All stories by Peter Filichia on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

Title (Song) Search by Peter Filichia

So on July tenth, we’ll celebrate Jerry Herman’s eighty-fourth birthday. And what do we immediately think of when we think of Jerry Herman? Title songs, of course. Herman’s first fo…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:49AM
Monday, July 8, 2013

Filichia Features: A Lucky 13 by Peter Filichia

“My name is Evan Goldman” are the first words said by the leading man of 13. Here, at the Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska, the line is stated unequivocally by Erick Patrick of Ola…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:29AM
Friday, July 5, 2013

Cradle and All by Peter Filichia

Back in 1998, I was on a Paper Mill Playhouse panel with Clive Barnes of the Post, Howard Kissel of the News and Gretchen van Benthuysen of the Asbury Park Press. One of the questions asked …

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 09:36AM
Tuesday, July 2, 2013

IT'S THE LITTLE THINGS by Peter Filichia

We've often heard the expression variously attributed to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Aby Warburg and Gustave Flaubert. But whichever of these men was the first to say it had a point. "God is …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:03AM
Saturday, June 29, 2013

June's Leftovers and July's Brainteaser by Peter Filichia

It's officially summertime, and the living is easy - unless you have kids home from school. Send them to Broadway Triple Threat 2013, the marvelous workshop for young performers.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:08AM
Monday, June 24, 2013

And the Winner Wasn’t … by Peter Filichia

A couple of weeks ago, I trumpeted the Tony-winning musicals that can be heard thanks to Masterworks Broadway. And how about Tony-LOSERS in the Best Musicals category? These have been on m…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:54PM
Friday, June 21, 2013

Steve Cuden Explains It All For You by Peter Filichia

I've met many writers of new musicals, and plenty of them have said the same thing: "When I saw (insert here the name of an awful musical), I said to myself 'I know I can do better than that…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 09:14AM
Monday, June 17, 2013

Alan Alda’s Entrance Music by Peter Filichia

“You’re the one who chose Alan Alda’s entrance music, aren’t you?” So said many people to me after I’d hosted The 69th Annual Theatre World Awards on June 3. Whenever a presente…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:44PM
Friday, June 14, 2013

The 2012-2013 Awards Season by Peter Filichia

Another season, another reason for makin' whoopee.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 11:53AM

Filichia Features: Grounding THE LITTLE MERMAID, JR. by Peter Filichia

They fly through the air with the greatest of ease: those daring young actors currently appearing in the Paper Mill Playhouse production of THE LITTLE MERMAID. Out in Millburn, New Jersey, p…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:40AM
Monday, June 10, 2013

Add Kinky Boots to the Roster of Tony-Winners by Peter Filichia

So the percentage just went from 56.92% to 57.58%. I’m talking about the number of Tony-winning Best Musicals that can be found on recordings and downloads on Masterworks Broadway. With K…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:45PM
Friday, June 7, 2013

The 2013 Broadway University Final Exam Answers by Peter Filichia

Congratulations to Fred Abramowitz, Peter Alfano, Brigadude, Susan Berlin, Josh Freilich, Ingrid Gammerman, Jack Lechner, Marc Miller, the Orts Family (Sheri, Daryl, Zach and Becca), Ira Rap…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 09:47AM
Tuesday, June 4, 2013

ClownAround is Around At Last by Peter Filichia

Well, here’s a reissue of a show album that many fanatically dedicated cast album collectors never owned. ClownAround was originally recorded in 1972 by RCA Victor. But was it ever releas…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:17AM
Friday, May 31, 2013

Filichia Features: Lucky Stiff – It’s Good to Be Alive by Peter Filichia

We’ve seen plenty of teenagers in productions of THE BOY FRIEND, CHILDREN OF EDEN and GODSPELL. But LUCKY STIFF? Isabel Carrington, who runs the Warner Theatre Performance Lab for young pe…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 03:38PM

May's Leftovers and June's Brainteaser by Peter Filichia

"I'd like to make the laws," said Marie earlier this year when Encores! did Fiorello! I'd certainly like to make two as far as Encores! is concerned.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:49AM
Monday, May 27, 2013

These Boots Are Made for Listening by Peter Filichia

In October 1983, when Cyndi Lauper’s pop career started taking off in earnest, the current Broadway musicals had music by Andrew Lloyd Webber (Cats), Jerry Herman (La Cage aux Folles), Mau…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:57PM
Friday, May 24, 2013

The 2013 Broadway University Final Exam by Peter Filichia

Throughout your scholastic career, you were often asked to give one-word answers on tests. Well, for our 2013 Broadway University Final Exam, we instead will offer you one-word questions.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:28AM
Monday, May 20, 2013

Me on Me and Juliet by Peter Filichia

We’re about to mark the 60th anniversary of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s most obscure musical. True, Me and Juliet endured the longest of their three least-successful shows. The musical th…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:35PM
Friday, May 17, 2013

Filichia Features: Into the Woods: It Takes Ten by Peter Filichia

Can you find 19 talented performers to play all the roles in Into the Woods? That seems to be an order as tall as the second-act Giant. But if you take some tips from the most inaccurately n…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 12:36PM
Monday, May 13, 2013

Making Liza Doolittle Day Plans by Peter Filichia

“Next week, on the twentieth of May, I proclaim Liza Doolittle Day!” So sings Eliza Doolittle in her fantasy number “Just You Wait” in My Fair Lady. It’s a line that hasn’t been …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:22PM
Friday, May 10, 2013

Filichia Features: AVENUE Q Goes to College by Peter Filichia

When Jeff Whitty, Jeff Marx and Robert Lopez created the “School Edition” of their Tony-winning AVENUE Q, they had high schools in mind. And yet, this abridged and expurgated edition was…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 12:16PM

On Your Toes: What The Black Crook Wrought by Peter Filichia

All musicals descend from The Black Crook, but On Your Toes is truly its great-great grandson.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 11:28AM
Monday, May 6, 2013

Elephant Steps in Time by Peter Filichia

You’ve heard it said about your town or one nearby. “If you don’t like the weather here, wait five minutes, and it’ll change.” The same standard can apply to Stanley Silverman�…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:24PM
Saturday, May 4, 2013

Filichia Features: PIPPIN’S Life Has Been Something More Than Long by Peter Filichia

All right, so your theater company doesn’t have a juggler who can keep a half-dozen knives in the air. You’re also lacking a contortionist who can balance himself upside down on a board …

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 02:48PM
Friday, May 3, 2013

April's Leftovers and May's Brainteaser by Peter Filichia

It was the month in which the word "robbed" is used more around Broadway than any other month � for the Tony nominations were dispensed.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 05:02PM
Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Lady in the Dark: The Ultimate Play with Music by Peter Filichia

One of the seminal recordings of the 1960s is now with us again via digital download: the first studio cast album of Lady in the Dark. Until 1963, musical theater enthusiasts who’d been t…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:54AM
Friday, April 26, 2013

April in Amsterdam by Peter Filichia

When producers of American and British musicals book a theater in Amsterdam, Theatre Carre is their first choice. The three-balcony, eight-chandeliered house is where popular hits go to thri…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 06:17AM
Monday, April 22, 2013

The World’s Most Misunderstood Cast Album by Peter Filichia

So you think that the first "so-bad-it's-good" musical was The Rocky Horror Show? A case can be made for a very different property: Say, Darling. Truth to tell, Say, Darling was less of a …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:36PM
Friday, April 19, 2013

Mainstream Broadway, 2013 by Peter Filichia

This winter, when I heard Barry Manilow sing "Can't Take My Eyes off of You" from the stage of the St. James, I realized that this song was now being performed in two Broadway theaters.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 12:08PM

​Filichia Features: Donald J. Simon, the JEKYLL & HYDE Expert by Peter Filichia

Is anyone on the Northeast Corridor planning to present JEKYLL & HYDE?  If so, don’t hesitate to contact Donald J. Simon.  The president of the International JEKYLL & HYDE F…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:59AM
Monday, April 15, 2013

Song of Norway Is Coming Your Way by Peter Filichia

My buddy Ingrid Gammerman has told me that she does it. So has my pal Donald Tesione. On occasion, I’ve done it, too. That is, play a cast album on the precise night of an all-star concer…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 02:23PM

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