Musical Theatre with Ralph the Llama Quiz

Answer: Camelot

"Camelot", with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe, opened on December 3rd, 1960 and closed January 5th, 1963, encompassing the years of the Kennedy administration. Maninmidohio was enchanted with his first of many Broadway productions.

He would join Ralph in a few choruses of "The Lusty Month of May" and "Fie on Goodness" if only either of them could carry a tune.

Answer: The King and I

"The King and I" was based on the novel "Anna and the King of Siam" written by Margaret Landon. After its debut, it ran for three years, which was at that time, one of the longest runs on Broadway. Dcpddc478 thinks this musical play, with its elaborate costuming and amazing dance routines, makes for a wonderful night on the town.

Answer: Billy Elliot

Emma058's musical suggestion was based on the novel "The Stars Look Down", by A.J. Cronin. The music was written by Elton John. When Margaret Thatcher passed away on April 8th, 2013, the performance on that day still contained the song, "Merry Christmas, Maggie Thatcher".

The director, Stephen Daldry, gave the audience the choice to include the song or not. Only three audience members voted against inclusion of the song.

Answer: Che Guevara

The original script simply refers to a character named 'che' which in Spanish has a meaning akin to 'man'. It was Hal Prince's original Broadway production that made the explicit identification with Che Guevara, and subsequent presentations have generally followed suit.

Marius Pontmercy, Judas Iscariot, and Dennis display their respective revolutionary tendencies in 'Les Miserables', 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and 'Spamalot'. Glendathecat joins Ralph in giving kudos to anyone who spotted all three.

Answer: Guys and Dolls

One of my favorite musicals, "Guys and Dolls" has music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and is based on characters and situations from the well-loved short stories of Damon Runyon.

It was premiered on Broadway in 1950, running for 1200 performances, and soon after, in 1955, was turned into a film adaptation starring Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra, and Vivian Blaine, with a couple of new songs added. The musical has had several revivals on both Broadway and London's West End, and is a perennial favorite for schools and amateur dramatic/operatic societies to stage.

alex_april has a secret hankering to play the role of Miss Adelaide and thinks Ralph would be swell as Nathan Detroit.

Answer: Little Shop of Horrors

"Little Shop of Horrors" originally ran as on off-Broadway musical, beginning in 1982. The show became quite popular, and in 1986, a film version was released starring Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene (who played Audrey in the original production as well as the film). It became a Broadway musical in 2003.

This hilarious horror-comedy-musical stars Seymour Krelborn, who finds a rare plant he named Audrey II (after the girl he loved). As it grew, the plant was discovered to be an alien wanting to take over the world and eat human blood.

There are quite a few variations to the ending, as salami_swami discovered after watching two different local renditions as well as the film. In the original version, as well as a few other variations he has seen (his favorite ending), Audrey II attacks Audrey, who tells Seymour to feed her to the plant. Shortly after, Seymour is devoured by the plant, and the end scene shows that the plants have been reproduced and all over the country, taking over as they planned.

Answer: Jesus Christ Superstar

"Jesus Christ Superstar" was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, and was first produced on Broadway in 1971 after being released as a vinyl LP the previous year. On the original album, the part of Jesus was sung by Ian Gillan who later found fame as a rock singer with bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. For the 2012 arena tour of the UK, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber presided over a reality television show to cast an unknown newcomer as Jesus, with the viewers vote ultimately deciding who got the part. The role went to Ben Forster who was joined by Melanie Chisholm (Sporty Spice) as Mary Magdalene, and Chris Moyles as King Herod.

Ralph and Rowena8482 hosannahed happily in the aisles and shared a bucket of popcorn as they enjoyed the show.

Answer: Aaron Tveit

Aaron Tveit (Frank Abagnale) and Norbert Leo Butz (Carl Hanratty) were the stars of Broadway's short-lived run of "Catch Me If You Can", which premiered on Broadway at the Neil Simon Theatre on April 10th, 2011 and closed September 4th, 2011. Kaddarsgirl had the chance to see "Catch Me If You Can" on Broadway when she was in New York City. She wishes Ralph could have been there with her to watch Frank's mischief unfold.

The musical, movie, and book, are all fantastic representations of the life of Frank William Abagnale Jr. who was a young paperhanger and con man. He posed as an airline co-pilot, pediatrician, lawyer, and college professor, and passed over $2.5 million in bad checks before the age of 19. He is now a consultant in the check fraud department of the United States FBI.

Answer: Twelfth Night

The title of this musical is an updated-to-the-sixties version of the subtitle of "Twelfth Night", and a plot summary of the show would sound like a Cliff's Notes version of the original play. It should also be noted that Illyria looked an awful lot like New York City! Needless to say, they all end up with the right person. "Your Own Thing" had a number of cast changes during its run. Sandy Duncan had a stretch of time as Viola, and Raul Julia played Orson for a while.

As well as the off-Broadway run, there was a touring company that played a number of cities in the US, along with 1969 productions in London and Australia. One of the most interesting production features of the show was its use of a number of different flat white surfaces onto which were projected the images for the settings, allowing instantaneous changes of location. Looney_tunes saw the Philadelphia show twice, then got a summer and weekends job working backstage at the Orpheum Theatre on 2nd Avenue, and would love to have seen Ralph in the audience.

Answer: Spider-Man

Yes, sure enough "Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark" (I did not make up that title) is a real thing and, yes, it was written by Taymor and Bono and The Edge. Yes, it was on Broadway.

Debuting in 2011, the musical was highly publicized as one of the most expensive and daring shows ever made, many of the costs being put into lavishly-designed, stylized sets and the coordination of several dozen high-flying stunts. It came as no surprise when the ambition amounted to very little, and by the time the initial reviews came in, the show made as little sense as...well...'turning off dark'. It made tons of money nonetheless, mostly due to high ticket prices and tie-ins, but it was universally panned, taking in one of the worst series of reviews in Broadway history.

Kyle(isalive) doesn't care for Broadway theater. He does, however, have a soft spot for all things defiantly horrible. He doesn't actually care for the Green Goblin; maybe he should've gone with Green Day and seen "American Idiot" instead.