Question: 42nd Street will forever be remembered in the history of Broadway musicals because what devastating event occurred on opening night, August 25, 1980?

Answer: The Director/Choreographer, Gower Champion, died that afternoon. The cast was not told until final bows, when legendary Producer David Merrick came on stage and informed them and the cheering crowd.

Question: What famous TV actor (also star of stage and screen) played the starring role of Julian Marsh in the original production of 42nd Street?

Answer: Jerry Orbach, Lenny Brisco of Law and Order

Question: What honor do both the original Broadway production and the Broadway revival of 42nd Street have in common?

Answer: Both won the Tony Award for ‘Best Musical’. The original production won the Tony for ‘Best New Musical,’ and the 2001 revival won for ‘Best Revival of a Musical’.

Question: 42nd Street is written and staged in the style of a famous talent of stage and screen. Name this artist:

Answer: Busby Berkeley, a famous Broadway choreographer, who was the undisputed master of the sub-genre of movie musicals exploiting backstage drama. His films offered the Depression weary audiences a peak behind the curtain into the magical world of show business.

Question: 42nd Street was originally a movie musical. The plot for this musical was inspired by what 1929 film?

Answer: On With The Show.

Question: Who starred in the original movie musical 42nd Street?

Answer: Dick Powell and Ruby Keeler

Question: What are the following? Buck and wing, cramp rolls, pullback?

Answer: Tap dance steps.

Question: The original Broadway production of 42nd Street opened in 1980 at the Winter Garden Theatre, on Broadway and 50th Streets – a far cry from the show’s namesake location. Why did 42nd Street not open in a theatre on 42nd Street?

Answer: In 1980, New York’s West 42nd Street sadly, was nothing like the magical place of the early 1900’s, forever immortalized in the title song. It was seedy and dangerous and certainly a place to be avoided and any theatres in operation were probably specializing in XXX films. In the late 1990’s began a renovation of the street and the historic theatres long unused there. The newly renovated Ford Theatre, straddling 41st and 42nd Street, hosted the celebrated opening of the revival on May 2nd, 2001.

Question: 42nd Street is something of a ‘Cinderella Story,’ as it tells the story of its heroine (name the character,) who is given what opportunity?

Answer: Peggy Sawyer, the ingenue from Allentown, Pennsylvania who, through a series of unplanned events, is given the opportunity to star in a Broadway musical.

Question: What is the famous line that Julian Marsh utters to Peggy Sawyer, just as she is about to go on stage for the opening night curtain?

Answer: “You’re going out there a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star.”

Question: The Producers (Maggie Jones and Bert Barry) and the Director (Julian Marsh) of Pretty Lady (the show within the show of 42nd Street) are desperate that the show be a hit. This is always the case with a Broadway show, but what factors make this a particularly desperate situation for them?

Answer: They have all taken a bath in the stock market crash of 1929 and the Great Depression has hit Broadway particularly hard.

Question: What famous song writing team wrote the music and lyrics in 42nd Street?

Answer: Harry Warren and Al Dubin

Question: Complete the following line of lyric from 42nd Street: “Come on along and listen to ….”

Answer: “…the lullaby of Broadway,” also the title of one of the classic songs from 42nd Street. Warren and Dubin, who wrote Lullaby of Broadway, also won the Academy Award for ‘Best Song’ when it was featured in the movie musical “Gold Diggers of 1935”.

Question: Complete the following lyrics from a famous song in 42nd Street: “We’re in the money, we’re in the money …..”

Answer: “…We’ve got a lot of what it takes to get along,” from We’re In The Money.

Question: What classic number from 42nd Street was inspired by a famous Depression Era honeymoon destination?

Answer: Shuffle Off To Buffalo, a song about a Pullman car train ride to a Niagara Falls quickie honeymoon.