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RENT: A Second Soundtrack By Peter Filichia

Twenty-three to five. This is not the score of the most recent Yankees’ win or the Mets’ most recent loss in spring training. The former is the number of musicians you’ll hear on the new RENT: LIVE recording – eighteen more than you heard on the original cast album. A mere quintet played for all […]

Perfect Liars Club

YOU LIE LIKE A MUSICAL By Peter Filichia

Are you busy on Wednesday night, March 6? If not, saunter into Perfect Liars Club for a unique theatrical experience. Four people get on stage and tell stories that are seemingly unbelievable. However, three are actually telling the truth –and only one is lying. At the end of the evening, you see if you can […]

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THE RETURN OF KISS ME, KATE By Peter Filichia

When I sauntered by Studio 54 where KISS ME, KATE has just started previews, I saw what the posters were proclaiming: “Featuring Cole Porter Hits Like ‘Another Op’nin’, Another Show,’ ‘Too Darn Hot,’ ‘So in Love,’ ‘Why Can’t You Behave?’ and ‘Wunderbar.’ First off, let’s take issue with the word “like.” The songs aren’t “like” […]

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MANY CHOICES FOR KAREN NASH By Peter Filichia

One of Neil Simon’s biggest hits celebrates an anniversary this week. Fifty-one years ago – on February 14, 1968, to be exact – PLAZA SUITE debuted. It was an evening of three one-act plays, the second and third of which were quite funny. Audiences had come to expect as much from Simon’s previous five hits. […]

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DAVID WINTERS EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU By Peter Filichia

At BroadwayCon some weeks ago, I had the privilege of doing a live interview with David Winters. The name won’t mean much to you unless you’re a true WEST SIDE STORY buff. Nevertheless, you’ll find that that septuagenarian Winters has been A Man for All Seasons. His astonishing life is well-detailed in his new book […]

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.