All stories by Peter Filichia on BroadwayStars

Friday, March 14, 2014

EXITS AND ENTRANCES by Peter Filichia

Hell certainly looks better than my apartment – at least in the way that Harry Feiner has designed NO EXIT for The Pearl Theatre Company. It’s a sleek swank room with three lovely chaise…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 06:03AM
Tuesday, March 11, 2014
Monday, March 10, 2014

I’VE GOT A LITTLE MIKADO by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia So what can we all do on March 14th to mark the 129th anniversary of the opening of The Mikado? Well, for one thing, we can listen to a 1960 recording of Gilbert and Sulli…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:16PM
Saturday, March 8, 2014

Filichia on Friday: ‘Paging Marsha Norman’ by Peter Filichia by Peter Filichia

Here 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 08:18AM
Friday, March 7, 2014

Filichia Features: New Ideas for Les Miserables by Peter Filichia

Have you ever seen a production of LES MISERABLES in which “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” had full chairs and no tables at all? Leave it to Aubrey Berg, the chair of the musical …

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:23AM
Monday, March 3, 2014

The Reviews Are in for Bajour by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- There I was, putting the final touches on my new book The Great Parade: The 1963-64 Broadway Season, which St. Martin’s will bring out next spring. I wanted to check a…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:48PM
Friday, February 28, 2014

Filichia Features: The Sun Comes Out On ANNIE JR. by Peter Filichia

How long have I been attending community theater productions? Let’s put it this way: when I started, Betty White could have still given birth. And yet, here at the Bronx House, I’m seein…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 08:11AM
Monday, February 24, 2014

Returning to the Silk Stockings District by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia – Jule Styne couldn’t do it. Frank Loesser couldn’t do it. Even Richard Rodgers couldn’t do it. But Cole Porter could. The task in question? Seeing your final Bro…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:16PM
Saturday, February 22, 2014

Filichia on Friday: “Many DINNERS WITH FRIENDS” by Peter Filichia by Peter Filichia

Here 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 09:00AM
Friday, February 21, 2014

Filichia Features: Wrapping up Junior Theater Festival ‘14 by Peter Filichia

At the Junior Theater Festival ’14, Saturday night and all day Sunday are the best times to be in the MTI ShowSpace. After those many events in small breakout rooms, how nice to have all 4…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 02:13PM
Monday, February 17, 2014

Yes, Virginia, There Is an Albee Play on CD by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia – All of us remember the time when we got interested in theater and, for the first time, we read raves for a certain show that had just opened. “Oh,” each of us recal…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:37PM

Filichia Features: Teachers Learn at Junior Theater Festival ‘14 by Peter Filichia

There can’t be many places in the world where an audience applauds after the speaker says, “It’s not a democracy; it’s a dictatorship.” But here at the Junior Theater Festival in A…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:17AM
Saturday, February 15, 2014

Filichia on Friday: “There Is Always LITTLE ME” by Peter Filichia by Peter Filichia

Here 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 07:45AM
Tuesday, February 11, 2014

Remembering a Most Famous Date in Music by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- Sunday, February 9, 1964. Now more than fifty years have passed, but most everyone who was then alive and beyond the age of reason remembers it well. Up until then, whe…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:22AM
Friday, February 7, 2014

Filichia Features: On Stage at Junior Theater Festival ‘14 by Peter Filichia

In a way, it’s the musical theater equivalent of speed dating. You do get to see as many as eight musicals in four hours – but only in a manner of speaking. The 93 schools and academies …

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:04AM
Tuesday, February 4, 2014

There Is Always Little Me by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- How many musicals that played only seven months on Broadway ever see two major Manhattan revivals and a snazzy concert version? But as of this week, Little Me, which o…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:13AM
Monday, January 27, 2014

Happy Anniversary, Edmund Kean! by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- Two hundred years ago this week, a star was born. Edmund Kean was a journeyman actor until January 26, 1814. On that night, he played Shylock at the Drury Lane, London…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:56PM
Friday, January 24, 2014

Filichia Features: Five, Six, Seven, GREAT! by Peter Filichia

When we last left Nate Foster, we didn’t want to. Tens of thousands who read Tim Federle’s young adult novel Better Nate Than Ever immediately fell in love with the thirteen-year-old nat…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:23AM
Monday, January 20, 2014

When West Side Story Was Romeo by Peter Filichia

The most fascinating letter replicated in the recently published The Leonard Bernstein Letters isn’t one solely by Leonard Bernstein. The undated letter – suspected by editor Nigel Sime…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:41PM
Friday, January 17, 2014

Filichia Features: Moorestown’s THOROUGHLY MODERN decision by Peter Filichia

Sitting in the Upper Elementary School in Moorestown, New Jersey, I’m looking forward to the audience reaction when the lights come up at a certain moment in Scene Four. The Moorestown The…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:05AM
Tuesday, January 14, 2014

A Li’l Bit of L’il Abner by Peter Filichia

In 1956, long before comic strip icons Superman, Charlie Brown and Annie became lead characters in Broadway musicals, there was Li’l Abner. Al Capp’s famed comic strip about the rustic …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:19AM
Friday, January 10, 2014

Filichia Features: Learn about Lou Volpe, a Great Drama Teacher by Peter Filichia

Whenever someone has asked me the question, “If you could have as a dinner companion anyone who’s ever lived, who would it be?” my answer has always been “Thornton Wilder. I’d love…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:02AM
Monday, January 6, 2014

On the 50th Anniversary of Hello, Dolly! by Peter Filichia

Every now and then, I come across them. I’m talking about the intense musical theater fans who tell me that they hate Hello, Dolly! And yes, “hate” is the verb they gleefully use. La…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:45PM

Filichia Features: Start Planning for A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Peter Filichia

Adults have differing opinions on politics, religion, sex, money and virtually everything else, but there’s one aspect of life on which they all agree. Time passes oh-so-swiftly and much-t…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:47AM
Tuesday, December 31, 2013

The Best Phone Call of 2013 by Peter Filichia

How often does your phone ring anymore? We all seem to communicate differently now. Go away for a week’s vacation, and you’ll probably come back to fewer than a half-dozen messages on yo…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:18AM
Monday, December 23, 2013

THE IDEAL BACKGROUND MUSIC FOR A PARTY by Peter Filichia

Here is the jackpot question in advance. Musically speaking, what are you doing New Year’s Eve at the party you’re hosting? A young friend excitedly told me that he planned to take man…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:25AM
Friday, December 20, 2013

Filichia Features: The Story of THE STORY OF MY LIFE by Peter Filichia

You may know the song entitled “The Story of My Life” from SHREK, but do you know the musical called THE STORY OF MY LIFE? It has nothing to do with Pinocchio, Peter Pan or Papa Bear, as…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:24AM

The Closest We Have to a Broadway Channel by Peter Filichia

"It was one of the best times I've had in my life," said my girlfriend. She'd just got off the annual Turner Classic Movies Classic Cruise.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:10AM
Tuesday, December 17, 2013

It’s Christmas (Story) Time in the City by Peter Filichia

Of all the musicals that have been nominated for Best Musical, only one has been Christmas-centric: A Christmas Story: The Musical. Yes, Tony-winners Annie and Rent as well as Tony-nominee…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:48AM
Friday, December 13, 2013

Filichia Features: Tips from the SHREK Video and Two Cast Members by Peter Filichia

When you mount a musical, you needn’t slavishly follow a Broadway’s production’s template. In fact, some of the best subsequent productions of musicals have varied widely from the Broa…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 09:57AM

Twelve Days to Christmas by Peter Filichia

As I write this, there are 12 days to Christmas. And if you’re one of those Christmas shoppers who is still wondering what to get your friends, relatives and colleagues, I have a few sugge…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:34AM

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