Annie’s Original Cast Album: You’re Still the Champ
By Peter Filichia There was a time when Hollywood played fast and loose with Broadway musicals. Many, if not most of the songs that charmed New York were discarded in the California studios. Anything Goes, Babes in Arms and The Boys from Syracuse were among the dozens of ‘30s titles that didn’t wind up […]
The Genesis of Chicago, Part II
By Peter Filichia Because the current revival of Chicago recently passed Cats to become the second-longest running musical in Broadway history, I decided to go back forty-one years and look at the script that John Kander, Fred Ebb and Fosse had on August 3, 1973. This was coincidentally twenty-two months to the day before […]
The Genesis of Chicago
By Peter Filichia Although the 1996 revival of Chicago opened to splendid reviews, did anyone at the time believe that it would become the second-longest running production in Broadway history? But figures don’t lie: Chicago surpassed Cats on November 23, 2014 with its Performance Number 7,486. Alas, Bob Fosse, the original director-choreographer and […]
The Real Pleasures of Bajour
By Peter Filichia You know what expression I really hate? “Guilty pleasure.” I hope you don’t know what it means – because that would show me that you’ve never used it. However, I’m sure you do know the term, and I fear that you may have said it from time to […]
The Fair Lady Who Came to Supper
By Peter Filichia A speak-singing leading man and a lilting soprano leading lady play characters who meet in London in the early 20th century. He’s the one with pedigree while she’s the parvenu. Comic relief stems from some songs that were written to sound like English music hall ditties. There’s a scene where the […]
