1,448 stories by "Peter Filichia"
Ken Bloom isn't at all worried about his first selection. When people see that his alphabetically arranged Hollywood Musicals: The 101 Greatest Song-and-Dance Movies of All-Time starts with …
Most every December, I moderate a panel for the Drama League's Christmas Luncheon. In the past, I've interviewed the stars of Wonderful Town, Regrets Only, Cymbeline, The Woman in White and …
So I see that a delightful personal nemesis of mine has died. Hillard Elkins succumbed to a heart attack last week at the age of 81. Doing the math, I now see that he was only 38 when I met …
When Jacob Shoesmith-Fox started going to the theater, it was Les Miserables, The Lion King and Aida (twice). "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat was a show I memorized every word …
Here comes a rash of closings. January 2 will see the expected end of Brief Encounter, Elf and The Pee-wee Herman Show. Two classic musicals -- Promises, Promises and West Side Story - will …
It was the month that the unsinkable Sarah Palin, whose words are so well-received by so many, got her non-word "refudiate" named Word of the Year and placed in The Oxford English Dictionary.
Gotta get my old tuxedo pressed. Gotta sew a button on my vest. For on this Tuesday night Nov. 30 at 7:30 p.m., I'll be at Barnes & Noble at Lincoln Center (Broadway at 66th Street) to talk …
To be sure, as we approach Thanksgiving we want to count all the blessings in our lives. Here's hoping that you have plenty in yours. I know I have plenty in mine - including the fact that y…
So it's Black Friday -- not to mention equally Black Saturday and Black Sunday - where many of us will start Christmas shopping in earnest. But what to get the theater enthusiast? For those …
I liked to call him "the round-the-clock nurse of the fabulous invalid." He was John Willis, the editor of the Theatre World annuals and administrator of the Theatre World Awards. John died …
I envy St. Martin de Porres. The 16th century Peruvian was said to have the ability to be in two places at one time. I, alas, cannot, and as a result, I'm missing two events between Friday a…
After Faith Prince had her landmark success with Adelaide in Guys and Dolls in 1992, many musical theater enthusiasts were heard to say, "Wouldn't she make an ideal Ella Peterson in Bells Ar…
On Wednesday, I told about Sam Irvin's magnificent new biography: Kay Thompson from Funny Face to Eloise. If you're unaware of this terrific biographer -- and/or the dynamic composer-lyricis…
Who'd expect that Elf would contain one of the most significant pieces of dialogue in the history of the Broadway musical?
I once asked Charles Strouse if he expected that "Baby, Talk to Me" was going to be Bye Bye Birdie's big hit. After all, it was the first real song in the overture, placed and played with su…
"She was ahead of her time for nine decades," wrote Rex Reed. "She was our Holden Caulfield," said Marie Brenner. Liza Minnelli declared that she "conquered everything and moved on." Jule St…
A theater, a television special, a DVD and a book. There's still plenty going on for a man who was born when Abie's Irish Rose was Broadway's longest-running show and Herbert Hoover was in t…
The lights come up on a black woman just sitting. That's it: sitting. She's not talking to anyone or doing anything in particular. She's just sitting with a cake box on her lap. When Oklahom…
Many couples take a trip to the Caribbean or Europe to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. Although the Dodges - Marcia Milgrom and Anthony - reached that august mark on Saturday, they…
In the summer of 1963, I started what would be a Wednesday ritual: Getting Variety and immediately turning to "Legit." Oh! Dennis O'Keefe was being replaced as Mary Martin's leading man in J…
It was the month that Damn Yankees' history repeated itself. 2010 was The Year the Yankees Lost the Pennant to the Washington Senators - well, the team that started life as the Washington Se…
We have a chance to see another vintage musical starting on Tuesday, as Three Wishes for Jamie gets an airing at Musicals Tonight! It originally opened on March 21, 1952 at the Hellinger, an…
Had a nice time at Shine! the tuneful, emotional and very well directed musical. The man in front of me started a chat at intermission, and when I asked him what his first Broadway musical w…
A production of Abie's Irish Rose? I wouldn't miss it for all the tea in British drawing room comedies.
La Bête, which in 1991 became one of my all-time favorite theater experiences, is now a severe let-down because it's low-down and dumbed-down.
