All stories by Peter Filichia on BroadwayStars

Monday, April 1, 2013

Jerry Herman’s Most Delicate Score by Peter Filichia

Were you among the many who’d planned to go see Betty Buckley do Dear World in London – only to find the show had shuttered earlier than expected? “I’m not surprised,” says my bu…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:44PM
Friday, March 29, 2013

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

It was the month in which Breakfast at Tiffany's began performances on the 4th - which meant that by March 8th, after it had played five previews, it had already outrun the 1966 musical vers…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 11:56AM

Filichia Features: THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE Grazie by Peter Filichia

Audiences love when a character makes a fast costume change. If it happens with enough speed, they almost feel as if they’re getting two characters for the price of one. That opportunity a…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:15AM
Tuesday, March 26, 2013

As We Conclude March Madness by Peter Filichia

Have you been wondering why the National Collegiate Athletic Association nicknames its annual basketball tournament “March Madness” when the tournament heats up in April? Or why CBS call…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:03AM
Friday, March 22, 2013

Can You Say L'esprit de l'escalier? by Peter Filichia

Wish I could remember the precise story I was telling my buddy Bob Burger at the opening night party of the York's Starting Here, Starting Now. The point of it was that I was in a situation …

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 01:34PM

A “New” Show for Mermanesque Performers by Peter Filichia

When my New Jersey travels took me to Plays in the Park in Edison for Nunsense, I was overwhelmed by the power-packed performance of Susan Speidel – and told the director afterward. “Oh,…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:53AM
Tuesday, March 19, 2013

March Madness: Week Four by Peter Filichia

While basketball fans of Kentucky, Virginia and Maryland are moaning and mourning that their team didn’t make the 68-team NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament – and adherents of the chosen…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:28AM
Friday, March 15, 2013

Filichia Features: Calling All Tracy Turnblads by Peter Filichia

Her name was Stella. She was a heavy-set girl who was a techie in the high school drama club for which I was an advisor. Between scenes of every show, you could see, if you looked carefully …

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:39AM

Patti Sings! Patti Issues! by Peter Filichia

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, I'm Patti LuPone," says the lady to the packed house - with an as-if-you-didn't-know tone to her voice.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:12AM
Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Week Three of March Madness by Peter Filichia

Next Sunday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s “March Madness” will officially begin. We’ll know which sixty-eight teams will play for the 2013 NCAA’s men’s basketba…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:07AM
Friday, March 8, 2013

Filichia Features: Put PASSION into Your Life by Peter Filichia

If you do PASSION correctly – meaning the way that Stephen Sondheim envisioned it – your audience will applaud only once the entire night. That will happen at the end of the show, after …

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 12:15PM

Happy Birthday to TACT, Rodgers and Hammerstein and Cinderella by Peter Filichia

March is coming in like a lion for Rodgers and Hammerstein. When most people think of Dick and Ockie, they recall their 11 musical properties (or at least five of them). Many may not know or…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:24AM
Monday, March 4, 2013

March Madness: Week Two by Peter Filichia

As I wrote last week, if college basketball can have “March Madness,” so can musical theater. My column of February 26 stated that aficionados should spend March going delightfully mad.…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:45PM
Friday, March 1, 2013

Filichia Features: CHILDREN OF EDEN Continues to Grow by Peter Filichia

It’s never been produced on Broadway and its London production was short-lived. But these facts haven’t kept one theater after another from doing CHILDREN OF EDEN. Here in Watertown, Mas…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 12:10PM

February's Leftovers and March's Brainteaser by Peter Filichia

It was the month that I attended The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee for the seventh time - and I've still yet to be in the right place to catch any one of the Fritos, M&M's, Oreos, b…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:34AM
Monday, February 25, 2013

Get Ready for March Madness by Peter Filichia

And here it comes: that annual sporting event that’s unashamedly come to be known as “March Madness.” Much of the country will be watching to see which college basketball teams will b…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:45PM
Friday, February 22, 2013

Filichia Features: Better Nate Than Ever Is the Best by Peter Filichia

“Every moment in life is an audition,” writes Tim Federle in Better Nate Than Ever. If that’s true, Federle’s audition as a writer gets him the part as The Country’s Most P…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:18AM

How Donnybrook! Improves The Quiet Man by Peter Filichia

A movie becomes a Broadway musical? While we think of this as a recent phenomenon, Donnybrook! proves it isn't. Its source, The Quiet Man, hit film screens on Sept. 14, 1952. Fewer than nine…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 07:34AM
Sunday, February 17, 2013

Tales of the City of Angels by Peter Filichia

It’s one of those Tony-winning musicals that doesn’t get done very often – and certainly not enough. But sharp director John Simpkins decided that his students at NYU Steinhardt could…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 08:36AM

The 2013 Broadway University Mid-Term Exam Answers by Peter Filichia

Congratulations to Fred Abramowitz, AnyaToes, Susan Berlin, Brigadude, Mark Canestraro, Laura Frankos, Ingrid Gammerman, John Griffin, Marc Grossberg, Jack Lechner, Paul Mendenhall, Brian Mu…

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 08:25AM
Saturday, February 16, 2013

The Big Easy's Big News: Bryan Batt Among Boosters Behind Reopening of Le Petit Theatre in New Orleans by Peter Filichia

Learn how Broadway and TV actor Bryan Batt, a New Orleans native, was among those who helped turn around the fortunes of the New Orleans community theatre Le Petit Theatre due Vieux Carre.

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM
Friday, February 15, 2013

Filichia Features: Junior Theater Festival ’13 Concludes by Peter Filichia

There’ll be a grand finale on the final day of the Junior Theater Festival ’13 in Atlanta. But before the big display of entertainment, the teachers repair to classrooms to learn a littl…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 10:26AM
Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Three OCAs for Those Who Muff Their Mufti Chances by Peter Filichia

Here’s hoping that you can make it to New York this month and next to see the York Theatre Company’s four “Musicals in Mufti.” Starting this weekend, Mufti – which does readings o…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:31AM
Friday, February 8, 2013

Two Flops Get a Second Chance by Peter Filichia

On Feb. 17, 1983, I returned to New York from a two-week business trip and met my girlfriend at the O'Neill, where a friend had arranged comps for a preview of a new play. It started out ter…

SOURCE: kritzerland.com at 09:23AM

Filichia Features: Alan Menken at the Junior Theater Festival by Peter Filichia

While Alan Menken and I were having dinner the night before Junior Theater Festival ’13 was to begin, he said to me, “You know, when I was a kid, what I really wanted to be was a rock st…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 06:10AM
Monday, February 4, 2013

Cinderella Darling by Peter Filichia

It’s only played a handful of previews thus far, but I’m hearing wonderful word-of-mouth about the new production of Cinderella at the Broadway Theatre. The score alone would suggest su…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:49PM
Friday, February 1, 2013

Filichia Features: Junior Theater Festival ’13 Continues! by Peter Filichia

Live! From Atlanta! It’s Saturday afternoon! At Junior Theater Festival ’13, Saturday morning saw 4,200 students head to 11 pods where they performed 15-minute excerpts from their musica…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 05:11PM

January Leftovers and a New Brainteaser by Peter Filichia

It was the month that I made Page Six in the New York Post for my altercation with a "Fanilow" at Manilow on Broadway.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 11:13AM
Monday, January 28, 2013

First Impressions: Find It Agreeable by Peter Filichia

It is a truth universally acknowledged that Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is one of the world’s greatest novels. Its reputation began two hundred years ago this week, when Austen’…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:31PM
Sunday, January 27, 2013

The 2013 Broadway University Mid-Term Exam by Peter Filichia

Musicals often want to show their audiences a good, escapist time - which may be one reason why so many refer to alcoholic drinks or matters involving spirits.

SOURCE: Kritzerland at 06:10AM
Friday, January 25, 2013

Filichia Features: Junior Theater Festival ’13 Begins! by Peter Filichia

Atlanta lost a big NFL football game this past weekend, but it certainly emerged victorious in musical theater. The eighth annual Junior Theater Festival once again took over the Renaissance…

SOURCE: Music Theatre International at 11:58AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre
TBA: Titanic