All stories by Peter Filichia on BroadwayStars

Friday, August 26, 2011

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

'Hannah' tells the story of a brave young woman trying to save lives during WWII by Peter Filichia

Liz Wisan and Alan Coates in a rehearsal of "Hannah," which opens Thursday at Premiere Stages at Kean University in Union. Anne Frank is famous today for the diary she kept, chroni…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:52AM

Chicago: First Draft, Second Act by Peter Filichia

Given that this is the week that Chicago passes A Chorus Line in number of performances (6,138-plus), I thought I’d see how far the Kander-Ebb-Fosse musical has come in the last 38 yea…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:00AM
Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Chicago: First Draft, First Act by Peter Filichia

There was a time when we would have never predicted that Cher would win one Oscar or that Sally Field would win two. And right around the time when Pete Rose seemed as if he would be a lock …

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Monday, August 22, 2011

Wednesday's Musical Is Full of Fun by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- These days, there are some small recording companies that occasionally record cast albums for musicals that last a week or less. But paradoxically, in the Golden Age o…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 11:37PM

The Characters That Tennessee Williams Didn’t Write by Peter Filichia

Would you take your nine-year old to see Cat on a Hot Tin Roof? Never mind the “adult themes.” Wouldn’t you also fear that your kid would be bored, and that he’d fore…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:09AM
Friday, August 19, 2011

'I Do! I Do!' review: For better, for worse and forever by Peter Filichia

Musical follows the ups and downs of a 50-year marriage

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:51AM

Gigi Comes to Winnipesaukee by Peter Filichia

You’ve undoubtedly seen the 1959 movie musical of Collette’s Gigi. You may have seen the 1949 French non-musical movie, too; then again, you may not have, for soon after its Amer…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Pretty Glass Menagerie by Peter Filichia

When the character that the program identifies as Laura Wingfield briskly walks into the room, you know you’re not seeing The Glass Menagerie. But the program also tells us we’ll…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:01AM
Tuesday, August 16, 2011

You ARE That Smart by Peter Filichia

Congratulations to Paul Broussard, Chris Cuddihee, Kevin Daly, Kevin Dawson, Jason Flum, Laura Frankos, John Greene, Cathy Jones, John Kaiser, Tom Lancaster, Jack Lechner, Alex Mallory, Mich…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:23AM

December Leftovers by Peter Filichia

Nice month, as December always is. We all take it a little easier, work shorter hours, return fewer calls and e-mails, go to more parties, and see more friends. It’s almost as if the f…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:23AM

Mordden and The Real Dimitri Weismann by Peter Filichia

All right, one of your holiday presents was a gift certificate for a bookstore, be it on-line or on the street. Now what’s the first book you should buy with it? No question about it…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:23AM
Monday, August 15, 2011

An Earnest Musical by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- If you planned to see that Broadway revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, alas, it’s too late. It closed on June 26 after 189 performances – which is the lon…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 10:48PM

A Compact History of Broadway's Compact Discs by Peter Filichia

I’m not asking you to celebrate with me, but this month marks the 25th anniversary of my getting a CD player. Not only that, I bought the “Summer, 1986 issue” – Volum…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Friday, August 12, 2011

'The Odd Couple': TV vets play mismatched friends in fun female version by Peter Filichia

Jerry Dalia/Surflight TheatreCindy Williams, left, and Jo Anne Worley star as Olive and Florence, the female equivalents of Oscar and Felix, in Surflight Theatre’s production of Neil Si…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:37AM

All These Seasons of Love Later by Peter Filichia

While I watched the excellent revival of Rent, I thought a good deal about Kathy Najimy. No, she never had anything to do with Jonathan Larson’s runaway hit. But I do recall her tellin…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:03AM
Wednesday, August 10, 2011

'Spring Awakening' gets audiences roaring by Peter Filichia

JASON MEEHANNoah Zachary in "Spring Awakening" at ReVision Theatre in Asbury Park. At any musical, people always applaud after every song. It's only polite. When they're enthusiast…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 08:31AM

Ian August returns to the stage by Peter Filichia

IAN AUGUST Whatever happened to Ian August? At the start of the new millennium, August was delivering some of the state's best performances on Jersey stages. He was terrific in "A Funny…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:36AM

The 2011 Broadway University Entrance Exam by Peter Filichia

Kander and Ebb have taught us that “those little town blues are melting away.” Perhaps, but little towns have always been in the consciousness of those who have written musicals.…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:01AM
Tuesday, August 9, 2011

'Accidental Death of an Anarchist': The 'maniac' of this Old Country farce outwits everyone by Peter Filichia

Samuel AllenKevin Isola as the Maniac takes over the interrogation room of the Central Police Headquarters in Milan, Italy. The second act of “Accidental Death of an Anarchist” begins at…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:18AM

The World's First Beatnik Musical by Peter Filichia

By Peter Filichia -- Tom Aldredge died on July 22. Fran Landesman met the same sad fate a day later. But The Nervous Set, the 1959 musical in which he performed and for which she wrote the…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:25AM
Monday, August 8, 2011

When CDs Were Starting to Rule the World by Peter Filichia

I’m not asking you to celebrate with me, but this month marks the 25th anniversary of my getting a CD player. Not only that, I bought the “Summer, 1986 issue” – Volum…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 12:00PM

A Day in Denmark, a Night in Greece at Pennsylvania Shakespeare by Peter Filichia

It’s a Saturday when I’ll see one of Shakespeare's most famous plays -- Hamlet -- and one of his least famous: The Two Noble Kinsmen. If indeed the latter can even be said to be …

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:03AM
Saturday, August 6, 2011

You Go Wild! by Peter Filichia

Some weeks ago, I mentioned that the Talkin’ Broadway 2007 Summer Festival Citations had a marvelous award that no other award has. Sure, we can all point to countless organizations th…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 11:44PM

A Weekend in the City by Peter Filichia

“What do you feel like doing tonight, Marty?” “I don’t know, Angie. What do you feel like doing?” And so it goes, over and over again in the 1955 film class…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 11:44PM

Connecticut Says Yea by Peter Filichia

Truth to tell, when I heard that the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam, Connecticut was attempting a production of 1776, I was wary. For one thing, I didn’t think that 26 actors wou…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 11:44PM
Friday, August 5, 2011

'Spring Awakening': Director adds edge to Asbury Park production of Broadway hit by Peter Filichia

Alecia BrooksDirector Carlos Armesto with actresses Elena Ricardo, center, and Renée Bang Allen, rehearsing "€œSpring Awakening."€ A director must get the right chemistry o…

SOURCE: NJ.com at 06:58AM

Why Aren’t They Going to Jerusalem? by Peter Filichia

So Jerusalem won’t recoup, producer Sonia Friedman told the Times. That’s the same newspaper that employs a theater critic who called Jez Butterworth’s work a “magnif…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:02AM
Wednesday, August 3, 2011

Celebrating 25 years at Passage Theatre by Peter Filichia

Michael GoldsteinMal McCree and Paul Notice in Samuel J. and K. at Passage Theatre It’s a silver anniversary for Passage Theatre Company of Trenton. The troupe, which opened in1986 with a …

SOURCE: NJ.com at 07:50AM

You Can't Judge a Play by Its Title by Peter Filichia

Two years ago, I liked Lennox Robinson’s Is Life Worth Living? at the Mint Theater Company. So while I’m up here at the Shaw Festival, I’m anxious to see another of his pla…

SOURCE: TheaterMania at 01:04AM
Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Make Some August Holidays by Peter Filichia

August is the only month in which we don’t have a true official holiday. Oh, August 11 is a big day in India and the day after is a big deal in Armenia. But for Americans, such big days as…

SOURCE: Masterworks Broadway at 12:08AM

All that Chat