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MEET JEANNETTE (AND YOU SHOULD HAVE MET HER LONG AGO) By Peter Filichia

Even those who created a website in Jeannette Rankin’s honor wouldn’t be surprised if you’d never heard of her. For the first thing you see when you call up www.jrpc.org is “Jeanette Who?” Luckily for us musical theater fans, both playwright Lauren M. Gunderson and composer-lyricist Ari Afsar learned some years back about Jeannette Rankin. They’re in the […]

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YELLOW ROSE’S TURN By Peter Filichia

“I never fit in; I never could win,” sings teenager Rose Garcia. Which of us hasn’t said much the same thing at various times in our lives? Even the most attractive, popular and wealthy of us has gone into a crowded room, taken a look around at the people there and has felt inferior for […]

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A Virtual Chat with John Rubinstein By Peter Filichia

John Rubinstein said I could share his two recent emails with you, and so I shall. I first came to know John from The Theatre World Awards, which I’ve emceed each June since 1996 (aside from this past June, of course). We honor performers who have made their Broadway or off-Broadway debuts. John won by […]

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THE COMPLETE BOOK OF 2010s BROADWAY MUSICALS By Peter Filichia

He’s done it nine times before, and now he’s done it again. Dan Dietz has thrilled and amazed us all with his THE COMPLETE BOOK OF BROADWAY MUSICALS series, which has spanned the 1920s through the first decade of the 2000s. Now, after having achieved this triple-triple crown, he brings us his tenth jewel: THE […]

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THE VIRTUAL BROADWAY MARKET By Peter Filichia

Despite the pandemic, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS wasn’t to be denied its Broadway Flea Market & Grand Auction. This past Sunday, live and silent auctions, one-on-one video chats with Broadway stars and the opportunity to purchase theatrical collectables were all in evidence. No, this year’s event couldn’t compare to the “Live! From New York! It’s […]

Peter Filichia is the theater critic emeritus for the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey and News 12 New Jersey.

He is a columnist each Friday for www.mtishows.com and www.kritzerland.com.

Filichia is the author of Let’s Put on a Musical, now in its third printing; Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season and Broadway Musical MVPs 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Last 50 Seasons. His new book, Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks will be published in May, 2013 by St. Martin’s Press.

He has been a columnist for Playbill, Theater.com, Theatermania and Theater Week.

Before joining the Theatre World Awards in 1996 as host and head of the selection committee, Filichia served four terms as president of the Drama Desk. He has served on an assessment panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, and is currently critic-in-residence for the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music and the musical theater judge for the ASCAP Awards program.