484 stories from Masterworks Broadway
By Peter Filichia Stephen Sondheim's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG did it in 1981, and Stephen Schwartz's THE QUEEN OF VERSAILLES followed suit last December. Each musical opened to disappointing re…
Let's hope that this season's revival of Richard O'Brien's THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW is as good as the last one. You can feel the joy on the 2000 cast album, thanks to its eclectic cast. The Bro…
So, to celebrate the 70th anniversary of MY FAIR LADY this past Sunday, I watched MY FAIR ZOMBIE. Never heard of it? Here's your chance to learn about co-screenwriter and director Brett Kell…
Eighty-three years ago this week, Lorenz Hart was probably enjoying more schadenfreude than AVENUE Q's Gary Coleman and Nicky put together. Here was AWAY WE GO!, the first musical that Richa…
This was one triumphant opening night that wasn't followed with unmitigated glee. Any festivities for ON THE TWENTIETH CENTURY on February 19, 1978, were short-circuited by an eleven-word se…
Who would ever think that being imprisoned would be a good career move? It was for William Sidney Porter, who, 128 years ago this week, was sentenced to five years in the Ohio Penitentiary f…
It's the smartest and sassiest musical revue in town. Considering the pronoun that starts the title, I WISH MY LIFE WERE LIKE A MUSICAL, now at the Soho Playhouse through February 28, may so…
It was 61 years ago this week that it opened, and 61 years ago this week that it closed. And yet, a musical on the same subject opened 14 years later and ran nearly 315 times longer. Do the …
So, how did you spend National Puzzle Day? Or did January 29th go by without your even knowing about this "holiday"? It's been in existence since January 29, 2003, after Jodi Jill " a lifelo…
January 29, 1966, New York City. Light snow falling. Temperature: 12 degrees. Inside the Palace Theatre, matters are much warmer. SWEET CHARITY had a hot Gwen Verdon starring in her husband'…
Tempus does fugit, to paraphrase what Virgil said more than 2,000 years ago. Or, as we like to say, "Time flies." Can it really be 44 years since Gerard Alessandrini brought his parody-fille…
So, last week marked the 75th anniversary of the opening of the first United Nations building. And given that each member nation gets one vote, we'll pick one song from a musical that's set …
I blinked when I read the news. WISH YOU WERE HERE is the Number One album in the United Kingdom? That an original cast album from 1952 would make such a spectacular renaissance astonished m…
The week before Christmas always has me thinking about Betty Comden. It all has to do with what she once told me about those seven arduous days she spent in 1952. Comden, lifetime collaborat…
That December 18th is the anniversary of Ossie Davis' birth made me think of the 1962 musical BRAVO GIOVANNI. No, although Davis interacted with three musicals in his career, BRAVO GIOVANNI …
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, performanc…
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…
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 leaving behind…
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 Ace Ba…
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 Theat…
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…
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 more…
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…
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 Hal…
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-cen…
