The Big Bajour
By Peter Filichia — Forty-seven years ago this week, musical theater enthusiasts added a new word to their foreign-language vocabulary. They’d already learned “L’chaim!” from Fiddler on the Roof, “Dis-Donc” from Irma La Douce, “Moritat” from The Threepenny Opera, “Rahadlakum” from Kismet, “Abbondanza” from The Most Happy Fella, “Preludium” from The Sound of Music and […]
A Perfect Ten for Blackbirds and Shuffle Along
By Peter Filichia — The birth of any innovation makes for some growing pains. That too was the case with the so-called long-playing record when it came into existence in the late ‘40s. At first, two different sizes – ten-inch and twelve-inch — played at 33 1/3 revolutions per minute. Because classical records and original […]
Three Cheers for Two by Two
By Peter Filichia – It was to be The Big Show of the season. For decades, “The New Richard Rodgers musical” always was. But Two by Two was going to be The REALLY BIG Show of 1970-1971 because Danny Kaye was coming back to Broadway. Although he had visited with a one-man show in each […]
Broadway Saints
By Peter Filichia — There’s that old expression, “You don’t have to be Jewish to” – whatever. Well, I’ll say that on this November 1, you don’t have to be Catholic to celebrate All Saints Day. All you have to do is play songs in which saints were involved. If you’re really ambitious, you’ll play […]
Mary Martin’s a Babe
By Peter Filichia — We all have our favorite recordings. Mine, of course, may not be the same as yours. But of all the studio cast recordings that Lehman Engel made in the early ‘50s of musicals from the ‘20s through the ‘40s, the one I like best is Babes in Arms. It’s now available […]
