All stories by Peter Filichia on BroadwayStars

Friday, November 21, 2014

Come Look At the Better Musical by Peter Filichia

Would you marry one conjoined twin? While the kinkier among us might think “Hmm, this gives an exciting new meaning to menage a trois,” most of us would say “No, thank you.”

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 02:12AM
Tuesday, November 18, 2014

The Fair Lady Who Came to Supper by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   A speak-singing leading man and a lilting soprano leading lady play characters who meet in London in the early 20th century. He’s the one with pedigree while she�…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:35AM
Friday, November 14, 2014

Catching Up With ‘Filichia on Friday': ‘Penelope Daulton: In Comes Company Manager';’A Busy Time for Musicals';’October’s Leftovers & No by Peter Filichia

It’s an honor to bring Peter Filichia’s column every week on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday’ to our readers on DCMetroTheaterArts. Time to catch up : Novem…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:18PM

Filichia Features: What You Can Do with a SATURDAY NIGHT by Peter Filichia

You’re the drama director at an all-boys’ school who’s looking for a musical that requires far more young men than young women. Oh, a show with a few female roles is fine, for you can …

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:24AM

Penelope Daulton: In Comes Company Manager by Peter Filichia

Some children wanted to grow up to be firemen; some wanted to be ballerinas. (Some of us had fathers who wished that we would want to be firemen and not ballerinas.) But no child has prob…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 03:05AM
Tuesday, November 11, 2014

NEW YORK IS INDEED A WONDERFUL TOWN by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   See the current revival of On the Town on Broadway, and you’ll hear three sailors proclaim “New York, New York -- a helluva town.”   See the 1949 film ver…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:08AM
Friday, November 7, 2014

Filichia Features: LEGALLY BLONDE Goes to College by Peter Filichia

More and more I continue to value LEGALLY BLONDE as a significant musical. Yes, significant. Not just fun: significant, with many positive messages. Granted, many originated in Amanda Brown�…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:02AM

A Busy Time for Musicals by Peter Filichia

As any NICK & NORA fan can tell you, Christine Baranski sang (albeit for a very short time), “Everybody Wants to Do a Musical.” And because everyone does, The National Alliance for Music…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 12:33AM
Monday, November 3, 2014

Words, Words, Words – Words Are the Key by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   “There are words to which I lift my hat,” says Emily Dickinson -- well, at least the Emily Dickinson in William Luce’s one-woman play The Belle of Amherst. It�…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 09:21PM
Friday, October 31, 2014

Filichia Features: SHE LOVES ME Gets Some Love by Peter Filichia

The ads proclaimed “SHE LOVES ME in Concert,” but as we’ve all learned, “in concert” can mean many different things. Would this presentation at 4th Wall Theatre in Bloomfield, New …

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:33AM

October's Leftovers and November's Brainteaser by Peter Filichia

It was the month that the baseball’s regular season finished with Jordan Zimmermann’s pitching a no-hitter. Well, that’s the difference between sports and musical theater: OUR Zimmerma…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:48AM
Tuesday, October 28, 2014

REX: HE'S HENRY VIII, HE WAS by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   David Foubert is an excellent king, Jessica Wortham an extraordinary queen and Katie Wieland is marvelous as the woman who succeeded her.   They’re all curren…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:26AM
Friday, October 24, 2014

Filichia Features: Sheldon Harnick’s Harbinger Binge by Peter Filichia

The most enduring song from FIDDLER ON THE ROOF is, of course, “Sunrise, Sunset.” Since late 1964, has there ever been a wedding reception, bar or bat mitzvah where it hasn’…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 08:00AM

Penelope Daulton: In Comes Company Manager by Peter Filichia

Some children wanted to grow up to be firemen; some wanted to be ballerinas. (Some of us had fathers who wished that we would want to be firemen and not ballerinas.) But no child has prob…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 02:16AM
Monday, October 20, 2014

Getting to the Bottom of Nine by Peter Filichia

Getting to the Bottom of Nine   By Peter Filichia   If you're in New York -- and are a fan of Nine -- you should saunter downtown to Theatre for a New City to see a revival of Six …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:20PM
Friday, October 17, 2014

Filichia Features: BIG Scores Big at the York by Peter Filichia

The laughs were long, hard and genuine guffaws after most jokes. The applause was strong and hard after all songs. The opening night crowd couldn’t contain its enthusiasm — and had n…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:06AM

It's Time for A TIME FOR SINGING by Peter Filichia

Long before FLOYD COLLINS had its off-Broadway debut and BILLY ELLIOT had its Best Musical Tony-winning run, another musical had already dealt with the world of mines and mining: A TIME FOR …

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:35AM
Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Happy Eighty-Ninth, Angela Lansbury! by Peter Filichia

Happy Eighty-Ninth, Angela Lansbury!   By Peter Filichia   The first three words that Angela Lansbury ever sang in a Broadway musical would in time turn out to be thoroughly inaccu…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:09AM
Friday, October 10, 2014

Filichia Features: THE MUSIC MAN IN CONCERT in Mason City, Iowa by Peter Filichia

Too bad there isn’t a meter to measure civic pride. If there were, Mason City, Iowa – the real River City that bookwriter-composer-lyricist Meredith Willson fictionalized in his Tony-win…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:35AM

Filichia on Friday: A ‘Cabaret’ That Would Make Hal and Sam Blush by Peter Filichia

It’s an honor to bring Peter Filichia’s column every week on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday’ to our readers on DCMetroTheaterArts. This Week: A CABARET Th…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 04:16AM
Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Forty-Five Other Ways to Lose a Man by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   “Forty-five ways to go,” my buddy Ed Weissman wrote after he read my column inspired byWonderful Town’s song for Ruth Sherwood: “100 Easy Ways to Lose a Man.…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:11AM
Friday, October 3, 2014

Let's Hear It for the Rainbow Tour by Peter Filichia

Eleven shows in seven states in eleven days. Pretty good, if I do say so myself.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:09AM
Monday, September 29, 2014

Ninety-Five Easy Ways to Lose a Man? by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   In Wonderful Town, Rosalind Russell played Ruth Sherwood, a bright if not dazzlingly attractive woman who decries her bad luck with the opposite sex. (You can hear h…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 09:11PM
Friday, September 26, 2014

September’s Leftovers and October’s Brainteaser by Peter Filichia

Apologies to Angela Lansbury. She hardly belongs in “Leftovers,” but yesterday I DID have the chance to interview the legend and wanted you to know about it as soon as possible.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 02:36PM
Tuesday, September 23, 2014

Celebrating a Fiddler on the Roof Milestone by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   If you’re reading this on Tuesday, September 23, it’s the fiftieth anniversary of the day in 1964 that Joseph Stein, Jerry Bock, Sheldon Harnick, Jerome Robbins,…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:37AM
Friday, September 19, 2014

Filichia Features: WOMEN ON THE VERGE OF A NERVOUS BREAKDOWN Goes On by Peter Filichia

He’d called and said he’d be a little late for the 10 a.m. rehearsal, so even when the clock struck 10:15 and Bernie Yvon hadn’t yet arrived, no one gave it much of a thoug…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:00AM

The 2014 Broadway University Entrance Exam Answers by Peter Filichia

Congratulations to Peter Alfano, Steven Bell, Susan Berlin, Pat Bracken, Scot Colford, Seth Christenfeld, Sarah Brett England, Darel Glaser, John Griffin, Cathy Jones, Tim Kraetsch, Jack Lec…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:19AM
Monday, September 15, 2014

IT”S THE LITTLE THINGS by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia   "It's the little things, the little things" Elaine Stritch insisted in Company. And she was right -- little things do mean a lot. That's especially true of those lit…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 08:43PM
Saturday, September 13, 2014

Filichia on Friday: This Musn’t Be The Place by Peter Filichia by Peter Filichia

It’s an honor to bring Peter Filichia’s column every week on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday’ to our readers on DCMetroTheaterArts. THIS WEEK: This MusnR…

SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:30AM
Friday, September 12, 2014

Filichia Features: DIVORCE ME, DARLING! The sequel to THE BOY FRIEND by Peter Filichia

It was an inspired notion. Ten years after Sandy Wilson had struck gold as the bookwriter, composer and lyricist of THE BOY FRIEND, he decided to revisit those “perfect young ladies from f…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:50AM

This Mustn't Be the Place by Peter Filichia

Even a painting that’s a masterpiece looks diminished if it isn’t in the right frame. Similarly speaking, a good play or musical -- even if it’s wonderfully performed, directed and …

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:43AM

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