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Although many musical theater enthusiasts know that Stephen Sondheim criticized the lyrics of Lorenz Hart and Ira Gershwin, they may not know that he could be just as tough on Ted Chapin’s typing. On the 1971 production of FOLLIES – 10 years before he’d start a 40-year tenure as president and chief creative officer of […]

By Peter Filichia Go to Google Maps to locate the Emerson Colonial Theatre on Boylston Street in Boston. Then punch in the Emerson Majestic Theatre on Tremont Street in that selfsame Boston, and you’ll find that the distance is a mere tenth of a mile. That doesn’t sound like much, but it certainly seemed immense […]

By Peter Filichia Where’s that star with the bugle? In heaven, if there is such a place. This week, Angela Lansbury would have reached 97. The only way we can now wish her a happy birthday is posthumously. However, she’ll always live in every musical theater enthusiast’s consciousness, thanks to the cast albums of ANYONE […]

Fourscore and seven years ago – on October 10, 1935, to be precise – a musical theater work of monumental proportions opened. Not everyone knew that then. A mere 124 performances was the best that PORGY AND BESS could muster at the time. The world hasn’t needed 87 years to appreciate the masterwork that the […]

So, as I was stuck in utterly unmoving traffic in midtown Manhattan, I kept saying to myself, “Don’t get upset at the United Nations for having these meetings that make taxi meters come up with numbers that are as high as an elephant’s eye. “After all,” my brain told me, “remember what that UNESCO did.” […]