ALL SHOOK UP OVER ELVIS PRESLEY’S 90TH By Peter Filichia
Elvis famously sang “Oh, well, a-bless my soul, but what’s wrong with me?” but I’ll instead say, “Oh, well, a-bless my soul, but what’s wrong with them?” Two weeks ago at Graceland, a celebration was held for what would have been – gulp! – Presley’s 90th birthday. Concerts as well as conversations with some of […]
URINETOWN IS READY TO TAKE SOME ENCORES!
With URINETOWN soon returning to the theatrical horizon (thanks to Encores!), memories from the past quarter-century are flooding back. Memory One: Late 1998. I walk into the office of an artistic director of a highly regarded theater company. He starts talking without as much as a “Hello.” “You think it’s easy being an artistic director?” he snarls, holding a bound copy of a script he’s grasping from the bottom. He’s slowly waving it […]
GO TO BREL By Peter Filichia
There were plenty of conversations such as this 57 years ago this week: MUSICAL THEATER SAVANT: From what I heard, you can’t even call it a musical. There’s no book. No story. Only four people standing on stage and singing one song after another. That’s entertainment??? MUSICAL THEATER FAN: Well, we all expect to see […]
THE REDISCOVERIES OF 2024 By Peter Filichia
This month, I wasn’t like most people who listened to “Jingle Bell Rock,” “Feliz Navidad” or, needless to say, “White Christmas.” No, first I took out my album of A CHRISTMAS CAROL. Alan Menken and Lynn Ahrens did the immortal Dickens tale proud. Everybody has a favorite Menken tune – he’s given us so many […]
RON FASSLER SEES THAT THE SHOW GOES ON By Peter Filichia
Did you know that when Pearl Bailey was on Broadway doing HELLO, DOLLY! she actually urged the public not to see the show? Well, not always, but certainly at certain performances. See if you’re surprised when you’re told the circumstances in Ron Fassler’s terrific new book THE SHOW GOES ON. Its subtitle is “Broadway’s Hirings, […]
