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disinHAIRited – 1969

DisinHAIRited — It’s a Good Thing!

by Peter Filichia 42 Years Ago this week, New York’s newspapers began sporting ads that said, “What’s a four-letter word for a great Broadway musical?” The answer, of course, was Hair. “The American Tribal Love Rock Musical” opened at the Biltmore Theatre (now the Friedman) on April 29, 1968, and didn’t leave until July 1, […]

Kiss Me, Kate_0

Happy 446th, Will!

by Peter Filichia This week, we’ll be marking the 446th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare – inarguably the greatest writer the world has ever seen. And, not last and hardly least, the writer who inspired many musical theater writers. The first notable attempt was by Rodgers and Hart, who wrote The Boys from […]

Guest Blog: When Are They Going To Release… ?

Guest Blog: When Are They Going To Release… ?

By David Foil Get together a group of Broadway musical fans, bring up the subject of cast recordings, and, sooner or later, you’re going to hear an impatient question that begins with the words, “When are they going to release… ?” Meet “they” – at least as far as the Masterworks Broadway catalogue is concerned. […]

What a Bonus!

What a Bonus!

By Peter Filichia Wasn’t that Anyone Can Whistle Encores! concert last week sensational? Yes, the book once again let us down — though you have to admire that Arthur Laurents went out on a limb and wrote in a style unlike any he’d tried before or since. But, oh, that Stephen Sondheim score! Goddard Lieberson […]

Guest Blog: Mining The Photo Archives: "It's dark in there

Guest Blog: Mining The Photo Archives: “It’s dark in there, Doc!”

By Didier C. Deutsch I can imagine how Ali Baba must have felt when he entered the cave where the 40 thieves had hidden their loot. A sense of awe, of wonder, almost indescribable, when confronted with the wonders that were laid in front of his eyes. I experienced something akin to it when I […]

Peter Filichia is the theater critic emeritus for the Star-Ledger in Newark, New Jersey and News 12 New Jersey.

He is a columnist each Friday for www.mtishows.com and www.kritzerland.com.

Filichia is the author of Let’s Put on a Musical, now in its third printing; Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season and Broadway Musical MVPs 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Last 50 Seasons. His new book, Strippers, Showgirls, and Sharks will be published in May, 2013 by St. Martin’s Press.

He has been a columnist for Playbill, Theater.com, Theatermania and Theater Week.

Before joining the Theatre World Awards in 1996 as host and head of the selection committee, Filichia served four terms as president of the Drama Desk. He has served on an assessment panel for the National Endowment for the Arts, and is currently critic-in-residence for the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music and the musical theater judge for the ASCAP Awards program.