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 Chimneys. (Yes, Ten Chimneys. Santa Claus would have no problem entering Lunt and Fontanne’s rural Wisconsin retreat.) However, while I was watching this marvelous hour-long […]
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 Hall. The announcement took me back to a potent silent moment that had occurred in the 2001-02 Tony Awards’ press room. The upstairs […]
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-centric stamp acts that have occurred over the decades. The policy of the United States Post Office is to “generally commemorate […]
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 The Stephen Sondheim Theatre is on 43rd Street east of Broadway. Where their legendary careers intersected through the years is the […]
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 opened at the Winter Garden 68 years ago this week. While Chita Rivera was singing “A Boy Like That” to […]
