I once asked Charles Strouse if he expected that “Baby, Talk to Me” would be Bye Bye Birdie’s big hit. After all, it was the first featured song in the overture, placed and play…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:50PMIt was the month in which Mark Rylance didn’t give an asinine acceptance speech. Meanwhile, JERSEY BOYS had to start advertising “Live! On Stage!” while that show at the Majestic final…
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:29AMMost of the hundreds of original cast albums have of course been recorded in studios. A few have been recorded live, such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt's Porgy & Bess, the British Moby Dick an…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:39PMWhodunnit? One thing’s for certain: in the musical MURDER BALLAD, the butler didn’t. He couldn’t have, for none of the characters in this 2012 musical works in that capacity. Michael i…
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 04:19PMThey pored over 50 sports references found in lines or lyrics in Broadway musicals. Only Joe Keenan got all 50 -- so I’ll inform the rest of you what he knew that you didn’t.
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 06:34AMBy Peter Filichia What a nice event at the Spiral Theatre Studio last Wednesday night. At Richard Skipper Celebrates, a chat-series helmed by the eponymous raconteur, the ever-charmin…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:22PMOf course you know ANYTHING GOES and KISS ME, KATE. You probably know CAN-CAN, SILK STOCKINGS, OUT OF THIS WORLD and perhaps MEXICAN HAYRIDE as well. And while you would know plenty more Col…
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:06PMTwo middle-aged character men, one middle-aged character woman, one set, one piano, everyday contemporary clothes (well, okay, one mink coat), and you’re in business. In fact, you don’t …
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:26AMBy Peter Filichia All right, most of us don’t like the semi-recent phenomenon of “jukebox musicals.” And yet, we must admit that far more often than not such shows spur entertai…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:43PMMay 26, 1985. Rome. I’d just finished seeing TAXI A DUE PIAZZE. That may not translate to RUN FOR YOUR WIFE, but that was the title given to Ray Cooney’s farce about bigamy.
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 02:07PMHere’s the way to advertise it: “From the composer-lyricist of WICKED, PIPPIN and GODSPELL.” That’s ad copy that’ll sell tickets – and you wouldn’t be lying. Oh, your audience …
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:54AMBy Peter Filichia So many of us who are crying out for original musicals are doubly grateful for If/Then – because it gives us two of them. Bookwriter-lyricist Brian Yorkey d…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 09:27AMSo we come to the end of another season, one that was supposed to create record grosses thanks to the Super Bowl’s February appearance in nearby Rutherford. But Broadway got no significant…
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:04AMIn his program bio, Will Shunk stated that he is “a fifth grade student” who was “born with CP” — cerebral palsy – “which affects his ability to control his body.” Shunk …
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:57AMBy Peter Filichia On Friday, May 16, when the Dow Jones average hit 16,491, I interviewed the woman who’d hundreds of times said that the Dow had hit 1,000. She was lying. Bu…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:09PMHere is a new article from Peter Filichia’s column on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday.’ It’s an honor to bring Peter’s column every week to our readers …
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:30AMAll the nominations are out, and even some awards (such as the Outer Critics' Circle) have been dispensed. Time to move on to the new season. Welcome, 2014-2015!
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:37PMOn the list of things that people fear most in life, you’ll always find “Getting up in front of a crowd and speaking.” A hundred or so New York City tweens and teens conquered that fea…
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 12:25PM<p>By Peter Filichia</p> <p>Even a splendid production of <i>Allegro</i>, such as the one that Tom Wojtunik is delivering right now at The Astoria Perfor…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 07:31AMHere is a new article from Peter Filichia’s column on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday.’ It’s an honor to bring Peter’s column every week to our readers …
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:15AMJason Brantman and Fiona Santos certainly had a dilemma. Now did they have a solution? The two were looking to co-direct a musical for their Broadway Training Center of Westchester (New York…
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:11AMDo musical theater enthusiasts really not care about sports? I’m acquainted with dozens of musical theater fans who know that runs and hits are not simply relegated to Broadway; they’re …
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 10:28AMBy Peter Filichia Do I hear a waltz? Of course I do. Isn't Androcles and the Lion by Richard Rodgers? And getting a song in three-quarter time is a given in any of the legendary composer’s…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:01AMDaniel Craig, Daniel Radcliffe, Denzel Washington, Ethan Hawke, Orlando Bloom, Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Toni Collette, Rachel Weisz, Mary-Louise Parker, Marisa Tomei, Debra Messing and…
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 04:04PMSo how does 9 TO 5 play with a teenage cast? We found out when Amas Musical Theatre, in conjunction with The Rosetta LeNoire Musical Theatre Academy, produced the 2009 Broadway musical versi…
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:05AMBy Peter Filichia ”So I see they went and made a musical out of Irma La Douce.” That will be the reaction from some when they hear that Encores! is presenting Irma La Douce from May 7-1…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:19AMHere is a new article from Peter Filichia’s column on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday.’ It’s an honor to bring Peter’s column every week to our readers …
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 08:30AMOff-Broadway had as busy a month as Broadway. Stephen Cole's INVENTING MARY MARTIN was there to remind us that such a great star once walked among us and, more importantly, on stage. Cole wi…
SOURCE: Kritzerland at 11:12AMSend in both the frowns and the crowns for Tom Rowan’s production of A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC at The Gallery Players in Brooklyn. If you don’t know Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s 1973…
SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:14AMBy Peter Filichia I’d hate to let the month go by without acknowledging the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. No one can be 100% certain that we should have celebrated it on Apr…
SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:14AMHere is a new article from Peter Filichia’s column on Kritzerland called ‘Filichia on Friday.’ It’s an honor to bring Peter’s column every week to our readers …
SOURCE: DC Metro Theater Arts at 03:30AM
