1,448 stories by "Peter Filichia"
While watching I DO! I DO! at the Covedale Center for the Performing Arts in Cincinnati, I thought of an advertising slogan that should be used when promoting the Tom Jones-Harvey Schmidt cl…
By Peter Filichia --
What a delightful surprise! Pump Boys and Dinettes is returning to Broadway next spring " 31 years after the original production's debut.
Doesn't that number of ye…
So can the musical version of BIG work as a TYA production? Michael J. Bobbitt, the producing artistic director of the Adventure Theatre in Glen Echo, Maryland, thought so. To be sure, he wa…
Just as there would have been a time that you would have never predicted that Roger Miller would win a Tony for Best Score -- or that Sally Field would take home a couple of Oscars -- you pr…
By Peter Filichia --
Although we still have a few weeks before the holidays, no time is too early to begin listening to Benj Pasek and Justin Paul's A Christmas Story.
Today, any young s…
The hearty applause started the moment after the first-act blackout. When the lights came up for intermission, however, a quick silence pervaded the NEXT TO NORMAL audience at the 4th Wal…
The bromide that "comedy is tragedy plus time" is certainly true of Modern Terrorism. Jon Kern's constantly funny play deals with people who want to blow up the Empire State Building. Had it…
By Peter Filichia --
October 16th marks the birthday of the star who's achieved what no other person in the history of Broadway has.
Four consecutive Tony wins as Best Actress in a Music…
It was one of the quickest journeys from page to screen. Only 305 days after Erich Segal's LOVE STORY was published on Valentine's Day, 1970, its film version debuted on Dec. 16, 1970. In be…
Something occurred to me as I was writing about Allegro for my Tuesday masterworksbroadway.com column. The Rodgers and Hammerstein musical celebrated its 65th anniversary this week, as you w…
By Peter Filichia "
Allegro has now reached senior citizen status.
Sixty-five years ago this week, Rodgers and Hammerstein's debuted their third stage collaboration. After their monument…
Remember when The New York Music Theatre Festival used to take place at this time of the year? Before each production, an eager staff member would take the stage and congratulate us for opti…
As has been the case with thousands of musicals before it, MARRY ME A LITTLE starts with an overture. Or does it? Our program tells us that this new Keen Company production with recycled Ste…
By Peter Filichia--
October already. Believe it or not, the year is three-quarters over.
So wouldn't this be a good time to celebrate songs written in three-quarter time?
Or, as Nanett…
You've produced every one of the musicals that Stephen Sondheim has written. As a result, you've educated your audiences to know what to expect from the 20th century's greatest musical theat…
It was the month that Jake Gyllenhaal made a big splash off-Broadway. Well, actually, so did his co-stars Brian F. O'Byrne, Michelle Gomez and Annie Funke in If There Is I Haven't Found It Y…
By Peter Filichia --
It's not for you. It's not for me.
But it's going to make a whale of a present for a lot of people -" especially young ones.
It's Broadway in a Box, and it offers t…
"I can't tell you how many times I tried to make David Burns laugh." So says Jim Brochu, who knew Burns for the last 10 years of his life -- until the actor suddenly died during the Philadel…
Seeing The Music Man at the Bergen County Players last week reminded me of the previous time that I'd seen The Music Man. That happened in September as well. And although I've since witnesse…
By Peter Filichia "
Remember the 1965 film The Great Race?
In it, the famous '20s daredevil known as The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) is intent on getting lovely journalist Maggie DuBois (N…
What Rob McClure really deserves is Chaplin, the 1983 musical which Anthony Newley co-wrote and headlined.
What's the most famous story concerning THE MUSIC MAN? That it beat WEST SIDE STORY for the Best Musical Tony? That it made an A-grade star of B-level movie performer Robert Preston? Or is i…
By Peter Filichia --
Two points before we get to the meat of the matter:
Point One: Legendary Columbia cast album producer Goddard Lieberson hated spoken introductions to songs. He belie…
Congratulations to Fred Abramowitz, Peter Alfano, Anya Toes, Susan Berlin, Jonathan Billig, Brigadude, Seth Christenfeld, Ellen Dweck, Wilbur Fineberg, Laura Frankos, Ingrid Gammerman, John …
Several years ago, you had a little redheaded girl in your theater company who had the spunk and talent to play Annie. Now she’s all grown up " with even more spunk and talent. YouR…
