The Much Nicer Irene
By Peter Filichia — I hate to see a great cast album suffer because of a hurricane. During the last two weeks of August, “Irene” became a dirty word in the northeast. But no one should take perverse revenge by neglecting the marvelous recording of the 1973 Irene. The musical revisal featured Debbie Reynolds as […]
Wednesday’s Musical Is Full of Fun
By Peter Filichia — These days, there are some small recording companies that occasionally record cast albums for musicals that last a week or less. But paradoxically, in the Golden Age of Broadway Musicals – roughly considered to be 1943 to 1965 — there weren’t many. You may have assumed that the first was Anyone […]
An Earnest Musical
By Peter Filichia — If you planned to see that Broadway revival of The Importance of Being Earnest, alas, it’s too late. It closed on June 26 after 189 performances – which is the longest run that any Broadway production of Oscar Wilde’s play had had in nine tries. But you can still hear the […]
The World’s First Beatnik Musical
By Peter Filichia — Tom Aldredge died on July 22. Fran Landesman met the same sad fate a day later. But The Nervous Set, the 1959 musical in which he performed and for which she wrote the lyrics, lives on through its original cast album. The Nervous Set has been in and out of print […]
Make Some August Holidays
By Peter Filichia — August is the only month in which we don’t have a true official holiday. Oh, August 11 is a big day in India and the day after is a big deal in Armenia. But for Americans, such big days as Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas occur in other months – not to […]
