
A Second Look at Pins and Needles
By Peter Filichia Last week, I used the excuse of “National Sewing Month” to introduce you to Pins and Needles. Hey, whatever it takes. The 1962 studio cast album of Pins and Needles, which commemorated the twenty-fifth anniversary of the famous revue,is among the musical theater recordings that I most cherish. Thus […]

Pins and Needles: That Other Barbra Streisand Album
By Peter Filichia September is National Sewing Month, so this would seem to be as good a time as any to honor people who work with pins and needles. It’s also a good chance to celebrate the musical and studio cast recording of Pins and Needles, too. Harold Rome, its composer-lyricist, had to […]

Going Forward from A to Z
By Peter Filichia Musical theater writers have many goals, but there’s one for which they always aim. Write a song that will advance the action. There are plenty of wonderful songs that do just that, but these are the songs the general public is least likely to hear. Even in the Golden […]

On the London Town
By Peter Filichia If I had a chance to run into Leonard Bernstein wherever he is now, I’d ask him to forgive me. I just – for the first time ever – heard the Original London Cast album of On the Town that was recorded in 1963. And I vastly prefer how musical […]

THE ORIGINAL SIDE SHOW
By Peter Filichia What a good season for Bill Russell! He’s just seen one of his musicals return to off-Broadway — Pageant, now at the Davenport Theatre on West 45th – and come October, Side Show makes its return to Broadway. In June the musical that Russell wrote with Henry (Dreamgirls) Krieger opened […]