Irene, Debbie, Carrie and George By Peter Filichia
If you’re anything like me – and mind you, I’m not suggesting you should be – two weeks ago you may very well have played the 1973 revival cast album of Irene. Those who did were undoubtedly paying tribute to three of its cast members who, in one unfortunate fell swoop, died in a three-day […]
Musical Theater’s New Year’s Resolutions By Peter Filichia
As I post this, it’s January 3, 2017, which means that in the past forty-eight hours you’ve broken your New Year’s Resolutions. Still, at nearly two days, that diet lasted longer many others you’ve attempted, didn’t it? Well, there’s still time to make some musical theater resolutions. If you’ve been saying “soundtrack” when you’re referring […]
LITTLE KNOWN FACTS FROM A TO Z By Peter Filichia
One of the most delightful songs in You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is “Little Known Facts,” in which Lucy explains to Linus that a fir tree gives fur; elms grow into oaks; clouds make the wind blow and seven other pieces of mis-information. I hope I’m more accurate than Lucy in detailing what I […]
HAPPY SIXTIETH, CANDIDE By Peter Filichia
Who’d expect that a contemporary Dutch playwright would take time in one of her plays to cite a song from Candide? While I watched The Origin Theatre Company’s production of Lot Vekemans’ arduous but moving Poison, I was astonished to hear “It Must Be So” mentioned. Still, a reference to that excellent short song was […]
Best Thing That Ever Could Have Happened to MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG By Peter Filichia
Did you see what Newsweek’s Joe Westerfield had to say about Best Worst Thing That Ever Could Have Happened? We’re talking about Lonny Price’s extraordinary documentary about the original 1981 Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along. That Price did a fine job as a historian isn’t surprising, for he was there from the first-ever […]