Not Just for Musical Theater Nerds by BringMoreLegos

Oscar Hammerstein II is best known for his collaborations with Richard Rodgers, including 1949's South Pacific. But he had a prolific career long before meeting Rodgers, most notably a collaboration with Jerome Kern that yielded 1927's Show Boat. WHAT ONCE TABOO CIRCUMSTANCE, declared lawful in a Supreme Court case you may have seen dramatized recently, is central to romantic plots in both of those shows?

In 2013, the modern age of live TV musicals began with Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music on NBC, starring American Idol Carrie Underwood. WHAT CORPORATE BRAND became a viral sensation during the broadcast, livetweeting such amusingly banal reactions as "Can't believe pizza isn't one of her favorite things smh"?

Like Hammerstein, Rodgers had seen success in a previous collaboration. 1937's Babes in Arms, written with Lorenz Hart, included WHAT COMIC LOVE SONG, which despite addressing the musical's male protagonist by name, became a widely interpreted standard? It was probably helped by the fact that the titular name, thanks to a third-century martyr, is commonly ascribed in modern parlance to any beloved.

TWO ANSWERS REQUIRED: One of the most anticipated Broadway musicals of 2017 is the adaptation of a much-loved 1993 film that takes place — in a structurally unusual fashion — on a particular holiday. Andy Karl and Barrett Doss have been announced to play the roles originated in the film by WHAT ACTOR AND ACTRESS?

Staying in the film world for the moment, the Best Picture of 1964 (according to the Academy Awards) was a rather faithful screen adaptation of a hit musical, itself a rather faithful adaptation of a popular stage play. From WHAT CHARACTER IN GREEK MYTH, who sculpted a statue so beautiful he fell in love with it, does that play take its oblique inspiration and its title (one not shared by the musical and film)?

Actually, let's stick with the '64 Academy Awards, because I like the intrigue here. The leading lady of said Best Picture winner had been cast over Julie Andrews (who had originated the role on Broadway but wasn't considered a big enough name). Imagine her surprise when she wasn't even nominated, and the Best Actress award went to Andrews for WHAT OTHER MOVIE MUSICAL, later adapted for the stage and now anticipating a 2018 film sequel?

TWO ANSWERS REQUIRED: The song "Please Hello" from Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's 1976 musical Pacific Overtures, which chronicles from a Japanese perspective the historic trade agreement forced by the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry's warships, mentions by name WHAT TWO CONSECUTIVE U.S. PRESIDENTS?

Speaking of famous Matthew Perrys, the one from Friends starred as a widowed husband opposite Broadway veteran Laura Benanti's grief counselor in WHAT SHORT-LIVED 2012 TV SERIES, whose title you might say to me if you're hoping this question continues with a few more hints?

Sticking with 2012 in TV (and answers featuring Laura Benanti in a major supporting role), FILL IN THE BLANK (one word completes both blanks) in this exchange from an episode of Aaron Sorkin's The Newsroom:

"Let me also say, I’m not the one who wants to be a star, Mama Rose."

"I don’t know that reference?"

"It’s from _____. Ethel Merman’s a stage mother who really pushes her daughter — I don’t have time to explain the plot of _____ to you!"

In the musical Bye Bye Birdie, the Elvis-like title character performs his fictional hit song "Honestly Sincere," making all the girls swoon. WHAT ADJECTIVE, originating with Greek storytelling traditions and in contrast to mimetic, is used in theater to describe such a song or dance, which occurs as a performance within the events of the story? This term is also used in film for music that is audible to characters onscreen, rather than background underscoring.

THREE ANSWERS REQUIRED: At the 2014 Tony Awards, the evening's MC joined two MCs of another sort for the rap performance seen here. NAME ANY THREE (3) OF THE FOLLOWING ITEMS:

(a,b,c) the names of each individual shown;
(d) the name of the song being performed;
(e) the name of the 1957 musical it opens (and yes, the original version is a rap).

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A very exclusive club is the group of musicals that have won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 2016, Hamilton became the ninth. NAME ANY ONE of the eight previous works to receive this distinction. (edited at 12:08 am, January 13, 2017 (AWST))