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HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (7)

HELLO, 60TH! By Peter Filichia

So, what does January 16, 2024, mean to musical theater fans? The 60th anniversary of the Broadway opening of HELLO, DOLLY! Let’s celebrate with 60 facts, observations and rumors. 1. DOLLY was ostensibly adapted from Thornton Wilder’s 1955 play THE MATCHMAKER, but its true inspiration was the 1958 film version. Both dispensed with the play’s […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (6)

WHAT COMES FIRST – THE MUSIC OR THE LYRICS? By Peter Filichia

So far, 351 people have given their opinions on a question I asked on Facebook. And, my, have I been surprised with what so many wrote. Let’s start at the very beginning. My beloved Linda approached a well-known lyricist at a party. She said that she adored a certain song of his. Linda even put […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (5)

THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE, HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER By Peter Filichia

No, Henry does not have commitment issues. Clare knows that’s not the reason why the boyfriend who became her husband doesn’t see her for long periods of time. From the outset, she knew that he wouldn’t always be there for her. But she loved him so much that she settled for having as little or […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (4)

AS 2023 COMES TO AN END … By Peter Filichia

No, Oxford’s “Word of the Year” for 2023 is not a nickname for a character in GREASE. But by now, you probably know that “rizz” doesn’t refer to Rizzo. It’s a short way of saying “charisma.” And that brings us to Time magazine’s choice for “Breakthrough of the Year”: Alex Newell, who had plenty of […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (3)

MERRILY: NOTHING’S THE WAY THAT IT WAS IN KAUFMAN AND HART By Peter Filichia

Whether you loved it 42 years ago or sometime after, here’s a way to have even more respect for MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. Read the original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. You’ll find that George Furth and Stephen Sondheim greatly improved it. First and undoubtedly least, they renamed the characters. Richard Niles […]

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.