GTN Musicals Flashcards
Each musical’s title is followed by its composer; its lyricist; the author of its book; and the year in which it premiered on Broadway or the West End.
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West Side Story (Leonard Bernstein; Stephen Sondheim; Arthur Laurents; 1957). Riff and Bernardo lead two rival gangs: the blue-collar Jets and the Sharks from Puerto Rico. Tony; a former Jet; falls in love with the Bernardo’s sister Maria and vows to stop the fighting; but he kills Bernardo after Bernardo kills Riff in a rumble. Maria’s suitor Chino shoots Tony; and the two gangs come together. Notable songs include America; Tonight; Somewhere; I Feel Pretty; and Gee; Officer Krupke. Adapted from Romeo and Juliet; it was made into an Academy Award-winning 1961 film starring Natalie Wood.
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The Phantom of the Opera (Andrew Lloyd Webber; Charles Hart & Richard Stilgoe; Richard Stilgoe & Andrew Lloyd Webber; 1986). At the Paris Opera in 1881; the mysterious Phantom lures the soprano Christine Daae to his lair (The Music of the Night). Christine falls in love with the opera’s new patron; Raoul; so the Phantom drops a chandelier and kidnaps Christine. They kiss; but he disappears; leaving behind only his white mask. Adapted from the eponymous 1909 novel by Gaston Leroux; it is the longest-running show in Broadway history.
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My Fair Lady (Frederick Loewe; Alan Jay Lerner; Alan Jay Lerner; 1956). As part of a bet with his friend Colonel Pickering; phonetics professor Henry Higgins transforms cockney flower girl Eliza Doolittle into a proper lady. After Eliza falls for Freddy Eynsforth-Hill; Higgins realizes he is in love with Eliza. Eliza returns to Higgins’ home in the final scene. It is adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s play Pygmalion.
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Cats (Andrew Lloyd Webber; T.S. Eliot; T.S. Eliot). The Jellicle tribe of cats roams the streets of London. They introduce the audience to various members: Rum Tum Tugger; Mungojerrie; Rumpleteazer; Mr. Mistoffelees; and Old Deuteronomy. Old Deuteronomy must choose a cat to be reborn; and he chooses the lowly Grizabella after she sings Memory. It is adapted from Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot.
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Evita (Andrew Lloyd Webber; Tim Rice; Tim Rice; 1978). Che Guevara narrates the life story of Eva Peron; a singer and film actress who marries Juan Peron. Juan is elected President of Argentina; and Eva’s charity work makes her immensely popular among her people (Don’t Cry for Me Argentina) before her death from cancer. It was made into a 1996 film starring Madonna and Antonio Banderas.
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The Mikado (Arthur Sullivan; W.S. Gilbert; 1885). The Mikado [Emperor of Japan] has made flirting a capital crime in Titipu; so the people have appointed an ineffectual executioner named Ko-Ko. Ko-Ko’s ward; Yum-Yum; marries the wandering musician Nanki-Poo; and the two lovers fake their execution. The Mikado visits the town and forgives the lovers of their transgression. It includes the song Three Little Maids From School Are We.
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The Sound of Music (Richard Rodgers; Oscar Hammerstein II; Howard Lindsey & Russel Crouse; 1959). Maria; a young woman studying to be a nun in Nazi-occupied Austria; becomes governess to the seven children of Captain von Trapp. She teaches the children to sing (My Favorite Things; Do-Re-Mi); and she and the Captain fall in love and get married. After Maria and the von Trapps give a concert for the Nazis (Edelweiss); they escape Austria (Climb Ev’ry Mountain). It was adapted into an Academy Award-winning 1965 film starring Julie Andrews.
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Fiddler on the Roof (Jerry Bock; Sheldon Harnick; Joseph Stein; 1964). Tevye is a lowly Jewish milkman in Tsarist Russia (If I Were a Rich Man); and his daughters are anxious to get married (Matchmaker). Tzeitel marries the tailor Motel (Sunrise; Sunset; The Bottle Dance); Hodel gets engaged to the radical student Perchik; and Chava falls in love with a Russian named Fyedka. The families leave their village; Anatevka; after a pogrom. It is adapted from Tevye and his Daughters by Sholem Aleichem.
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Oklahoma! (Richard Rodgers; Oscar Hammerstein II; Oscar Hammerstein II; 1943). On the eve of Oklahoma’s statehood; cowboy Curly McLain and sinister farmhand Judd compete for the love of Aunt Eller’s niece; Laurey. Judd falls on his own knife after attacking Curly; and Curly and Laurey get married. A subplot concerns Ado Annie; who chooses cowboy Will Parker over the Persian peddler Ali Hakim. Featuring the songs Oh What a Beautiful Mornin and Oklahoma; it is often considered the first modern book musical.
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Cabaret (Fred Kander; John Ebb; Jon Masteroff; 1966). Cabaret is set in the seedy Kit-Kat Club in Weimar Berlin; where the risqué Master of Ceremonies presides over the action (Wilkommen). The British lounge singer Sally Bowles falls in love with the American writer Cliff Bradshaw; but the two break up as the Nazis come to power. Adapted into an Academy Award-winning 1972 film starring Liza Minelli and Joel Grey; it is based on Christopher Isherwood’s Goodbye to Berlin.
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The Music Man (Meredith Wilson nd Franklin Lacey; 1957). Swindler Harold Hill attempts to con the families of River City; Iowa by starting a boys’ band. While there; he falls in love with the librarian Marian Paroo. The scheme is exposed; but the town forgives him. Notable songs include Trouble (the origin of the phrase trouble in River City) Seventy-Six Trombones; Shipoopi; Gary; Indiana; and Till There was You.
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Rent (Jonathan Larson; 1996). Rent tells the story of impoverished artists living in the East Village of New York City during the AIDS crisis circa 1990. It is narrated by filmmaker Mark Cohen; whose ex-girlfriend Maureen just left him for a woman (Joanne); and whose recovering heroin addict roommate Roger meets the dying stripper Mimi. Mark and Roger’s former roommate and itinerant philosopher/hacker Collins comes to town; where he is robbed; then saved by the transvestite Angel; with whom he moves in. Meanwhile; the former fourth roommate of Mark; Roger; and Collins - Benny - has married into a wealthy family and bought the building Mark and Roger now live in; from which he wants to evict them. An adaptation of Puccini’s opera La bohéme; Rent won the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and includes songs like La Vie Bohéme and Seasons of Love.
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Guys and Dolls (Frank Loesser; Jo Swerling; and Abe Burrows; 1950). Nathan Detroit runs an underground craps game but needs a location. To make enough money to use the Biltmore garage for his game; he bets notorious gambler Sky Masterson that Sky can’t convince a girl of Nathan’s choice to go to Havana with him for dinner; Nathan chooses the righteous missionary Sarah Brown. Sky wins the bet but ends up having to bring a dozen sinning gamblers to a revival meeting. As Nathan attends the meeting; his long-suffering fiancé Adelaide; a nightclub dancer; is increasingly frustrated that their fourteen-year engagement has not led to marriage. At the meeting; Sky bets a large amount of money against the gamblers’ souls; winning; and eventually convincing Sarah to marry him and Nathan to marry Adelaide. Adapted from short stories by Damon Runyon; the musical includes songs like A Bushel and a Peck; Luck Be a Lady; and Sit Down; You’re Rockin’ the Boat.
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Les Misérables (Alain Boublil; Claude-Michel Schönberg; and Herbert Kretzmer; 1985). A partial retelling of the Victor Hugo novel of the same name; this work follows Jean Valjean; who was convicted of stealing a loaf of bread to feed his starving niece. He breaks his parole and is doggedly pursued by Inspector Javert. Several years later; the lives of Valjean; his adoptive daughter Cosette; her lover Marius and his former lover Éponine; and Javert become intertwined on the barricades of an 1832 student rebellion in Paris. The longest-running show on London’s West End; it features the songs I Dreamed a Dream; Master of the House; Do You Hear the People Sing?; One Day More; and On My Own.
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