Brisk, Lively, Merry and Bright: Allegro
By Peter Filichia – Allegro has now reached senior citizen status. Sixty-five years ago this week, Rodgers and Hammerstein debuted their third stage collaboration. After their monumental success with Oklahoma! and the masterpiece status they saw conferred on Carousel (and the nice reception they got for the State Fair movie), their audience couldn’t wait to […]
Let’s Go Back to the Waltz
By Peter Filichia– October already. Believe it or not, the year is three-quarters over. So wouldn’t this be a good time to celebrate songs written in three-quarter time? Or, as Nanette Fabray sang in Mr. President, “Let’s Go Back to the Waltz.” The musical theater apotheosis of three-quarter time, of course, occurs in A Little […]
A Box of Broadway
By Peter Filichia — It’s not for you. It’s not for me. But it’s going to make a whale of a present for a lot of people -– especially young ones. It’s Broadway in a Box, and it offers twenty-five cast albums that were among the first that you bought for yourself. If you’re not […]
The Desert Song: The Musical Road to Morocco
By Peter Filichia – Remember the 1965 film The Great Race? In it, the famous ‘20s daredevil known as The Great Leslie (Tony Curtis) is intent on getting lovely journalist Maggie DuBois (Natalie Wood) into bed. He’s got to set the perfect romantic mood, of course, so he must choose just the right music. And […]
A Bite of The Apple Tree
By Peter Filichia — Two points before we get to the meat of the matter: Point One: Legendary Columbia cast album producer Goddard Lieberson hated spoken introductions to songs. He believed that people would enjoy them once, but not with repeated playings. He often omitted dialogue in the middle of songs, too, which was really […]
