Blog

By Peter Filichia — It may be the song that many people most dread during the holiday season: “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” For one thing, the song is certainly is longer than “Rumson Creek” in Paint Your Wagon — and perhaps even longer than “Soliloquy” from Carousel. How about twelve different musical theater Christmas […]

By Peter Filichia — Thanksgiving is upon us, so let’s get in a thankful mood. Here’s hoping that you indeed have a great deal for which to be thankful: health, relatives, friends, a job you like, financial security and enough leisure time. Let’s also be thankful for the music that has filled our lives and […]

Jim Wann, the principal author and composer of Pump Boys and Dinettes, writes about the creation of the popular show. PUMP BOYS AND DINETTES began with nary a thought of Broadway. I was a scuffling songwriter/guitarist and Mark Hardwick was a piano player/actor. We had performed in a production of my first musical, DIAMOND STUDS: […]

By Peter Filichia — Long before one play by George Bernard Shaw (Pygmalion) became a musical (My Fair Lady in 1956), there was another: GBS’s 1894 play Arms and the Man which became the Oscar Straus operetta The Chocolate Solider opened in his hometown of Vienna in 1908, on Broadway in 1909, and in London […]

By Peter Filichia — Everyone I know who got the recently released Arkiv CD of What Makes Sammy Run? has said the same thing to me: “What an overture!” Yes, it is, and for three good reasons. 1) There is no shortage of good songs. 2) There are dozens of musicians in the pit, with […]