SONDHEIM’S WORST ENEMY By Peter Filichia
He’s done it again. Stephen Sondheim has a way of minimizing his achievements. It’s not false modesty. It isn’t even modesty. It’s hyper-criticism of his own work. Even those who have only come to know musicals in the past few months probably know that that Sondheim has been highly critical of his work on WEST […]
SATURDAY REVIEW’S SURVEY By Peter Filichia
“The American Theatre ’64: Its Problems & Promise.” So read the cover of the Feb. 22, 1964 issue of SATURDAY REVIEW. With its fifty-sixth anniversary coming up later this week – which ironically will again be a Saturday – let’s review its four-page article called “The American Musical – 1964.” It offered a survey that, […]
OSCAR SINGS! By Peter Filichia
How to get into the right mood for Sunday night’s Oscars? I spent the week listening to Academy Award winners who’d appeared in musicals from Paul (WATCH ON THE RHINE) Lukas to Jose (CYRANO DE BERGERAC) Ferrer in THE GIRL WHO CAME TO SUPPER to Kevin (A FISH NAMED WANDA) Kline in ON THE TWENTIETH […]
MARIAN SELDES’ OFF-HOUR By Peter Filichia
Jordan Schildcrout has two eye-opening surprises for us in his marvelous new book IN THE LONG RUN. In his analysis of fifteen of the twenty-six Broadway plays that have managed to run over 1,000 performances, Schildcrout gives us two little-known facts about DEATHTRAP. Both involve Marian Seldes. No essay on Ira Levin’s terrific thriller would […]
N.Y.C.: A THREE-HOUR TOUR By Peter Filichia
“New York, New York, a helluva town,” according to lyricists Betty Comden and Adolph Green. Broadway first heard this proclamation seventy-five years ago this week when their ON THE TOWN opened with Leonard Bernstein’s music to boot. When ON THE TOWN was filmed, “a helluva town” was deemed too profane by the censors. So the […]
