HEAD OVER HEELS: A Vision of Nowness and Then-ness By Peter Filichia
You can’t say that HEAD OVER HEELS is your standard-issue jukebox musical. Broadway musicals that employ existing songs usually set them in the here-and-now: PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT; MAMMA MIA! Others revert to the era when the songs were actually written. Hence JERSEY BOYS, LENNON and MOVIN’ OUT all concentrated on the ‘60s. And […]
WILL THE PROM HAVE A TITLE TUNE? By Peter Filichia
Now, right here on Masterworks Broadway, you can listen to “Dance with You (Emma’s Version)” from THE PROM. The song comes from the new musical that starts previews on Oct. 23. It opens on Nov. 15 at the Longacre Theatre, where we hope it’ll have a long run. So we do know the name of […]
BROADWAY TO MAIN STREET – THE ROAD MUCH TRAVELED By Peter Filichia
Last week, I mentioned that august musical theater scholar Laurence Maslon had written a terrific new book: BROADWAY TO MAIN STREET: HOW SHOW TUNES ENCHANTED AMERICA (Oxford University Press, $34.95) Let me count the ways it is indeed terrific. Although most of the tome centers on original cast albums, Maslon takes us back to the […]
A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND ALBUMS By Peter Filichia
For decades, people haven’t believed me. Now, thanks to what Laurence Maslon included on page 220 of his terrific new book BROADWAY TO MAIN STREET: HOW SHOW TUNES ENCHANTED AMERICA (Oxford University Press, $34.95), everyone can see that I haven’t been fibbing all these years. My story goes back to the morning of January 29, […]
HOORAY FOR IRVING BERLIN! — AND HERSHEY FELDER By Peter Filichia
It comes late in YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN. Lucy Van Pelt simply sneaks up behind the Beethoven-obsessed Schroeder and taps him on the shoulder. Once he turns around, she says “Hooray for Irving Berlin!” and runs off before he can say anything (or stone her). Hooray for Hershey Felder, the pianist-actor who wrote […]
