Final Jeopardy: Musical Theater (9-17-14)
The Final Jeopardy question (9/17/2014), in the category “Musical Theater” was:
In “Godspell” this character leads the company in singing “Prepare ye the way of the Lord”.
New champ Bill Cossen won $15,000 yesterday in the second game of Season 31. He’ll still be in the winner’s spot tomorrow if he can defeat today’s competition: Howard Jacobs, from Pikesville, MD; and Erica Hersh, originally from South Orange, NJ.
Round 1: Bill found the Jeopardy! round Daily Double in “The Americans” under the $1,000 clue. It was early, as this was the first category they went through. Bill was in the lead with $1,000, $400 more than Erica in second place. He bet it all and thought it was Thoreau. That was WRONG.
Best known for a different work, in 1833 he produced a “common version” of the Holy Bible “with amendments of the language” show
Erica finished in the lead with $5,200. Bill was second with $3,600 and Howard was last with $2,200.
Round 2: Bill found the first Daily Double in “The Supreme Court” under the $1,600 clue. He was in the lead with $8,400, $3,200 more than Erica in second place. He bet $2,600 and he was RIGHT.
(Read by Sandra Day O’Connor): A lot more people got to know what we sounded like on December 11, 2000, when the oral argument in this case became the first one released for same-day broadcast. show
Bill found the last Daily Double in “Critters” under the $1,600 clue. In the lead with $15,000, he was now $4,600 ahead of Erica in second place. He bet $3,000 but did not know so he was WRONG.
This largest sea turtle is the only one that lacks a hard shell, having instead skin with tiny bone plates. show
Bill finished in the lead with $12,000. Erica was next with $8,400 and Howard was in third place with $6,200.
TWO of the contestants got Final Jeopardy! right.
(JOHN THE BAPTIST, JUDAS ISCARIOT)?
“Godspell was the first major musical theatre offering from 3-time Grammy and Academy Award winner Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Children Of Eden)…. In Act 1, “John the Baptist enters and brings order to the proceedings (“Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord”).” Afterwards, the same actor becomes Judas Iscariot.
According to a Q&A page on Stephenschwartz.com, “John and Judas are not two separate characters. They are sometimes referred to that way because the character combines the actions of two Biblical figures — that is, he is both the baptiser and the betrayer. But in GODSPELL he is one person, and therefore no transition is needed. He is Jesus’ “right-hand man”, the one who has more information about Jesus’ true purpose there than the others (as revealed during the “blessed are ye” section).” Notice that these characters are known by just their first names in “Godspell”.
Howard wrote down Judas Iscariot, which was accepted. His $6,000 bet brought him up to $12,200.
Erica didn’t have an answer. She lost $3,800 and finished with $4,600.
Bill wrote down John the Baptist. He bet $4,801 so he won the match with $16,801.
His 2-day total is $31,801.
During the chat segment, Howard Jacobs mentioned that his son was a contestant in January of this year. That was Danny Jacobs on January 15, 2014.
2 years ago:: Only ONE of the players got this FJ in “Presidential Children”
1 of his 5 sons was born in New Brunswick, Canada. show
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It does seem a good answer/stimulus would have led to crediting the question which included both names.
ok, aol does not let me post comments (“temporary technical problems”…) so, here I am on i.e.
I have to say I am not exactly impressed by the first days of the new season (not to mention the mustache….)
an 8 K swing in the dd department and still winning the game speaks volumes.
(just for openers since I post the first time: not getting “cognac” with the “C” at the beginning and end given? I don’t drink but you know “cognac” as you know “Rolls Royce”, even if you don’t drive and never owned a car. bill being a 2 day champ with that many mistakes…he was lucky that fj was kind of a combination of history and contemporary art.
Well, I don’t think Bill was “lucky” — he just knew it. It was mentioned yesterday that he had written some articles having to do with Catholicism, so I’d say it’s a safe bet that he knew this line from the Bible, whether he saw Godspell or not.
Matthew 3:3 — For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (KJV)
Yeah, I agree with both of you. This season’s contestants seem dumber than ever, as the “cognac” example shows, and that can depress one if one lets it.
Also, I knew it was John the Baptist because I know the Bible, not because I know “Godspell,” about which I frankly know almost nothing.
And I’m compelled to state that “knowing” the Bible does not mean “believing” the Bible. I know “The Wizard of Oz” every bit as well as the Bible, if you get my drift. I’m with my mentor Mark Twain when it comes to that good old Bible. If that’s the best we can do, it’s no wonder the aliens are afraid to land here!
And, yes, I’ve been told to never discuss religion or politics among friends, but I’m not the type to do as I’m told, for better or worse.
Tom,
I “knew” a woman, but never believed her.
Secondly, I’m glad that you think of us as your friends!
Still, I am curious if Howard just got lucky with that Judas answer or knew that John/Judas is one character in Godspell. If he knew the musical, it seems like he would have answered John — that’s who sings the song and not take the chance that Judas would be accepted.
It didn’t matter in terms of winning the game, but he did win an extra grand when Judas was accepted.