This week, “Broadway Musicals” was the category for the Final Jeopardy! round on the long-running game show. The clue was “Each in a show that ran more than 2 years, Ethel Merman & Sarah Jessica Parker played 2 different characters with this first name.” None of the contestants came up with the correct answer, but returning champion Amy Schneider’s guess of “Rose” was close: Merman originated the role of Mama Rose in Gypsy, and Parker did play Rosemary in the 1995 Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Still, those names are different, and the 1995 revival only ran for a year and a half.
The correct answer is “What is Annie?” Merman created the role of sharpshooter Annie Oakley in Irving Berlin’s 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun, while Parker made her Broadway debut in 1978 as the understudy for the title role of the 1977 Charles Strouse musical Annie, assuming the role in 1979 after the departure of Shelley Bruce. Despite losing money in the final round, though, Schneider won the game (her 30th consecutive) and became the first woman to pass the $1 million mark in Jeopardy! prize money.