Tuesday, December 9, 2025

YOUR CHANCE TO BE A SWINGER By Peter Filichia

Shall we celebrate the 275th anniversary of the first time that a Broadway musical had a song with the word “swing” in its title? First-nighters who attended the December 3, 1750, perfor…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, December 2, 2025

BROADWAY’S BEST EMPLOYEES

Remember Employee of the Month, in which Zack Bradley and Vince Downey battled to become one? Recently seeing the 2006 film started me wondering which characters in musicals would be contend…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, November 25, 2025

A MARTIN CHARNIN APPRECIATION By Peter Filichia

The lyricist of TWO BY TWO who wrote “I feel like I’m ninety again” would have been 91 this week. Alas, Martin Charnin only made it to 84, for he died in 2019 – but not before leavin…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 03:07PM
Tuesday, November 18, 2025

YOU’LL BE BEAU’LD OVER By Peter Filichia

You’d think that someone who refers to his grandfather as Pop Pop would be a little kid. No. In the current off-Broadway musical hit BEAU, the grandson is in his 20s, if not 30s. He’s Ac…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, November 11, 2025

A TIME UP AT BAT BOY By Peter Filichia

As I watched the excellent production of BAT BOY at City Center, two other musicals came to mind. ANNIE and FOLLIES. You’re laughing. Fine. But back in 1977, many walked into the Alvin The…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, November 4, 2025

RAGTIME JOURNEYS ON By Peter Filichia

In case we needed a reminder that RAGTIME is magnificent, the new production at Lincoln Center proves it. Many musical theater aficionados have known its worth for almost 30 years. There are…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 28, 2025

FATED TO BE MATED – OR NOT? By Peter Filichia

So, how much faith do we place in numerologists and astrologers? Many of them claim that people born on four certain days of the month – the first, the 16th, the 27th and the 31st – are …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 21, 2025

THAT LUNT AND FONTANNE MUSICAL By Peter Filichia

But no mention of KISS ME, KATE? Granted, film producer-director Stephen D.M. Smith was more interested in celebrating where Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne lived in This Place Matters! Ten Ch…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:52AM
Tuesday, October 14, 2025

A SWEET SMELL IS COMING By Peter Filichia

Everything went quiet. This is what came to mind when the concert version of SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS was announced. It’ll play November 21-22 at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:31AM
Tuesday, October 7, 2025

MUSICALS PUTS THEIR STAMP ON IT! By Peter Filichia

If you want to know the historical details of The Stamp Act Congress that met 260 years ago this week, Google will tell all. For our purposes, though, let’s go far afield to the Broadway-c…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, September 30, 2025

PICTURE THIS: HIRSCHFELD AND SONDHEIM By Peter Filichia

This must be a first. What other book celebrates two theater artists, each of whom has a Broadway theater named for him? The Al Hirschfeld Theatre is on 45th Street west of Broadway while Th…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, September 23, 2025

GROVER DALE: A MAN LIKE THAT By Peter Filichia

Although he didn’t sing “A Boy Like That” in WEST SIDE STORY, Grover Dale still chose it as the title of his memoir. He does, after all, have a connection to that landmark musical that…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Wednesday, September 17, 2025

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Y’ALL! By Peter Filichia

So, according to the records, September 17 is the day of the year on which most people are born. Now that we’re around the 260th day of 2025, let’s celebrate the birthdays on that date o…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:06AM
Tuesday, September 9, 2025

THE SEASON THEN, THE SEASON NOW By Peter Filichia

It all started with my wanting to do something nice for The Theatre World Awards – the 79-year-old organization that recognizes performers who make their Broadway and off-Broadway debuts. …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, September 2, 2025

SONG & DANCE: Not the Same Song and Dance By Peter Filichia

In a way, it could be considered a Bernadette Peters album. Most of the star’s longtime fans can tell you that over the decades, Peters has released six solo recordings. But she really did…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:46AM
Tuesday, August 26, 2025

SO, YOU THINK YOU KNOW SWEENEY TODD… By Peter Filichia

What you don’t know – or don’t remember – about SWEENEY TODD could fill a book. Rick Pender has proved that by writing Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Ma…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, August 19, 2025

SONS OF A CHORUS LINE By Peter Filichia

With all the talk about A CHORUS LINE’S 50th anniversary, let’s remember that without this excellent 1975 musical, there wouldn’t have been an excellent 2001 musical. A CLASS ACT. It t…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:42AM
Tuesday, August 12, 2025

HALF A CHORUS LINE WASN’T BETTER THAN A FULL ONE

Both friends and readers have asked me, “How did July 26 come and go without you commenting on A CHORUS LINE’s 50th anniversary?” Actually, I was saving it for this week, because Augus…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:16AM
Tuesday, August 5, 2025

CAN THIS MARRIAGE BE SAVED? By Peter Filichia

Returning to the original cast album of REDWOOD had me recalling a column that was once a go-to feature in Ladies’ Home Journal. Starting in 1954 and continuing for several decades, this m…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:29AM
Tuesday, July 29, 2025

HATS ON! HERE THEY COME… By Peter Filichia

Congratulations to Rocco Landesman, Kenny Leon, Kathleen Marshall, Paul Tazewell, Richard Thomas, Tom Viola and – posthumously – Rebecca Luker. Earlier this month, they were voted into T…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, July 22, 2025

ALL SHOOK UP STIRS UP SOME THOUGHTS By Peter Filichia

Let’s go back to November 15, 1956, when two very different events occurred in entertainment history. And yet, in one strange way, they were related. On this date, Elvis Presley’s record…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, July 15, 2025

LIZA WITH PF By Peter Filichia

There aren’t all that many documentaries that bring back actual memories, but Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story was one that did for me. I first encountered Ms. Minnelli when I …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, July 8, 2025

THANK YOU, DON AMECHE! By Peter Filichia

Sometimes, scattering those postcards around town does pay off. That’s how I discovered a play called Thank You, Don Ameche. Lawrence A. Heman’s new comedy runs this week at The Sargent …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, July 1, 2025

THOMAS SHEPARD, INC. By Peter Filichia

“Maybe it was a compliment. I’ll never know.” So writes Thomas Z. Shepard in his most informative memoir, Recording Broadway: A Life in Cast Albums. He’s referring to the leading cha…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:19AM
Tuesday, June 24, 2025

BEAU COMES OUT OF THE BOX

BEAU reminds us of an unshakable truth. When you were growing up – with as much love as you may have had from your parents – you probably received more from your grandparents. That’s w…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, June 17, 2025

ONE SONG GLORY By Peter Filichia

Everyone I spoke to before the Tonys knew he’d be a shoo-in. And indeed, Jak Malone won the Best Featured Actor in a Musical prize. When his name was announced, I’m sure I wasn’t the o…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, June 10, 2025

HALLELUJAH, LESLIE AND DANIELLE! By Peter Filichia

Leslie Uggams was certainly surprised last week. Oh, she knew that she was receiving a Lifetime Achievement trophy from The Theatre World Awards. We had announced that weeks ago, and she was…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, June 3, 2025

THE PRODUCERS: YES, THEY DID IT By Peter Filichia

THE PRODUCERS: THE NEW MEL BROOKS MUSICAL experienced that famous theory. Starting 25 years ago, THE PRODUCERS indeed saw that bad luck comes in threes. “Wait,” you’re saying, “it wa…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, May 27, 2025

REMEMBERING CHARLES STROUSE By Peter Filichia

And he was only three weeks away from his next birthday. True, anyone who’s 96 can’t count on becoming 97, but we would have wished that Charles Strouse could reach this June 7th and man…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:39AM
Tuesday, May 20, 2025

OLIVER! REVIEWING THE SITUATION By Peter Filcihia

As soon as I returned home from seeing the London revival of OLIVER!, I reached for the original American cast album. Yes, original American cast, not original Broadway cast. Throughout 1962…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, May 13, 2025

UNDER THE SPREADING REDWOOD TREE… By Peter Filichia

idina Menzel wasn’t the only one galvanized by the story. Tina Landau was equally engaged when she heard about julia butterfly hill. (And yes, julia prefers small letters in the spelling o…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM

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