Tuesday, March 25, 2025

LISTEN TO CHILDREN THROUGH HAMMERSTEIN AND SONDHEIM

“Has anyone noticed how many R&H works have kids in them?” Ethan Mordden asked that question in his 1992 book Rodgers & Hammerstein. “The answer,” he then told us, “is nine…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 03:04PM
Wednesday, March 19, 2025

MARRIAGE TYPE LOVE – AND HATE By Peter Filichia

For the past weeks, I’ve been hypothesizing that Stephen Sondheim consciously or unconsciously reworked the musicals that his mentor Oscar Hammerstein wrote with Richard Rodgers. Some chan…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00PM
Tuesday, March 11, 2025

HAMMERSTEIN AND SONDHEIM: YESTERDAY ISN’T GONE By Peter Filichia

I asked the question last week, and I’ll ask it again. Have you ever noticed that Stephen Sondheim wound up writing new and edgier versions of the musicals that his mentor, Oscar Hammerste…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:55PM
Tuesday, March 4, 2025

TWO FAIRY TALES: HAMMERSTEIN’S AND SONDHEIM’S By Peter Filichia

The front cover of Christopher Anderson’s 1983 book Father: The Figure and the Force says: Father. He was once the most important man in your life. He still is. On the other hand, Sigmund …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:00AM
Tuesday, February 25, 2025

PURLIE’S BACK AND RAHWAY’S GOT IT By Peter Filichia

It was heard so many times last season as people were leaving the revival of PURLIE VICTORIOUS. “Now I’d like to see the musical version!” And now they can. PURLIE, the 1970 musical ad…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, February 18, 2025

MANY KINDS OF KIND SONGS By Peter Filichia

Why must there be an expiration date on something so important? February 10th through the 16th is the official “Random Acts of Kindness Week.” But why stop there, when we could have a �…

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

REMEMBERING REDHEAD By Peter Filichia

Let’s take a look at the first 10 years of Best Musical Tony winners and see how many Broadway revivals they’ve had: All right, KISMET is a bit of a cheat, for when it was returned in 19…

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

THE GROUNDHOG DAY GROUPIE By Peter Filichia

That lyric from FOLLIES – “Thank-you-for-the-present-but-what’s-wrong-with-it-stuff?” – will never be heard in the home of Cheryl Solimini and Martin Farawell. For Cheryl’s birth…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:14AM
Tuesday, January 28, 2025

PLAYNG THE PALACE By Peter Filichia

Stewart F. Lane will bring back memories to many, as well as important history to others. His It Happened at the Palace is a coffee table book that will keep you up even if you don’t drink…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:29AM
Tuesday, January 21, 2025

ALL SHOOK UP OVER ELVIS PRESLEY’S 90TH By Peter Filichia

Elvis famously sang “Oh, well, a-bless my soul, but what’s wrong with me?” but I’ll instead say, “Oh, well, a-bless my soul, but what’s wrong with them?” Two weeks ago at Grace…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:13PM
Tuesday, January 14, 2025

URINETOWN IS READY TO TAKE SOME ENCORES!

With URINETOWN soon returning to the theatrical horizon (thanks to Encores!), memories from the past quarter-century are flooding back. Memory One: Late 1998. I walk into the offic…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, January 7, 2025

GO TO BREL By Peter Filichia

There were plenty of conversations such as this 57 years ago this week: MUSICAL THEATER SAVANT: From what I heard, you can’t even call it a musical. There’s no book. No story. Only four …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:37AM
Sunday, January 5, 2025

THE REDISCOVERIES OF 2024 By Peter Filichia

This month, I wasn’t like most people who listened to “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Feliz Navidad” or, needless to say, “White Christmas.” No, first I took out my album of A CHRISTMAS C…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 02:08PM

RON FASSLER SEES THAT THE SHOW GOES ON By Peter Filichia

Did you know that when Pearl Bailey was on Broadway doing HELLO, DOLLY! she actually urged the public not to see the show? Well, not always, but certainly at certain performances. See if you…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 02:07PM
Tuesday, December 17, 2024

BROADWAY’S WORDS OF THE YEAR BY PETER FILICHIA

Let’s hear it for demure! It’s Dictionary.com’s Word of the Year. Yes, in addition to Time’s Person of the Year and Sports Illustrated’’s Sportsperson of the Year, Dictionary.com…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 01:04PM
Tuesday, December 10, 2024

MORE ON CHICAGO THEN AND NOW By Peter Filichia

When we left Roxie Hart last Tuesday, she was singing “My Own Best Friend” – all by herself. Yes, John Kander and Fred Ebb originally conceived their song as a solo for the woman that …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, December 3, 2024

CHICAGO THEN AND NOW By Peter Filichia

CHICAGO’s hitting the 11,000-performance mark last month inspired me. I pulled out the Bob Fosse-Fred Ebb script from August 3, 1973 – 22 months before the show came to Broadway. Let’s…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, November 26, 2024

THE WOMAN WHO WROTE ABOUT WOMEN WRITING MUSICALS By Peter Filichia

Maybe you don’t know who Mae Anwerda Sloane or Annelu Burns were, but Jennifer Ashley Tepper sure does. They’re just two of the dozens upon dozens of subjects that Tepper recounts in her…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, November 19, 2024

DOES MERRILY HAVE AN OUTSIDERS’ CHANCE? By Peter Filichia

Will the winner be THE OUTSIDERS or MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG? We’re talking about the 2025 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. All right, there are four other nominees. But in the Ch…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Wednesday, November 13, 2024

AL HIRSCHFELD: IT’S IN THE CARDS By Peter Filichia

Zero Mostel as Peter Pan? Carol Channing as Lady Macbeth? Robert Preston and Sammy Davis, Jr. as the Dromio twins in THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE? Sounds crazy, no? But in 1964, Al Hirschfeld – …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:18AM
Tuesday, November 5, 2024

YOU’RE A GRAND NEW BOOK (AND GRAND OLD CAST ALBUM) By Peter Filichia

YOU’RE A GRAND NEW BOOK (AND GRAND OLD CAST ALBUM) By Peter Filichia He died 82 years ago this week, but here’s proof that he hasn’t been forgotten. Elizabeth T. Craft’s excellent ne…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 29, 2024

ROMEO AND JULIET AND MUSICALS By Peter Filichia

It was one of the biggest theatrical hits of the 16th century. And this week, we’ll have the opening of the 36th Broadway revival of a drama that first opened in New York 270 years ago. Wh…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 22, 2024

SPEAK TO US, OH BEAUTIFUL CAST ALBUMS By Peter Filichia

“Listen, girls, the way to catch a man is to be a natural woman…” So said Lena Horne before she launched into “Pretty to Walk With,” her opening song in JAMAICA, which opened 67 ye…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 15, 2024

RAGTIME MADE US HEAR IT By Peter Filichia

Masterworks Broadway has two ways to whet your appetite for the upcoming presentation of RAGTIME at Encores! The last great musical of the 20th century will play October 20 through November …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 8, 2024

WHEN MAGGIE SMITH WAS A NEW FACE BY PETER FILICHIA

Maggie Smith’s recent death inspired me to listen to NEW FACES OF ‘56. Are you asking, “What could she possibly have to do with that show?” In fact, Smith made her Broadway debut in …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 1, 2024

And for a Significant Anniversary … By Peter Filichia

I was racking my brains in trying to find the perfect gift for Princeton and Kate Monster’s 20th wedding anniversary. Princeton, you may recall, proposed to Kate Monster on June 6, 2004, t…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Friday, September 27, 2024

HAPPY 60th, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF By Peter Filichia

The 1964-65 season gave birth to a dozen new musicals, but only one has ever enjoyed a Broadway revival. FIDDLER ON THE ROOF, of course. Make that, revivals, plural. Wonder of wonders, mirac…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 08:50AM
Tuesday, September 17, 2024

NO, NO, NANETTE By Peter Filichia

You’re aware of one great book about a 1971 Broadway musical production, but do you know another? For years, we’ve all celebrated Ted Chapin’s magnificent Everything Was Possible, abou…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 05:03PM
Tuesday, September 10, 2024

HUMMING AT THE PHOTO CALL

By Peter Filichia A picture is not only worth a thousand words, but it can also be worth quite a few songs. That occurred to me as I was humming many a show tune while attending Photo C…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 06:00AM
Tuesday, September 3, 2024

STEREOPHONIC’S SOUNDS By Peter Filichia

The rumor going around Broadway said that it was really about Rumours. STEREOPHONIC, David Adjmi’s comedy-drama, the most recent winner of a Best Play Tony, does bring to mind Fleetwood Ma…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:52AM
Tuesday, August 27, 2024

ANYTHING ELSE IS A LAUGH By Peter Filichia

Many people remember the birthdays and anniversaries of friends and relatives. I do, too – but I also remember when people laugh at lyrics in musicals. Sounds crazy, no? But this occurred …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:01AM

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
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre