Green Grows the Damn Yankees
By Peter Filichia — It’s a record that will probably never be beaten: The New York Yankees’ Joe DiMaggio got a hit in 56 straight games in 1941. All the pitchers he conquered during that streak probably muttered to themselves, “That damn Yankee.” And speaking of Damn Yankees, it has reached a streak of 56, […]
Merry Widow: It Rolls Along
By Peter Filichia — More often than not, when the leads of a studio recording get into the recording booth, they’re meeting for the first time. Their lack of chemistry is far too obvious when one listens to them together in song. That’s certainly true of many recordings of The Merry Widow – but not […]
The Best of the New Faces
By Peter Filichia — Admit it: when you became interested in musical theater and ran into albums for New Faces of 1952 and New Faces of 1956, you automatically assumed that there was a New Faces on Broadway each and every year. No. All in all, there were only seven New Faces, starting with New […]
Astaire Bit!
By Peter Filichia — May 10 marks the 112th birthday of the show business celebrity who’s been named in probably more theater songs than anyone else. All right, I haven’t done a concerted study on this subject, but I’d be surprised if Fred Astaire isn’t in first place in this mythical contest. Was Cole Porter […]
Getting to Wonderland
It all started on a summer day at home when my parents were driving back from their weekend away. My mom had just gotten a call from Bill Franzblau. (The producer of Little House on the Prairie: The Musical, a tour I had just come back from, and the Executive Producer of this little show […]
