Blog

By Peter Filichia Get the new revival cast album of Promises Promises, and you’ll be convinced that composer Burt Bacharach and lyricist Hal David were robbed on April 20, 1969. No, they didn’t lose the Tony Award® for Best Score that year; there simply WAS no Best Score Tony Award® given to any composer and […]

By Peter Filichia The upcoming revival cast album of Promises PromisesSee it here will include the marvelous instrumental known as “The Grapes of Roth.” Its title could be confusing to Promises neophytes, for there’s nothing in the music to suggest grapes. As it turns out, The Grapes of Roth is the name of Eddie Roth’s […]

by Peter Filichia Musical theater enthusiasts were saddened to hear that composer Charles Strouse was hospitalized a few weeks ago. But the worst seems to be over, and we all can celebrate the 82nd birthday he marked on Monday, June 7. Few people have done as much to get kids interested in musicals as Strouse. […]

By David Foil In the history of Broadway musicals, there are great years, vintage years, golden years. And then there is 1956. Fans may argue this – 1959 was a pretty amazing year, as well – but was there ever such a brief time in which so many expertly crafted, entertaining and unforgettable musicals made […]

by Peter Filichia Thirty-five years ago this week, Chicago opened in the era when the New York Times was still the be-all and end-all. If the Times daily critic Clive Barnes could like it, it was almost assured to be a hit. If Walter Kerr, its Sunday critic, approved as well, it would be virtually […]