Musical Characters Trivia Quiz

Answer: Officer Krupke

The original production of "West Side Story" appeared on Broadway in 1957. The show was based on Arthur Laurents' book which was based on Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet". It depicted the rivalry between two teenage gangs of different ethnicities, i.e., The Jets and The Sharks.

In the second act, we find Officer Krupke again trying to keep peace in the neighborhood and adding comic relief to the building tension. In "Gee, Officer Krupke", the gang 'explains' their troubled, misunderstood lives while, at the same time, making fun of authority figures.

Answer: Jubilation T. Cornpone

Confederate General Jubilation T. Cornpone was the founder of the southern town of Dogpatch. He was referred to in song in the 1956 musical "Li'l Abner". The characters were all based on comic strip characters created by Al Capp (no relation to Andy!).

The strip ran for 43 years, introducing such names as Daisy Mae Scragg, Mammy and Pappy Yokum, Sadie Hawkins and Marryin' Sam. Some of the General's more famous battles were known as "Cornpone's Retreat", "Cornpone's Misjudgment" and "Cornpone's Hoomiliation".

He was considered a great asset to the opposing side.

Answer: Nathan Detroit

Nathan Detroit was one of the 'characters' (and they certainly were characters) based on Damon Runyon's short stories about the underbelly of the New York scene. It turned into the very popular 1950 Broadway show "Guys and Dolls", featuring gambler Sky Masterson and mission-lady Sarah Brown. Along with these protagonists was Nathan Detroit who was in charge of the "Oldest, Established, Permanent, Floating Crap Game in New York", and who had been engaged to Miss Adelaide (Vivian Blaine) for 14 years.

Answer: Maureen Johnson

Jonathan Larson's musical play "Rent", loosely based on the Puccini opera "La Boheme", was first performed on Broadway in 1996. The role of Maureen Johnson was based on Puccini's Musetta, with the story updated to reflect the starving bohemian artists living in New York's East Village at the height of the AIDS crisis. Maureen is a performance artist, civic protester, and bisexual.

She has been involved with most of the main characters as either roommate, neighbor, lover or friend.

Answer: Jud Fry

The first teaming of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II was on "Oklahoma!", which premiered on Broadway in 1943. The musical is based on the play "Green Grow the Lilacs", and tells the story of cowboy Curly McClain and his relationship with the farm girl Laurey Williams. But, as always, things are not that simple (or there would be no plot at all)...enter Jud Fry, a hard-working farm-hand who is introverted and disturbed, and is also obsessed with Laurey. Eventually, Curley and Laurey ride into the sunset in "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top", and with Oklahoma's statehood around the corner.

Answer: Leo Bloom

Did you know that "The Producers" is one of those very rare Broadway shows that was based on a movie? Only in the world of Mel Brooks could a movie (1968) about a Broadway musical be transformed into a Broadway musical (in 2001) and then back to a movie (in 2005). The protagonists in all these ventures are the sleezy, womanizing, producer Max Bialystock, and the innocent accountant Leo Bloom. They are trying to produce a sure-fire flop to pocket all the capital from the investors. What a show!

Sidenote: RIP Gene Wilder!

Answer: Claude Hooper Bukowski

In 1968, "The American Tribal Love Rock Musical" known as "Hair" opened on Broadway. It was the story of naive Oklahoman Claude Hooper Bukowski who headed to New York City to have one last fling before he joined the Army; however, this just happened to be at a time when the United States was involved in the Vietnam War. Claude meets up with some 'long-haired' hippies in Central Park who help him expand his vision of the war and the world.

This ground-breaking musical included profanity, use of illegal drugs, sexuality and irreverence...the "dawning of the Age of Aquarius".

Answer: Kathy Selden

"Singin' in the Rain" (1952) may be one of the best musicals of all time and yet the main characters, i.e., Kathy Selden and Don Lockwood, are not nearly the household names of some of the other characters in this quiz. The musical is based around the film industry of the 1920s when 'talkies' were just on the horizon.

The famous silent movie couple of Don Lockwood and Lina Lamont were about to speak on film...the only problem, Lina's voice! Enter the pretty and talented Kathy Selden to change it all.

Answer: Max Detweiler

We are familiar with the story of the Von Trapp Family Singers who were the inspiration for the film "The Sound of Music" from 1965, and the original Broadway show of 1959 by Rodgers and Hammerstein II. There is, of course, Maria and Captain von Trapp and all the kids, but there was also 'Uncle Max'. Max Detweiler was not a blood relative of the von Trapps; rather, he was a 'sponger' on his rich friends and a friend of the Captain. Hoping to win a prize, it is Max who entered the family in the Austrian Folk Festival which, ultimately, led to their escape from the Nazis.

Answer: Billy Flynn

The original Broadway show "Chicago", from 1975, was written by Kander and Ebb and set in Prohibition-era Chicago. The plot centered around incarcerated 'celebrity criminals' and their sleazy lawyer, Billy Flynn. Did you know that the original Billy Flynn was played by Jerry Orbach (yes, Lennie Briscoe!)? The show was choreographed by Bob Fosse.

The screen version of the musical was released in 2002 and featured Richard Gere as Billy.

Answer: Marian Paroo

In 1957 Meredith Willson's play "The Music Man" became a hit on Broadway, with the cast album winning the first Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Robert Preston played the irrepressible Harold Hill on stage and in the 1962 movie. 'Professor' Harold Hill is a con man and a traveling salesman who winds up in River City, Iowa to swindle, er, teach the musically disabled kids of the town to play instruments.

It is there that he meets librarian and part-time piano teacher Marian Paroo - and both lives are altered forever.

Answer: Colonel Hugh Pickering

I could have given you Professor Henry Higgins or Eliza Doolitle to represent the wonderful Lerner and Lowe musical "My Fair Lady" from 1956, but then where would the challenge be? Colonel Hugh Pickering was the kindly friend and linguistic colleague of the snobbish, self-important Higgins. Pickering bets that Higgins will be unable to take a poor Cockney flower girl and transform her into a 'lady'. Rex Harrison plays the egocentric professor to perfection on stage and in the 1964 film; Robert Coote was replaced by Wilfred Hyde-White as Pickering in the movie version.

Answer: Anna Leonowens

"Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!" This is one of the pronouncements from King Mongkut of Siam (now called Thailand), as he has brought a widowed schoolteacher over from England in the 1860s to act as governess to his many, many children. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical opened on Broadway in 1951, and is based on the true story of Anna Leonowens. Yul Brynner was the majestic king in the original Broadway production, and reprised the role in the 1956 film which cast Deborah Kerr in the role of Anna.

Answer: Nellie Forbush

Yet another Rodgers and Hammerstein vehicle, "South Pacific" premiered on Broadway in 1949. The show was based on James Michener's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Tales of the South Pacific". The musical takes place on an island in the South Pacific during World War II, where Navy nurse Ensign Nellie Forbush falls in love with mysterious stranger Emile De Becque during "Some Enchanted Evening".

The original stars playing the lead roles were Ezio Pinza and Mary Martin (mother of Larry Hagman), while the 1958 movie starred Rossano Brazzi and Mitzi Gaynor.

Answer: Sally Bowles

"Willkommen, Bienvenue, Welcome" to the decadent Kit Kat Klub; the setting is Berlin in 1931 with chanteuse Sally Bowles as the main attraction. The musical is, of course, "Cabaret", the Kander and Ebb show which opened on Broadway in 1966. The show foreshadows what is to come for the German Weimar Republic and its citizens, as the Nazi Party is rising to power.

The Broadway show featured Jill Haworth as Sally, while the 1972 film won an Oscar for Liza Minnelli as the irrepressible Sally Bowles.