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KPOP MUSIC By Peter Filichia

Is KPOP the first cast album in which the booklet’s lyrics are printed in Korean? No. With all the American musicals that have proliferated and profited in South Korea – EVITA and MAN OF LA MANCHA among them – their cast albums have long had bi-lingual liner notes and lyrics. But yes, this two-language set […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (8)

ALMOUS FAMOUS IS NOT FLEETING By Peter Filichia

And now for a very different homage to a 50th anniversary. Much has been made here in recent weeks of some great 1973 events in musical theater. Two involved a certain composer-lyricist whose first name is Stephen. His A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC opened 50 years ago last month, and SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE was celebrated […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (7)

SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE By Peter Filichia

I don’t remember exactly where I was on March 11, 1973, but I certainly know where I wasn’t. Alas, you wouldn’t have found me at the Shubert Theatre in New York where SONDHEIM: A MUSICAL TRIBUTE was happening. That Sunday night, I was probably in my suburban Boston home watching M*A*S*H and Mannix when I […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (5)

VINYL TAP By Peter Filichia

My turntable is spinning again. Recent vinyl reissues of some vintage cast albums and vinyl debuts of some new ones have me dropping a tone arm and stylus – the fancy term for needle – on one black platter after another. No – not every one of these cast albums is on black vinyl. Because […]

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THE “SEND IN THE CLOWNS” MUSICAL TURNS 50

By Peter Filichia Perhaps it would have been a musical in which such words as “domineering” and such phrases as “Dear Frederick” would have appeared. Midnight would have been a significant symbol. Appreciation of the country, a dinner party and a gunshot would have been part of the plot, too. Characters would have included a […]

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.