REMEMBERING ELAINE STRITCH
By Peter Filichia Can’t you just see Elaine Stritch entering heaven, looking around, seeing all those angels in their wings and muttering “Does anyone still wear a halo?” All right, in many ways Stritch wouldn’t seem to be a candidate for heaven. But in her prime, she was more than heavenly on stage. […]
Finally, The Return of Pump Boys and Dinettes
By Peter Filichia Had all gone well, a revival of Pump Boys and Dinettes would have opened on April 8, 2013. But two months to the day before the planned opening, the six producers who’d intended to bring the 1981-82 Tony-nominated Best Musical back to Broadway said they were postponing it. We […]
Return with Ed Ames to Broadway
By Peter Filichia During his long career, Ed Ames only made two appearances on Broadway. In 1962, he took over for Jerry Orbach as Paul the puppeteer in Carnival; then in 1963, he originated the role of Chief Bromden, the tortured soul who became the title character of One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest. […]
The Overtures Is About to Miss
By Peter Filichia I once asked Charles Strouse if he expected that “Baby, Talk to Me” would be Bye Bye Birdie’s big hit. After all, it was the first featured song in the overture, placed and played with such authority that it seemed to say “This is the one, folks. This is the […]
Cabaret’s Sui Generis Cast Album
Most of the hundreds of original cast albums have of course been recorded in studios. A few have been recorded live, such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Porgy & Bess, the British Moby Dick and Catch My Soul. And then there was Mummenschanz, a mime show where a listener ONLY heard the audience response. (Seriously: nothing else.) […]
