MONTHLY QUIZ––Musical People Born in February
Lots of clues here for a fun quiz about people born this month. Give it a try!
Although it’s the shortest month of the year, many singers and writers whose talents we’ve enjoyed in cabaret and theatre were born in February — all the way up to what is the last day of the month (except in leap years). Bernadette Peters, Brent Barrett, William Finn, and Tommy Tune all will be celebrating their birthdays on February 28. Last year’s February Birthday Salute was dedicated to the elegant lady who defined the art of intimate cabaret: Mabel Mercer.
But who are these other music-related people who were all born in February? See if you can figure out the answers from the rhyming facts. If that doesn’t help, maybe the non-rhyming hints will. If that doesn’t help, you’ll find the answers on the bottom.
OK, here we go with this month’s guessing game.
1—-Burton and Nathan — Last name the same.
One born on the 2nd, one on the 3rd.
The last name is a one-syllable word.
(Hint: One was a composer of Broadway and film scores, the other is a star of Broadway and films.)
2—One man. One woman. Same situation
(Same last name; but no relation).
He debuted in a show semi-operatic,
Back in the ’30s, it was rather dramatic.
The songs in the show had various styles.
She’s worked a lot–logged frequent flyer miles
On Broadway, like him, and on TV.
The last name they share: It starts with a D.
(Hint: The show he’s famous for, referenced above, had songs written by the man who wrote the play it was based on —along with two other men. Those fellows’ other various songs were recycled for a Broadway show in the 1980s, running for almost two years. She was the replacement for the lead female role. The male star was also born in February and is mentioned elsewhere in this tribute. Coincidentally, the show included an old song that had the same title of a TV series she starred in a decade earlier.)
3–Marissa Mulder, depicted at right,
is an award-winning cabaret delight.
One of my favorite cabaret picks,
You can go see her sing on February 6.
The venue has a color in its name.
That’s your first clue.
So, what is its name?
I know. Do you?
(Hint: February birthday girl Marissa is celebrating birthday number 40 by doing this show. The NYC venue in question has a number not much bigger than that in its name, as well as a color.)
4—One of a very few Broadway-writing guys
To ever win a Pulitzer Prize
(Hint: A special “Project” with many of the songs written by this man born in February is coming to 54 Below, with previews starting on Valentine’s Day, which represents the season of love)
5—He composed “Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea,”
“Let’s Fall in Love” and “A Sleepin’ Bee,”
And “I Wonder What Became of Me.”
This man wrote the music. It’s great. Who was he?
(Hint: He composed many standards still performed in cabaret and concerts. Probably his most beloved melody won the Academy Award for the year’s best song, although the powers that be thought at first it should be cut from this film that became a classic. Cooler heads prevailed.)
6—Her memoir inspired a musical play.
On Broadway you can go see it today.
(Hint: Some People think it’s the best musical of all. Its current revival is not the first time it came back to Broadway.)
7—At 54 Below, she’s done her own shows
And there will be more of those, I suppose.
In April she will be on Broadway once more.
She’s been there in seven big shows before.
(Hint: She released a Christmas album this past year. She was not born in the USA. She was on Broadway in major roles before she was out of her teens, including the title role of a musical that ran for a decade. Her upcoming Broadway project also stars another February birthday celebrant mentioned somewhere in this quiz.)
8—Born in the year 1825,
She’d be turning 100 if still alive.
(Hint: I’m not at liberty to tell you the answer, but she did cabaret acts at The Carlyle, was in films, and TV, and this Broadway baby was nominated for major theatre awards as a member of the Company of various shows, and WON 7 awards for the same show — her solo act.)
9—Christine Ebersole has sung at Birdland and The Carlyle, as well.
There’s so much about her that we could tell.
Her first CD had songs such as “Bill”
And “The Folks Who Live on the Hill”
Recorded live, in a cabaret.
But what was the venue? Perhaps you can say?
(Hint: Not a Manhattan nightclub. The name of the venue rhymes with the titles of the two classic songs mentioned.)
10—A certain show ran for decades! Amazing, but true.
This man wrote the lyrics, and the dialogue, too.
A gigantic hit from off-Broadway’s past.
And oh, P.S.: He was part of the cast.
He created the role in 1960 – that’s when.
Then again and again, then in 2010.
If you try to remember the songs in the score,
You might recall a rain song and so Much More.
(Hint: A Broadway show he wrote with the same composer partner, a fellow Texan, also had songs about rain, and the title of another of their Broadway musicals consists of four words with just six letters between them.)
Answers and explanations below:
1—Burton Lane, composer of Finian’s Rainbow, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, etc., and the forever irrepressible performer Nathan Lane. No relation.
2—Todd Duncan, the original male star of Porgy and Bess (DuBose Heyward/ George & Ira Gershwin) and Sandy Duncan who stepped into a show filled with the Gershwin brothers’ other old gems, My One and Only, including “Funny Face” which had been the title of her TV sit-com (not using the Gershwin song). Her co-star was Tommy Tune, who celebrates his birthday on the 28th, the week after hers. This is in addition to her “flyer miles” as Peter Pan and finding herself in Finding Neverland with a Pan connection.
3—The Green Room 42.
5—Harold Arlen. (The almost-cut song, “Over the Rainbow,” is in plenty of cabaret shows. Linda Eder uses it as her encore and at the annual benefit, Night of a Thousand Judys, and any Judy Garland tribute, you’re sure to hear it. “Come Rain or Come Shine” comes up a lot, too.)
6— The musical Gypsy, suggested by the same-titled memoir by Gypsy Rose Lee. That’s the real-life G.R.L. in the photo. Her stage mother, Rose, has been played by such stars as the aforementioned Bernadette Peters and another lady born in February: Tyne Daly.
7—Lea Salonga (who will share the NYC stage with the aforementioned Bernadette Peters soon).
9—Christine Ebersole’s first solo album was recorded in Los Angeles, live at The Cinegrill.
10–-Co-writer of the very long-running The Fantasticks, he first played the character of The Old Actor in the show when it opened, but he used a pseudonym (Thomas Bruce). Other things referenced in the clues are its songs “Try to Remember,” “Much More,” “Soon It’s Gonna Rain,” the rain theme of the musical 110 in the Shade, and the musical I Do! I Do! (All shows were collaborations with composer Harvey Schmidt.)
Photo of Marissa Mulder by Conor Weiss
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