Welcome to the Intermission Trivia Quiz

Answer: Interval

In the early days of the theatre, plays, even very long plays, were presented without an intermission. It must have been difficult for spectators at the Globe to watch a performance of "Hamlet" without a break! Nowadays, most performances have at least one intermission, which allows the audience to stretch its legs, go to the bar for a drink or outside for a smoke, and, perhaps most important of all, to take a quick trip to the bathroom! In the early days of motion pictures, many movies also included an intermission.

The fact that Americans say "intermission" and the British say "interval" is further proof of George Bernard Shaw's observation that we are "two peoples divided by a common language." In recent years, more speakers of British English have begun using the American term, but "interval" has never really caught on in the United States.

Answer: 1776

"1776" is a musical by Sherman Edwards and Peter Stone, focusing on John Adams' role in in the Declaration of Independence. It opened on Broadway on March 16, 1969, and ran for 1,217 performances. It was later made into a motion picture, and revived on Broadway in 1997. It was performed without an intermission, and won the Tony Award for "Best Musical" of 1969. Other musicals that were written to be performed without an intermission are "Follies," "A Chorus Line," and "Man of La Mancha."

Answer: Opera

While a two act opera will be shown with only one intermission, a three act opera usually includes two intermissions. This practice is fairly standard. The intermissions allow the actors to rest their voices, and are necessary because opera is more demanding than other musical forms.

Answer: Ireland

"Intermission" is a offbeat comedy starring Colin Farrell, Colm Meany, Cillian Murphy and Kelly Macdonald. The action takes place in Dublin. It received generally positive reviews.

Answer: Anne Baxter

Anne Baxter (1923-1985) was an American actress who starred in such films as "The Magnificent Ambersons", "The Razor's Edge", and "All About Eve". She is perhaps best remembered for her role as Queen Nefertari in "The Ten Commandments". "Intermission", which was published in 1976, tells the story of her life with her second husband, Randolph Galt, on cattle ranch in the Australian outback. Baxter died suddenly, of a brain aneurysm at the age of 62.

Answer: The Cranberries

The Cranberries formed in Limerick in 1989, and were one of Ireland's most successful rock bands during the 1990s. The song "Intermission" is from their third album, "To the Faithful Departed". Although not as successful as their two previous albums, it still sold more than six million copies worldwide. "Intermission" was not included in the U.S. version of the album, but was found on the European version.

Answer: The Notebooks of Lazarus Long

Lazarus Long (real name, Woodrow Wilson Smith) is a character who appears in many of Heinlein's books. The product of a selective breeding experiment, when he is introduced in the novel "Methuselah's Children," he is said to be 213 years old. "Time Enough For Love" contains two sections called "intermissions" which contain Long's various sayings and aphorisms.

They were published as separate book in 1978, with illustrations by the artist D.F. Vassallo. Among Long's pearls of wisdom are "stupidity is the only universal capital crime; the sentence is death, there is no appeal, and execution is carried out automatically and without pity," and "all men are created unequal."

Answer: Ingrid Bergman

Actually, Bergman starred in two films called "Intermezzo." The first was a 1936 Swedish movie directed by Gustaf Molander; the second was a 1939 remake of the earlier film, directed by Gregory Ratoff, and starring Leslie Howard as Bergman's leading man.

The film is a real tearjerker, with Howard as a violinist who falls in love with his daughter's violin teacher. Bergman must have really liked her role; she later did two radio adaptations of the film for Lux Radio Theater.

Answer: "As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again!"

Part 1 of "Gone With the Wind" ends with Scarlett wandering through Tara's burned-out fields. After trying to eat a radish she finds, she stands up and gives one of the most famous speeches in the film: "As God is my witness, as God is my witness, they're not going to lick me! I'm going to live through this, and when it's all over, I'll never be hungry again - no, nor any of my folks! If I have to lie, steal, cheat, or kill! As God is my witness, I'll never be hungry again." The camera pulls back to show Scarlett silhouetted against the rising sun.

The intermission follows.

Answer: "Phantom of the Opera", Phantom of the Opera

"Phantom of the Opera", while a rousing title song, is from early in Act One, and the true act-ender is the reprise of "All I Ask of You," where Raoul and Christine vow their love. "One Day More" is a legendary act-breaker featuring almost every character in the large-cast "Les Miserables", while "Here I Go Again" is choreographed in a similarly expansive way and "Till We Reach That Day" is a downbeat, mournful song used to transition into the darker second half of "Ragtime".