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FUNNY GIRL: WHAT A RELIEF! By Peter Filichia

In baseball, whenever a pitcher becomes tired and ineffective, a new pitcher known as a reliever succeeds him, in order to prevent further damage. The one who does this most consistently will at the end of the season receive an award called “Reliever of the Year.” We don’t have such a prize on Broadway, but […]

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WELCOME TO PACIFIC OVERTURES By Peter Filichia

Devoted musical theater aficionados know that the nine-performance ANYONE CAN WHISTLE was Stephen Sondheim’s shortest-running show. They can also tell you that MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG, despite almost doubling that run, was the second shortest. Their respective weak one-week and two-week stays have made Broadway mavens easily recall them. But few can immediately tell you […]

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MATILDA: SMART KID, SMART FILM By Peter Filichia

Why are there such babyish voices on “Miracle”? If you haven’t yet seen the excellent feature film of ROALD DAHL’S MATILDA THE MUSICAL – but know the original cast album – this might be your first question when you listen to the soundtrack. The kids who sang it on Broadway – and have been singing […]

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MERRILY ROLLING AGAIN, ROLLING AGAIN By Peter Filichia

After the end of each song, no theatergoer shouted “Whooo!” None of the performers held a note for an inordinately long length of time, so no attendee was moved to scream at the halfway mark. Perhaps it was an off performance, you say? No, the applause after each song was hearty and commensurate with the […]

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THERE IS ALWAYS LITTLE ME By Peter Filichia

In a used bookshop in Morristown, New Jersey, I sauntered by the magazine section and gave out with a smile. Considering that the Life magazine that topped the pile was over 60 years old, it was in remarkable shape. After all, with its fold-over double cover, it had had twice as many opportunities to be […]

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.