Oxford University Press's
Academic Insights for the Thinking World

Tony Awards Quiz: Part One

It’s Tony season and who better to educate us about the wonderful world of theatre than Thomas S. Hischak, author of The Oxford Companion To The American Musical: Theatre, Film and Television. Hischak is a Professor of Theatre at the State University of New York College at Cortland. He is the author of sixteen books on theater, film, and popular music as well as the author of twenty published plays. In The Oxford Companion To The American Musical Hischak offers over two thousand entires on musicals, performers, composers, lyricists, producers, choreographers and much more. In the quiz below Hischak questions your Tony knowledge. Post your answers in the comments section. We will post the answer sheet later today. Be sure to check back next week on Tuesday for another quiz about the Tonys.

1. The Phantom of the Opera is the Tony-winning musical that has run longer than any other Broadway show. What Sondheim-scored Best Musical Tony winner had the shortest run?

2. Russian composer Alexander Borodin had long been dead when he won a Tony for Best Composer for Kismet (1953). What lyric writer and modernist poet won a Tony for Best Score eighteen years after he died?

3. Nathan Lane, Phil Silvers, Jason Alexander and Zero Mostel all won Tonys for Best Actor in a Musical for the same role. What was it?

4. What is the only Off Broadway musical production to win a Tony Award without transferring to Broadway? A 2006 revival starred Cyndi Lauper and Alan Cumming as two less-than-reputable Londoners.

5. Tom Bosley, Alexis Smith, Jennifer Holliday, Andrea Martin, Audra McDonald, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, and Sutton Foster all won Tony Awards for their performances in musicals. What did each in have in common with the others?

6.
The longest running Broadway musical to win the Tony for Best Revival did not win the award when it was first produced—it had the misfortune to open the same year as A Chorus Line. What musical was it?

7.
Every actress who has played Mama Rose in Gypsy on Broadway has been nominated for the Tony. Can you name the two winners and the two losers? Hint: Both losers played Annie Oakley on Broadway.

8. Who are the youngest boy and girl to win Tony Awards for musicals? Hint: he had an aunt and she had a garden.

9. In what Broadway musical was every cast member nominated for a Tony Award? Hint: There were only two performers in the show.

10. Which alliterative actor, choreographer, director and dancer is the only person to have won Tony Awards in four different musical categories?

Recent Comments

  1. […] lyricists, producers, choreographers and much more. Below are the answers to this morning’s quiz. Be sure to check back next week on Tuesday for another quiz about the […]

  2. […] lyricists, producers, choreographers and much more. Below are the answers to this morning’s quiz. Be sure to check back next week on Tuesday for another quiz about the […]

Comments are closed.