Problem: What is the answer for the question: What likely marked the end of Alodia? from the following article ? Alodia, also known as Alwa (Greek: A, Aroua; Arabic: , Alwa), was a medieval Nubian kingdom in what is now central and southern Sudan. Its capital was the city of Soba, located near modern-day Khartoum at the confluence of the Blue and White Nile rivers. Founded sometime after the ancient kingdom of Kush fell, in around 350 AD, Alodia is first mentioned in historical records in 569. It was the last of the three Nubian kingdoms to convert to Christianity in 580 following Nobadia and Makuria. It possibly reached its peak during the 9th12th centuries when records show that it exceeded its northern neighbor, Makuria, with which it maintained close dynastic ties, in size, military power and economic prosperity. Being a large, multicultural state, Alodia was administered by a powerful king and provincial governors appointed by him. The capital Soba, described as a town of "extensive dwellings and churches full of gold and gardens", prospered as a trading hub. Goods arrived from Makuria, the Middle East, western Africa, India and even China. Literacy in both Nubian and Greek flourished. From the 12th, and especially the 13th century, Alodia was declining, possibly because of invasions from the south, droughts and a shift of trade routes. In the 14th century, the country might have been ravaged by the plague, while Arab tribes began to migrate into the Upper Nile valley. By around 1500 Soba had fallen to either Arabs or the Funj. This likely marked the end of Alodia, although some Sudanese oral traditions claimed that it survived in the form of the kingdom of Fazughli within the Ethiopian-Sudanese borderlands. After the destruction of Soba, the Funj established the Sultanate of Sennar, ushering in a period of Islamization and Arabization.

A: Soba had fallen to either Arabs or the Funj

Problem: What is the answer for the question: Who does not want to share billing with Sonora? from the following article ? Sonora Webster lives with her sister and abusive aunt during the Great Depression. She learns that because of her accidentally letting the cows loose and her suspension from school, her treasured horse Lightning has been sold and she will be placed in an orphanage. Instead, Sonora slips out of the house during the night. She ends up at a county fair and sees a performance by Marie, a diving girl who rides a horse off a platform, and aspires to do the same. Doc Carver, Marie's employer, tells her she is too young but gives Sonora a job as a stable hand due to her ability with horses, and she begins traveling with them. Doc's son Al wins a wild horse in a card game and Sonora names him Lightning. She later surprises Doc by taming and riding Lightning, so he promises to train her as a diving girl if she can mount it while it's moving, which she succeeds after multiple attempts. Marie falls and dislocates her shoulder, leaving her unable to perform, and Sonora steps in. Although she has never dived with Lightning, their first jump is successful. Marie becomes jealous, and as Doc tires of her diva-like behavior, she quits rather than share billing with Sonora. Al develops a romance with Sonora that strains his relationship with his father, leaving after a particularly bad fight. Al promises to write to Sonora, but Doc hides his letters. As Doc and the new stable hand Clifford leave the farm in search of work, Lightning falls ill with colic. Al returns, and he and Sonora work together to heal Lightning. Doc fails to find any jobs, but Al announces he has arranged a six-month contract to perform at the Steel Pier in Atlantic City, New Jersey, reconciling father and son. Doc passes away en route from a heart attack, and Al assumes his father's role as show presenter. Sonora searches for Doc's jacket to give Al confidence on his first show, and finds one of Al's letters inside, confessing his love for her, letting him know she feels the same.

A: Marie

Problem: What is the answer for the question: What is the full name of the future star who was in the chorus of the New York run of the play that was classed as a failure? from the following article ? The musical opened on Broadway on May 28, 1953 at the Majestic Theatre. Large advance sales guaranteed a considerable run; by the start of November, it had paid back its advance, and closed after 358 performances, paying a small profit to RCA. Thomas Hischak, in his The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia, suggests that business fell off after the advance sales were exhausted "because audiences had come to expect more from a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical". According to Frederick W. Nolan in his book about the duo's works, "despite a $500,000 advance sale, despite a ten-month run (which, for anyone except Rodgers and Hammerstein, would have represented a major success), and despite an eventual profit in excess of $100,000, Me and Juliet has to be classed as a failure".The backstage drama portrayed in the musical was matched by actual difficulties among the cast. McCracken, who played Betty, was the wife of choreographer Bob Fosse and became pregnant during the run. Bill Hayes later wrote that she lost her baby through miscarriage about the same time she lost her husband to Gwen Verdon. The baby was in fact aborted, because the pregnancy would have endangered McCracken's health as a result of her diabetes. Hayes noted that in the fifteen months he played Larry, he did not recall ever having a conversation with Isabel Bigley, who was supposedly his love interest and wife: "I doubt that the audience ever believed we were deeply in love." The show received no Tony Award nominations. During the run, Hammerstein followed his usual practice of visiting the theatre now and again to ensure that the performers were not taking liberties with his book. Upon his return, Hammerstein's secretary asked him how the show was going. The lyricist thought for a second, then said "I hate that show." According to Bill Hayes in his autobiography Like Sands Through the Hourglass published in 2005 he states We played nearly five hundred performances, however, all to full houses. Production costs were paid off and substantial profits...

A:
Shirley MacLaine