How much do you know about Memorable Musical Melodies? | Quiz

Answer: Rent

Written by Jonathan Larson and loosely based on Puccini's "La Boheme", "Rent" debuted off-Broadway in 1996 and moved to Broadway a few months later. Sadly, Larson died the night before the off-Broadway premiere from an aortic dissection at the age of 35. "Rent" focused on the lives of a group of artistic friends living in New York City and dealt with poverty, HIV/AIDS, and drug abuse among other topics. "Seasons of Love" asked "How do you measure a year in a life?" and "How can you measure the life of a woman or a man?" It became an AIDS anthem due to its connection with the AIDS-suffering characters in the show and its poignant line: "To celebrate, remember a year in the life of a friend".

Answer: The Sound of Music

With music and lyrics by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, "The Sound of Music" opened on Broadway in 1959 and picked up the Tony for Best Musical in a tie with "Fiorello!". The show was based on the memoir of Maria Von Trapp and told the story of a widowed Austrian captain, his seven children, and a postulant who became their governess and eventually married their father. "So Long, Farewell" appeared in the first act at a ball as the children were being ushered to bed.

The whimsical song provided an opportunity for each of the children to have their moment in the sun, with one stating that she hated "to go and miss this pretty sight" and another prodding that she'd "like to stay and taste my first champagne".

In the second act, the song was soberly sung by the family at a festival as they prepared to leave Nazi-occupied Austria.

Answer: Guys and Dolls

With music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, and based on a couple of Damon Runyon short stories, "Guys and Dolls" debuted on Broadway in 1950 and nearly swept the musical categories at the Tony awards the following year.

The show featured a few interlocking plots involving gamblers, a con man, a showgirl, and a missionary. Sarah Brown was the latter, and she ended up singing "If I Were a Bell" after getting unwittingly intoxicated on a date with gambler Sky Masterson and becoming a little too frisky: "If I were a gate, I'd be swinging".

The show picked up five Tony Awards including Best Musical.

Answer: West Side Story

Jerome Robbins had the idea to create a musical based on William Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet", and the show made it to Broadway in 1957 with music and lyrics by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim and book by Arthur Laurents. In the show, the Italian Tony fell in love with the Puerto Rican Maria, and it wasn't their families who objected in particular, but rather the separate gangs, the white Jets and the Puerto Rican Sharks.

The song, "Maria", appeared in the first act after Tony met her at a dance; he serenaded her with the song outside her apartment: "I've just met a girl named Maria, and suddenly the name will never be the same".

The show lost the Tony Award for Best Musical to "The Music Man", but picked up awards for choreography and scene design.

Answer: Annie

With music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin Charnin, book by Thomas Meehan, and based on the "Little Orphan Annie" comic strip, "Annie" opened on Broadway in 1977 with the precocious Andrea McArdle in the title role. Annie believed her parents were still alive, and so she escaped from the orphanage to search for them.

It was after being returned to the orphanage that her escapade resulted in group punishment, and while scrubbing the floors, the girls sang "It's a Hard Knock Life": "'Stead of treated, we get tricked; 'stead of kisses, we get kicked". "Annie" did well at the Tony Awards, picking up seven of the ten awards for which it was nominated and winning Best Musical.

Answer: Annie Get Your Gun

With music and lyrics by Irving Berlin and book by Dorothy and Herbert Fields, the fictional story of sharpshooter Annie Oakley first hit Broadway in 1946 with Ethel Merman in the title role. The musical focused on the romance between the naïve Annie and the womanizing Frank Butler, who was the star of "Buffalo Bill's Wild West" show until Annie came along. Backwoods Annie fell for Frank, but he told her that he wanted an elegant woman for a wife.

However, he soon was charmed by her simple ways, and on a train trip, after he asked her if she'd ever been in love, she admitted she hadn't but sang "They Say it's Wonderful": "I only know that falling in love is grand". Frank sang in response, "Everything that you've heard is really so; I've been there once or twice and I should know".

Answer: Oklahoma!

Based on the play "Green Grow the Lilacs" by Lynn Riggs, "Oklahoma!" was the first musical for Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. Opening on Broadway in 1943, the story followed the romances between a farm girl Laurey and her cowboy and farmhand suitors, and the flirty Ado (I do) Annie and her cowboy and peddler suitors in pre-statehood Oklahoma. Even though Laurey was conflicted about her relationships, she took time to advise Annie on her love life.

When Laurey told her that she couldn't "just go around kissing every man that asks ya", Annie lamented that "I Cain't Say No": "When a person tries to kiss a girl, I know she oughta give his face a smack.

But as soon as someone kisses me, I somehow, sorta, wanta kiss him back!" "Oklahoma!" premiered before the advent of the Tony Awards, but the show did win a special Pulitzer Prize for Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Answer: How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Based on Shepherd Mead's 1952 novel, and with music by Frank Loesser and book by Abe Burrows, Jack Weinstock, and Willie Gilbert, "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" opened on Broadway in 1961 with Robert Morse as the upwardly mobile J. Pierrepont Finch. The story followed Finch as he was promoted through a company using a self-help book for guidance. When Finch asked Mr Twimble, the head of the mailroom, about his longevity at the company, Twimble explained "The Company Way":

"It takes a combination of skill, diplomacy and bold caution. When I joined this firm as a brash young man, well I said to myself, 'now brash young man, don't get any ideas'. Well, I stuck to that, and haven't had one in years". His advice was to "play it safe": "Oh, company policy is by me ok. You'll never rise up to the top, but there's one thing clear: Whoever the company fires, I will still be here!"

"How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying" nearly swept the 1962 Tony Awards ceremony, winning seven of the eight categories for which it was nominated, including Best Musical.

Answer: Bye Bye Birdie

The 1960 musical "Bye Bye Birdie", with music and lyrics by Charles Strouse and Lee Adams and book by Michael Stewart, had several sources of inspiration, including Elvis' 1957 induction into the Army. In the story, 15-year-old Kim is selected to give rock star Conrad Birdie a goodbye kiss on "The Ed Sullivan" show as Birdie headed off to the Army.

Her boyfriend Hugo was jealous over Kim's infatuation with Birdie, so Kim sang to him that she only needed "One boy to laugh with, to joke with, have a Coke with".

The Broadway production picked up the Tony award for Best Musical in 1961.

Answer: Little Shop of Horrors

With music by Alan Menken and lyrics and book by Howard Ashman, "Little Shop of Horrors" debuted "Off-Off-Broadway" in 1982 before moving to an Off Broadway theatre and also to London's West End in 1983. A mixture of comedy and horror, the story was about a socially-inept florist who had a blood-thirsty plant. "Skid Row (Downtown)" was a lament to the workday drudge in the poorer part of town: "Someone gimme my shot or I'll rot here!"