "Cats" - Many felines dancing around a junkyard and telling about the many different members of their community. What is this musical's source material? Hint


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Question 8 of 10
8. "Oliver!" - A young orphan is taken in by an elderly gentleman and his little band of pickpockets. What novel is this based on? Hint


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Question 9 of 10
9. "My Fair Lady" - A phonetics professor takes on a cockney flower girl as a pupil to teach her to speak beautifully. What play is this based on? Hint


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Question 10 of 10
10. "West Side Story" - Two teenagers, a white delivery boy and a Puerto Rican girl, fall in love amidst their two respective cultures clashing in the teenage gang wars of 1950s New York. What is this musical's source? Hint



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Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. "Man of La Mancha" - The story of an elderly man who chooses to live life in a fantasy world as a knight errant. What is this based on?

Answer: "The Adventures of Don Quixote de La Mancha" by Miguel de Cervantes

 The musical is actually adapted from the librettist's (Dale Wasserman) play called "I, Don Quixote," in which Cervantes, who is imprisoned during the Spanish Inquisition, puts his masterpiece forth as a drama played out for his fellow prisoners.
2. "Camelot" - A legendary king faces the end of his great forum of knights as he discovers his queen has carried on a love affair with one of his knights. What play or novel is this based on?

Answer: "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White

 This musical, which also draws from Thomas Mallory's legendary epic "Le Morte d'Arthur," became linked to the Kennedy administration, having been a favorite of President Kennedy and his wife.
3. "Cabaret" - A seedy night club in 1930s Germany is the background to this world of decadence, sexual ambiguity and anti-semitism. What does this musical come from?

Answer: "Berlin Stories" by Christopher Isherwood

 The character of the Master of Ceremonies (brilliantly played both on Broadway and on film by Joel Grey) was a concept of original producer-director Harold Prince to help tie all the various stories together.
4. "Kiss Me, Kate" - Two actors, who are divorced, try to put on a new musical show but allow their resentments to get in the way of their performances. What play is this musical based on?

Answer: "The Taming of the Shrew" by William Shakespeare

 Using the play within a play style, Cole Porter's musical follows divorced couple Lilli Vanessi and Fred Graham as they try to put on a musical version of Shakespeare's classic.
5. "Hello, Dolly!" - A society woman makes her living as a matchmaker for the socially elite in the New York area. What play is this musical's source material?

Answer: "The Matchmaker" by Thornton Wilder

 One of the most successful musicals of the 1960s with one of the greatest characters for a leading lady to play.
6. "Wonderful Town" - Two sisters come to New York hoping to make it big in the Big Apple. What is this musical based on?

Answer: "My Sister Eileen" by Ruth McKenney

 With Leonard Bernstein's high spirited and jazzy score, it was a hit in 1953 with Rosiland Russell and became a critically acclaimed revival in 2004 with Donna Murphy.
7. "Cats" - Many felines dancing around a junkyard and telling about the many different members of their community. What is this musical's source material?

Answer: "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T. S. Eliot

 Based on a book of poems, it became one of the most successful shows worldwide and the longest running Broadway musical of all time. It was considered an unlikely choice for the stage (and to some, still is).
8. "Oliver!" - A young orphan is taken in by an elderly gentleman and his little band of pickpockets. What novel is this based on?

Answer: "Oliver Twist" by Charles Dickens

 This musical became one of the first successes brought over to America from Britain.
9. "My Fair Lady" - A phonetics professor takes on a cockney flower girl as a pupil to teach her to speak beautifully. What play is this based on?

Answer: "Pygmalion" by George Bernard Shaw

 Probably one of the greatest musicals ever made, it didn't click until lyricist-librettist Alan Jay Lerner proposed the idea of keeping the musical as close to Shaw's original text as possible.
10. "West Side Story" - Two teenagers, a white delivery boy and a Puerto Rican girl, fall in love amidst their two respective cultures clashing in the teenage gang wars of 1950s New York. What is this musical's source?

Answer: "Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare

 The musical was conceived by dancer/choreographer Jerome Robbins in the late 1940s with the help of his friends composer Leonard Bernstein and writer Arthur Laurents.
Source: Author BwayBabyCA

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Referenced Topics
Literature   World   Humanities   Musicals Mixture   Cultures   Names   Spanish Language   New York   Cats   Germany   William Shakespeare   Cockney   Origins of Musicals   White   Charles Dickens  

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