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ROSE, I LOVE YOU By Peter Filichia

If you live in New York City, you’ve seen them — and they’ve probably made you smile. They’re the electronic monoliths that stand tall on the streets of the east side, the west side and uptown and down. A message comes up on an LED screen, stays for a number of seconds and then is […]

Christine – 1960

CHRISTINE FOR HOLI By Peter Filichia

So what’s this holiday called Holi? I’d never heard of it until I saw it listed on my iPhone’s Calendar section. Googling taught me that Holi is a Hindu spring festival that started in India but has spread to other areas of Asia and parts of the Western world. It’s also known as “The Festival of Love” and “The Festival of Colors.” […]

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SONDHEIM: WORDPLAY at the 92nd Street Y By Peter Filichia

Last year, when Ted Chapin accepted the job of producer of the much-acclaimed Lyrics & Lyricists at the 92nd Street Y, he started thinking of how to honor Stephen Sondheim. That would seem to be an easy task. Although Sondheim once wrote a song called “With So Little to Be Sure Of,” musical theater savants […]

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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 […]

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.