Skip to main content

Exploring Broadway Theatre: A Quiz on Its History and Impact

Test your knowledge of Broadway theatre with this engaging quiz that covers its history, key figures, and significant awards.

#Broadway #Theatre #Musicals #History #Awards

1 The Touring Broadway Awards, presented by The ________, honor excellence in touring Broadway.

2 Sherwood, Tennessee Williams, and ________, as well as writers of comedy like George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart.

3 What does the following picture show?  The Lion King at the New Amsterdam Theatre, 2003   The Lion King at the New Amsterdam Theatre, 2003   1868 programme for Ixion   The Black Crook (1866), considered by some historians to be the first musical[9]

4 ________ came to America in 1868 heading a small theatrical troupe, adapting popular English burlesques for middle-class New York audiences.

5 The ________ were established in 1947 to recognize achievement in live American theatre, especially Broadway theatre.

6 Broadway productions and artists are honored every June when the Antoinette Perry Awards (________) are awarded by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League.

7 [1][2] Along with London's ________, Broadway theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world.

8 According to ________, Broadway shows sold approximately $943.3 million worth of tickets in the 2008-09 season, compared to $937 million in the 2007-08 season.

9 [18] By way of comparison, London's ________ reported total attendance of 13.6 million for major commercial and grant-aided theatres in Central London for 2007.

10 ________'s family-friendly comic opera hits, beginning with H.M.S. Pinafore in 1878, were imported to New York (by the authors and also in numerous pirated productions).

💡 Interesting Facts

  • hotel lounge singer Loretta Ables Sayre, in her 2008 Broadway debut in South Pacific, was nominated for a Tony Award and won a Theatre World Award.
  • in 1951, Martha Wright took over the role of Nellie Forbush in South Pacific on Broadway, playing the role for 1,047 performances until it closed in 1954.
  • in the Broadway comedy Two Blind Mice, two government workers keep their office running after its abolition by Congress by renting out rooms and hiring out the front lawn as a parking lot.
  • for 25 years, Jack O'Brien conducted two parallel directing careers: Broadway musicals in New York City and Shakespeare in San Diego.
  • despite inheriting the vast Parker Ranch as a child, Richard Smart became an actor and singer in musical theater on Broadway.
  • actress Nancy Andrews won a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut performance in 1949.
  • as the first American to play Henry Higgins on Broadway in My Fair Lady, Larry Keith said he doubted if he could get away with his English accent in England, "but I think I can in New York".
  • nearly US$1 million worth of tickets were sold during the week following the first New York Times ad announcing Elizabeth Taylor's appearance in the 1981 Broadway revival of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes.
  • producer Daniel Melnick's films won more than 20 Academy Awards out of 80 nominations, while his play Kelly closed after only one night on Broadway.
  • the modern meaning of "ballad", a slow, sentimental tune or love song, often written in a fairly standardized form, came about from Tin Pan Alley and Broadway composers.
  • when the musical Kelly closed after one night on Broadway, a reviewer noted "Ella Logan was written out of Kelly before it reached the Broadhurst Theater Saturday night. Congratulations, Miss Logan".
  • when the play Trafford Tanzi was produced on Broadway, the cast included singer Deborah Harry as a professional wrestler and comedian Andy Kaufman as a referee.
  • the Theatre on Terazije is a Broadway-style theatre in Belgrade where the Serbian version of Chicago, Kiss Me, Kate, A Chorus Line and other musicals are performed.
  • the musical Foxy was a total flop in Dawson City in 1962, costing its producers their $400,000 investment, but was revived on Broadway in 1964.
  • the 1948 Oscar Micheaux-directed film The Betrayal was the first race film to have its premiere in a Broadway theatre in New York City.
  • the Broadway play Irena's Vow tells the story of Irena Gut, a Polish nurse who during World War II saved twelve Jews from the Holocaust at the risk of her own life.
  • Christian musician Francesca Battistelli said she knew she would spend her life performing after seeing the musical The Secret Garden on Broadway at the age of six.
  • The Voice of the Turtle, the ninth longest-running play in Broadway history, derives its name from a verse in the Bible’s Song of Solomon.
  • Eileen McKenney, who was the inspiration for the title character in My Sister Eileen, was killed in an automobile accident four days before the play opened on Broadway.
  • Hall of Fame jockey Tod Sloan was the "Yankee Doodle" in the George M. Cohan Broadway musical "Little Johnny Jones" and the basis for Ernest Hemingway's short story "My Old Man".
  • Casey Nicholaw received three Tony Award nominations for his first two shows on Broadway as a choreographer and director: The Drowsy Chaperone (2006) and Monty Python's Spamalot (2005).
  • Dashiell Hammett helped Lillian Hellman write the 1951 Broadway play The Autumn Garden.
  • Broadway producer Morton Gottlieb described theater as a profession easiest to start at the top, noting "All you need is chutzpah. You call all the agents and say, 'Here I am — a producer!'".
  • Broadway actress Evelyn Hoey was found shot dead in the bedroom of oil heir Henry H. Rogers's grandson in 1935.
  • Broadway performer Idina Menzel's casting in the Glee episode "Hello" followed a fan campaign based on her resemblance to series star Lea Michele.
  • Doris Abrahams started producing on Broadway as a teenager and co-produced the Tony Award-winning Equus with Kermit Bloomgarden.
  • Fred Thompson, who wrote the book for many hit musical comedies between World War I and World War II, once had three shows running on Broadway simultaneously.
  • Paula Bauersmith appeared in the original Broadway productions of Bury the Dead, Sail Away, and Breakfast at Tiffany's.
  • Saint Subber produced seven Neil Simon plays on Broadway, five of which were nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play.
  • Porgy and Bess earned a "landmark place in theater history" when Douglas Watt encouraged producer Cheryl Crawford to create a second run on Broadway after a disappointing 1935 debut.
  • Mark Baker made his Broadway debut in the original production of Via Galactica, which flopped for a loss of nearly $1 million.
  • Kenny Leon directed the Broadway premiere of the August Wilson play Gem of the Ocean.
  • Hassard Short was born into the English landed gentry but moved to New York as an actor in 1901 and later became one of Broadway's greatest musical theatre directors and lighting designers.
  • John Cort, founder of Broadway's Cort Theatre, first made his name by booking variety entertainment in the bawdy box houses of Seattle, Washington, USA.
  • answering service operator Mary Printz, who served New York's theater and business elite, was the inspiration for the 1956 Broadway musical Bells Are Ringing and the 1960 film of the same name.
    • Previous Quiz Next Quiz

    Related Quizzes

    Key Events and Figures of the 13th Century: A Quiz

    #13th century #history #Mongol Empire #Crusades #European culture #Franciscan order #Cambridge #Boyana Church

    Discovering the 14th Century: A Historical Quiz

    #14th Century #History #Renaissance #Ming Dynasty #Hundred Years' War #Petrarch #Military History

    Exploring the 16th Century: Events, Figures, and Discoveries

    #history #16th century #exploration #Renaissance #Conquistadores #art #politics #religion

    Exploring the 17th Century: Key Events and Figures

    #17th century #history #empires #Mughal Empire #Ottoman Empire #Persian Empire #Taiwan #Hudson's Bay Company #Kara Mustafa #French history

    Exploring the 18th Century: A Historical Quiz

    #18th century #history #quiz #education #literature #philosophy #politics

    Significant Events of 1904

    #1904 #history #events #quiz #education

    Significant Events and Figures of 1906

    #1906 #history #chess #astronomy #civil rights #swimming #biochemistry

    Significant Events and Figures of 1911

    #1911 #history #events #figures #Nobel Prize #aviation #fire incidents #education #composers