How Well Did You Do?

All right, time’s up, pencils down. Turn over your papers, fold your hands, and look straight at the blackboard. You’ve had two weeks to answer all 50 questions of the Broadway University Final Examination for the Class of 2004 and I salute those of you who did so splendidly.

In case you missed the test (please understand that no make-ups will be administered) or forgot the concept, for each question I listed two shows that contained a song with the same title and asked you to name the song. As I said by way of example, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens wrote a song called “Lucky” for their 1988 musical Lucky Stiff — but that didn’t stop Adam Guettel from writing a song called “Lucky” for his 1994 musical Floyd Collins. For that matter, many moons earlier, in 1926, Vernon Duke and Percy Greenbank had written a song called “Lucky” for their musical Yvonne. Here are the answers to my exam questions:

1. All-American and Ragtime: “Our Children”
2. Anything Goes and Candide: “Bon Voyage”
3. Baby and The Baker’s Wife: “Romance”
4. Bajour and A Little Night Music: “Soon”
5. Beauty and the Beast and The Wiz: “Home”
6. Bed and Sofa and Rent: “Over the Moon”
7. Bounce and Zenda: “Bounce”
8. Buddy and The Happiest Girl in the World: “That’ll Be the Day”
9. Cabaret and Miss Saigon: “The Telephone Song”
10. Carmelina and Smokey Joe’s Cafe: “I’m a Woman”
11. Carnival! and Destry Rides Again: “I Hate Him”
12. Celebration and Pippin: “Love Song”
13. Chicago and Saturday Night: “Class”
14. Cinderella and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum: “Impossible”
15. City of Angels and Into the Woods: “Stay with Me”
16. Crazy for You and The King and I: “Shall We Dance?”
17. Darling of the Day and Mamma Mia: “Money, Money, Money”
18. Destry Rides Again and The Happy Time: “Tomorrow Morning”
19. Do I Hear a Waltz? and Jekyll & Hyde: “Someone Like You”
20. Eleanor and Thoroughly Modern Millie: “How the Other Half Lives”
21. Falsettos and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown: “Baseball Game”
22. Fanny and Kwamina: “Welcome Home”
23. First Impressions and Your Own Thing: “I’m Me”
24. Flower Drum Song and Sunday in the Park with George: “Sunday”
25. Golden Boy and Into the Woods: “No More”
26. Golden Boy and Love Life: “This Is the Life”
27. Hairspray and Into the Woods: “It Takes Two”
28. Hallelujah, Baby! and Rent: “Another Day”
29. Happy Hunting and The Human Comedy: “Don’t Tell Me”
30. Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and Pacific Overtures: “Next”
31. Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris and Your
    Own Thing: “Don’t Leave Me”

32. Jennie and Over Here: “Over Here”
33. Jubilee and The New Yorkers: “Just One of Those Things”
34. Kiss of the Spider Woman and Mayor: “Good Times”
35. Little Shop of Horrors and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown: “Suppertime”
36. Me and Juliet and The Producers: “Keep It Gay”
37. Mexican Hayride and Oil City Symphony: “Count Your Blessings”
38. My Fair Lady and Rent: “Without You”
39. New Girl in Town and Metropolis: “If That Was Love”
40. New Girl in Town and The Zulu and the Zayda: “It’s Good to Be Alive”
41. Oh, Brother and One Touch of Venus: “That’s Him”
42. Oklahoma! and Smokey Joe’s Cafe: “Kansas City”
43. Plain and Fancy and Urinetown: “Follow Your Heart”
44. Rent and Wish You Were Here: “Goodbye, Love”
45. Shenandoah and The Will Rogers Follies: “It’s a Boy”
46. So Long, 174th Street and Two by Two: “You”
47. The Garrick Gaities and My Favorite Year: “Manhattan”
48. The Phantom of the Opera and Rags: “I Remember”
49. The Producers and Tovarich: “That Face”
50. The Sound of Music and West Side Story: “Maria”

So, how did you all do? Kevin Dawson admitted, “I flunked.” Rick Rogers said, “It’s hard to pull titles out of the air.” Chelsea Jones wittily noted that, for many of the questions, “I could have taken the easy way out and answered, ‘Overture,’ “Prologue,’ or ‘Entr’acte.” Frank Soldo said that the quiz actually took his mind off the real exam he was studying for at college. (I’m not sure if that’s a good thing; I have visions of an elderly Frank, down and out in shabby clothes, leaning against a lamppost on a street corner and muttering, “Yeah, I coulda really been something but, instead of studying for my finals, I took this show freak test!”)

Michael Dale said, “You’re a cruel man” — which is much the same thing that Barry Singer recently wrote me, albeit on a completely different topic. But Brigadude got all 50 answers, Bert Silverberg got 49, and Robert Diamant got 45. Everyone who answered knew that “Maria” came from both The Sound of Music and West Side Story — including Tom DMaggio, who certainly should know because he’s the company manager at Trinity Rep in Providence, which is doing West Side Story right now.

Joan Atkins noted that “Just One of Those Things” was cut from The New Yorkers; while that’s true, the song doesn’t come from the show. Ron Spivak pointed out that “Don’t Leave Me” is definitely a song from Your Own Thing but is hardly a staple of Jacques Brel and doesn’t always have that title in translation, although it did in the movie. Which once again proves what Mrs. Anna insists: “By your pupils you’ll be taught.”

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[To contact Peter Filichia directly, e-mail him at pfilichia@aol.com]