All stories by Peter Filichia on BroadwayStars

Sunday, September 18, 2011

Follies' Top 40 by Peter Filichia

I’m not going to do what every other long-time theatergoer does: tell you about the glories of the original 1971 Follies and detail how every other production has paled in comparison. …

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 11:36PM
Friday, September 16, 2011

Follies' Top 40 by Peter Filichia

I’m not going to do what every other long-time theatergoer does: tell you about the glories of the original 1971 Follies and detail how every other production has paled in comparison. …

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:22AM
Thursday, September 15, 2011

'Donna Orbits the Moon': Quirky play showcases actress' talents by Peter Filichia

Andrea Gallo stars as the title character in Ian August’s “Donna Orbits the Moon” at New Jersey Repertory Company in Long Branch. Have you ever wondered what Lucy Van Pelt of …

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:04AM
Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Days of Absence by Peter Filichia

In Paul Rudnick’s wonderfully witty Regrets Only, he creates a scenario where gays are furious about a proposed amendment to the consitution that will deny them the right to marry. The…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 11:08PM

Issues of Fidelity by Peter Filichia

I certainly don’t share the musical taste of Rob Gordon, the owner of Championship Vinyl, or his employees Barry and Dick. Yet I was quite moved when they sang the opening number of Hi…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 11:08PM

Days of Absence by Peter Filichia

In Paul Rudnick’s wonderfully witty Regrets Only, he creates a scenario where gays are furious about a proposed amendment to the consitution that will deny them the right to marry. The…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 11:08PM

'Breakup Notebook': Musical resonates with the lonesome of all by Peter Filichia

Christine Lakin, left, and Beth Malone star onstage in "œThe Breakup Notebook." Everyone who’s ever been dumped — and doesn’t that include all of us? — is going to a…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 06:58AM

NJ Stage bits: 'Mockingbird,' 'Night of the Living Dead' and the Bard by Peter Filichia

Scout’s honor Remember Scout from “To Kill a Mockingbird”? Of course you do — be it from reading Harper Lee’s classic novel or seeing the famed 1962 film version. In the latter, 10…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 06:53AM

According to Doyle by Peter Filichia

Do we have the Beatles to thank -- or blame-- for John Doyle’s concept of having actors play instruments in musicals? The director actually thought of the convention in the early &lsqu…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Monday, September 12, 2011

Lehman Engel 101 by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- We might not have had Avenue Q, A Chorus Line, Nine, Once on This Island and Ragtime and plenty of other excellent musicals without him. He was Lehman Engel, who was t…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:50PM

A Wondrous Coincidence by Peter Filichia

At this time of year, I always think of Jeffrey Landman, an actor whom I’ve admired since he was a kid. We met in 1993, when he performed at a press event for Ahrens and Menken’s…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:01AM
Friday, September 9, 2011

'Hannah' review: Saintliness of character detracts from believability by Peter Filichia

Roy GroethingLiz Wisan left, cradles Kayla Maisonet in the Premiere Stages production of the new drama, "Hannah." It’s one of the most poignant moments that the New Jersey stage …

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:50AM

'Much Ado About Nothing' preview: Michael Cumpsty to play Benedick by Peter Filichia

Michael Cumpsty will play Benedick at Two River Theater Company No, Michael Cumpsty didn’t moan when he heard the news. Of course, he was thrilled when his life partner John Dias was named…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:43AM

How Play It Cool Got Hot by Peter Filichia

Like so many of us, Mark Winkler doesn’t like jukebox musicals, either. So seven years ago, when his pal Larry Dean Harris offered to create a musical from his 10 albums worth of jazz …

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Wednesday, September 7, 2011

9/11: Ten years later - A number of plays explore the aftermath of the attacks by Peter Filichia

Family members talk about Sept. 11, 10 years after the event, in the new play, “Sweet and Sad,” in New York. On Sept. 11, 2001, all theaters went dark in New Jersey and New York. B…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:13AM

NJ Stage bits: Jane Krakowski will sing in Hillside on Oct. 1. by Peter Filichia

FILE PHOTOJane Krakowski Homecoming queen Jane Krakowski will return to her Jersey roots and do a concert: “An Evening With Jane Krakowski” plays Oct. 1 at Enlow Recital Hall, 215 North …

SOURCE: NJ.com at 06:58AM

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' review: This Bard is a bargain by Peter Filichia

Siouxsie Suarez From left, Jen Ring, John P. Keller and Kiley Oram in the William Shakespeare comedy, "A Midsummer Night's Dream." People are always complaining about the price of …

SOURCE: NJ.com at 06:43AM

Dolginoff Does Well by Welles and Wells by Peter Filichia

So I just heard the closing number from Rebecca, and it's terrific. All right, it's not the finale of the musical version that's been promised for Broadway next spring. Instead, it's the ope…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Oh, That Busy Marianne Challis! by Peter Filichia

It all started in rural Illinois when she was three. “My great aunt was a honky-tonk pianist,” says Marianne Challis. “And soon I was in front of people singing ‘Twen…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 09:30AM

The Subtitle Follies by Peter Filichia

When you watch a video or DVD at home, do you routinely press the subtitles button? I do – and not because I have any particular hearing deficiency. I just like to see how subtitlers i…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 09:30AM

Looking Forward to 2011 by Peter Filichia

Well, we made it to the New Year. The worst any of our tombstones will state as our death date is 2011. Will it be the year that Perfect Crime finally dies, too? On Jan. 5, it hits its 9,700…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 09:30AM
Monday, September 5, 2011

Godspell's Discs from Stage and Screen by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- There are many wonderful aspects to the “40th Anniversary Celebration” of Godspell. How often is an original cast album (of the landmark 1971 off-Broadway productio…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:47PM

You Can Profit from Reading Thomas McCormack by Peter Filichia

When speaking to Thomas McCormack, I suddenly thought about my favorite moment in Moss Hart’s Act One. It took place in 1929, when Hart was then a nobody who’d only written a pla…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Friday, September 2, 2011

Finding the sensitive side of Shakespeare's 'Othello' by Peter Filichia

Joe GeinertThe Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey ushers in the fall portion of its 2011 season with the Bard’s take of implacable jealousy, “Othello,” featuring a cast of Shak…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:24AM

We’re off to Hear the Wizard by Peter Filichia

Here I go, helping to prove my pal Howard Gradet’s theory that the average American is destined to run into a The Wizard of Oz reference at least once every 48 hours. But how can one n…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Wednesday, August 31, 2011

August Leftovers by Peter Filichia

It was the month that I once again served on the ASCAP Awards Panel. We annually give out money to ambitious songwriters – be they composers and/or lyricists in the jazz, pop, hip-hop,…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Monday, August 29, 2011

The Much Nicer Irene by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia I hate to see a great cast album suffer because of a hurricane. During the last two weeks of August, Irene became a dirty word in the northeast. But no one should take …

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:45PM

The 2011 Broadway University Entrance Exam Answers by Peter Filichia

Congratulations to Peter Alfano, Anya Toes, John Atkins, Susan Berlin, Brigadude, Ellen Dweck, Laura Frankos, Martin Geiger, John Griffin, Marc Grossberg, Brian Hesse, Cathy Jones, Jack Lech…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:01AM
Friday, August 26, 2011

The Good Books by Peter Filichia

I’m off to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, but flying to the Beaver State means stopping in Phoenix first. With 2,500 miles or so in front of me, I’ve got to take ple…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 02:31PM

Dramaturg Stop by Peter Filichia

Before I go to see William Inge’s 1955 hit, Bus Stop, at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, I decide to take in the pre-show noontime talk-in-the-park. I get there a few minutes before i…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 02:31PM

A Sub for Cyrano by Peter Filichia

Actually, I’m worried for the married couple who came all the way from San Francisco to Ashland, Oregon. We met two days ago, in the shuttle bus that took us from our hotel to the Oreg…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 02:31PM

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