PLANNING YOUR THEATRICAL SUMMER By Peter Filichia
So, which type of cast album listener are you? Before you see a musical, do you play the show’s recording and learn the score down to every hemidemisemiquaver? Or do you avoid the album because you want to be taken by surprise and discover the score in the theater? What about a musical that you’re […]
CABARET: PERFECTLY MARVELOUS By Peter Filichia
Only ten days after it had opened, its original cast album was already in stores. Frankly, the first-ever pressing of CABARET would have arrived even earlier had the musical not opened on a Sunday. Back in the ‘60s, casts routinely recorded their albums on the first Sunday after opening. In those days, Sunday matinees were […]
A COMPLICATED WOMAN WHO LOVED GOLDEN AGE MUSICALS By Peter Filichia
Although the new musical trying out Goodspeed’s Norma Terris Theatre is called A COMPLICATED WOMAN, it could just as easily be titled A COMPLICATED MAN. That sounds complicated, too, doesn’t it? The explanation, though, is that the baby born to the Kenleys in 1906 had both male and female organs. Says Jeff Calhoun, who’s directing […]
ON THE TOWN’S SUBWAYS AND TURNSTILES By Peter Filichia
Does everybody get the joke in ON THE TOWN? That occurred to me last week at the uber-popular Ellen’s Stardust Diner. How popular? Pass by, and you’ll undoubtedly see a line longer than the ones once witnessed at FUNNY GIRL, FIDDLER and DOLLY combined. FUNNY GIRL comes to mind because Ellen’s, at Broadway and 51st […]
Tony Timing Is Everything By Peter Filichia
In the last week, you’ve probably heard two words over and over. “Robbed” and “snubbed.” Yes, it happens every spring once fans hear the nominations for New York theater awards. The Tonys, Drama Desks, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards all get many stage enthusiasts outraged when their favorites get few if any nominations. […]
