1,448 stories by "Peter Filichia"
Here I go, helping to prove my pal Howard Gradet’s theory that the average American is destined to run into a The Wizard of Oz reference at least once every 48 hours. But how can one n…
It was the month that I once again served on the ASCAP Awards Panel. We annually give out money to ambitious songwriters – be they composers and/or lyricists in the jazz, pop, hip-hop,…
By Peter Filichia
I hate to see a great cast album suffer because of a hurricane.
During the last two weeks of August, Irene became a dirty word in the northeast. But no one should take …
Congratulations to Peter Alfano, Anya Toes, John Atkins, Susan Berlin, Brigadude, Ellen Dweck, Laura Frankos, Martin Geiger, John Griffin, Marc Grossberg, Brian Hesse, Cathy Jones, Jack Lech…
I’m off to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, but flying to the Beaver State means stopping in Phoenix first. With 2,500 miles or so in front of me, I’ve got to take ple…
Before I go to see William Inge’s 1955 hit, Bus Stop, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, I decide to take in the pre-show noontime talk-in-the-park. I get there a few minutes before i…
Actually, I’m worried for the married couple who came all the way from San Francisco to Ashland, Oregon. We met two days ago, in the shuttle bus that took us from our hotel to the Oreg…
Liz Wisan and Alan Coates in a rehearsal of "Hannah," which opens Thursday at Premiere Stages at Kean University in Union. Anne Frank is famous today for the diary she kept, chroni…
Given that this is the week that Chicago passes A Chorus Line in number of performances (6,138-plus), I thought I’d see how far the Kander-Ebb-Fosse musical has come in the last 38 yea…
There was a time when we would have never predicted that Cher would win one Oscar or that Sally Field would win two. And right around the time when Pete Rose seemed as if he would be a lock …
By Peter Filichia --
These days, there are some small recording companies that occasionally record cast albums for musicals that last a week or less. But paradoxically, in the Golden Age o…
Would you take your nine-year old to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? Never mind the “adult themes.” Wouldn’t you also fear that your kid would be bored, and that he’d fore…
Musical follows the ups and downs of a 50-year marriage
You’ve undoubtedly seen the 1959 movie musical of Collette’s Gigi. You may have seen the 1949 French non-musical movie, too; then again, you may not have, for soon after its Amer…
When the character that the program identifies as Laura Wingfield briskly walks into the room, you know you’re not seeing The Glass Menagerie. But the program also tells us we’ll…
Congratulations to Paul Broussard, Chris Cuddihee, Kevin Daly, Kevin Dawson, Jason Flum, Laura Frankos, John Greene, Cathy Jones, John Kaiser, Tom Lancaster, Jack Lechner, Alex Mallory, Mich…
Nice month, as December always is. We all take it a little easier, work shorter hours, return fewer calls and e-mails, go to more parties, and see more friends. It’s almost as if the f…
All right, one of your holiday presents was a gift certificate for a bookstore, be it on-line or on the street. Now what’s the first book you should buy with it?
No question about it…
By Peter Filichia --
If you planned to see that Broadway revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, alas, it's too late. It closed on June 26 after 189 performances " which is the longest…
I’m not asking you to celebrate with me, but this month marks the 25th anniversary of my getting a CD player. Not only that, I bought the “Summer, 1986 issue” – Volum…
Jerry Dalia/Surflight TheatreCindy Williams, left, and Jo Anne Worley star as Olive and Florence, the female equivalents of Oscar and Felix, in Surflight Theatre’s production of…
While I watched the excellent revival of Rent, I thought a good deal about Kathy Najimy. No, she never had anything to do with Jonathan Larson’s runaway hit. But I do recall her tellin…
JASON MEEHANNoah Zachary in "Spring Awakening" at ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park. At any musical, people always applaud after every song. It's only polite. When they're enthusiast…
IAN AUGUST Whatever happened to Ian August? At the start of the new millennium, August was delivering some of the state's best performances on Jersey stages. He was terrific in "A Funny…
Kander and Ebb have taught us that “those little town blues are melting away.” Perhaps, but little towns have always been in the consciousness of those who have written musicals.…
