REMEMBERING STEPHEN SONDHEIM By Peter Filichia
He might not be happy that I’m starting with a lyric for which he didn’t write the music. In addition, he might be slightly miffed that it’s from his first show, much of which he pooh-poohed over the years. As for you, will you be surprised that I’m quoting a lyric that doesn’t involve an […]
CHICAGO’S STERLING SILVER ANNIVERSARY By Peter Filichia
Was the person projecting the lights onto the Ambassador Theatre show curtain making a prediction? The word CHICAGO has been seen in red sequins on that scrim since this revival began in 1996. At this year’s Nov. 16th performance, however, the lights that shone on it made the seven letters appear to be not red […]
SOME DO BETTER, SOME DON’T By Peter Filichia
WHAT?!? ON THE TOWN only ran fifty-three performances?!? Impossible! And FINIAN’S RAINBOW, a mere fifty-five? Can’t be! As staggering as those numbers are, how about thirty-eight for ONCE UPON A MATTRESS? And wouldn’t you expect that YOU’RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN, that mainstay of high school and community theater, would have done better than […]
November Songs By Peter Filichia
SUGAR – the musical version of SOME LIKE IT HOT – has Osgood Fielding III sing “November Song.” The month that’s late in the year represents a man’s getting older and aging out of romantic contention with the younger set. Many musicals that opened in November just so happen to deal with love that comes […]
LESLIE BRICUSSE’S BEST BROADWAY OUTING By Peter Filichia
I was on a telephone call last week when the news flashed on my computer screen. “Oh!” I suddenly said. “Leslie Bricusse died.” “Who?” Not all my friends know such things as The 54th Street Theatre didn’t have loges or even that Richard Rodgers once collaborated with Stephen Sondheim (which is probably the way Sondheim […]
