Skip to content

Blog

City Of Angels – Original Broadway Cast Recording1989

THE IDEAL BACKGROUND MUSIC FOR A PARTY

Here is the jackpot question in advance. Musically speaking, what are you doing New Year’s Eve at the party you’re hosting? A young friend excitedly told me that he planned to take many of his cast albums, select his favorite overtures and burn them onto CDs. Once the party began at nine, his guests would […]

It’s Christmas (Story) Time in the City

It’s Christmas (Story) Time in the City

Of all the musicals that have been nominated for Best Musical, only one has been Christmas-centric: A Christmas Story: The Musical. Yes, Tony-winners Annie and Rent as well as Tony-nominees I Love My Wife, Irma La Douce, She Loves Me and Promises, Promises all involve Christmas in one way or another. Needless to say, Fiddler […]

The Sound of Music Fifty-Four Years Later

The Sound of Music Fifty-Four Years Later

When was the last time that you really listened to The Sound of Music? Musical theater enthusiasts tend to avoid mega-hits. We played them so much when we first came to know them, after we’d discovered this marvelous thing called The Broadway Musical. After umpteen dozens of times, we filed away the recordings and haven’t […]

SONDHEIM_Stephen_phR_0

A HARD BED AND A CHAIR

Did you miss A Bed and a Chair: A New York Love Affair? It was the Stephen Sondheim-Wynton Marsalis revue that played City Center a few weeks ago. That’s all right. Not being able to make it may have been a blessing in disguise. The show was somewhere between a noble failure and a dud. […]

MARTIN_Mary_phQ

Mary Martin Remembered

Don’t let December 1 go by without celebrating the 100th birthday of one of Broadway’s favorite stars. “Mary Martin” sounds as if it’s a stage name, doesn’t it? In fact, it’s the actual name (plus a Virginia in between) that Mr. and Mrs. Martin gave the future multi-Tony-winning star on Dec. 1, 1913 when she […]

Peter Filichia is the theater critic emeritus for the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey and News 12 New Jersey.

He is a columnist each Friday for www.mtishows.com and www.kritzerland.com.

Filichia is the author of Let’s Put on a Musical, now in its third printing; Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season and Broadway Musical MVPs 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Last 50 Seasons. His new book, Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks will be published in May, 2013 by St. Martin’s Press.

He has been a columnist for Playbill, Theater.com, Theatermania and Theater Week.

Before joining the Theatre World Awards in 1996 as host and head of the selection committee, Filichia served four terms as president of the Drama Desk. He has served on an assessment panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, and is currently critic-in-residence for the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music and the musical theater judge for the ASCAP Awards program.