Some days, you just wake up with a spring in your step. A tune on your lips. A melody in your cranium. Sometimes, You Can’t Stop The Beat. And for plenty of us, that day will be today.
With that in mind, it seems the perfect time to once again lay down a Theatre Quiz marker. Yes, following the success (or, in most cases, frustration!) of the first “Try Not To Sing Along” challenge, we’re back to once again put your jazz hands suppression to the test. It’s the “Try Not To Sing Along Challenge” – 2!
And so if you’re ready to accept the ultimate musical challenge once more, plug your headphones in! A reminder of the rules: you must watch at least the first two minutes of each of the video clips below – and we mean watch (no cheating by being conveniently otherwise distracted)!
If, during that time, you find yourself humming, whistling, opening and closing your mouth, tapping your foot, singing, dancing the Charleston… well, score yourself 0 for that clip. And if you don’t (be honest to yourself), give yourself a point. You’ve earned it.
So, headphones in? Screens at the ready? Then here we go… good luck, and as ever, let us know how you did!
Song 1. For those of a long Memory
Okay, so last time we started out with Wicked‘s Defying Gravity – possibly too tricky an opening step. Not everybody will have seen the brilliant musical Cats, so some of you might just be able to resist this masterpiece of a ALL ALOOONE IN THE MOOOOONLIIIIGHT…. *ahem*. As you were. (Performance from the 1998 production)
Song 2. Super-cali-pronunciation-difficulty-ocious
In case you hadn’t heard, Mary Poppins is coming back to the West End later this year. And if that isn’t an excuse to get practising your pronunciation of particularly-difficult-but-vital musical theatre phrases, we don’t know what is. Except for during this clip, of course…
Song 3. Go you genius!
As a relatively new musical, searching for its way back into the spotlight, there’s every chance that you might not have heard this song before. You might not know the lyrics. Don’t worry – we’re confident that by two minutes in, you’ll be shouting “Go, Eugenius!” with the rest of us. And if you HAVE seen the show, feel free to do the arms…
Song 4. They had it comin’
Pop. Six. Squish. Uh-uh. Cicero. Lipschitz. And according to them, they all “had it comin’.” This showstopper from Chicago has itself a criminally catchy chorus – just wait for it…
Song 5. Can you hold out For Good?
A-ha! You didn’t think we were going to let a whole non-singalong challenge go without a Wicked twist, did you? Years and years of Popular-ity at the Apollo Victoria Theatre; let’s see if you can hold out… For Good (or at least for this video)!
Song 6. Will you ever be Satisfied?
Here it is. Lin-Manuel Miranda’s masterpiece. A tune that truly makes us Helpless. Lyrics that somehow make their way into pretty much every single conversation we seem to have (there’s always a trigger phrase, listen for it). If you can resist this Hamilton showstopper, then congratulations are in order.
Fancy another theatre quiz from our archives? Can you take on our West End LIVE challenge, our musical image challenge, our Twilight Zone challenge, or the Showstopper Improvised Musical challenge?
Can you name which Six queen sang it, or complete our Theatre Quiz by numbers? How well do you know ‘Any Dream Will Do’ from Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat? Can you complete our “Try Not To Sing Along” challenge? How many songs Company lyrics can you complete? How much Waitress trivia do you know?
Or how many London theatres, popular Phantom Of The Opera songs, London theatre characters, inspirational musicals, Wicked songs, movie-musicals, Les Misérables songs, Olivier Award-winning musicals, or longest-running West End productions of all-time, can you name?
You can book your tickets to all current London theatre shows here.
First posted 28 September 2018; updated 7 June 2019