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HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (5)

THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE, HUSBAND AND DAUGHTER By Peter Filichia

No, Henry does not have commitment issues. Clare knows that’s not the reason why the boyfriend who became her husband doesn’t see her for long periods of time. From the outset, she knew that he wouldn’t always be there for her. But she loved him so much that she settled for having as little or […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (4)

AS 2023 COMES TO AN END … By Peter Filichia

No, Oxford’s “Word of the Year” for 2023 is not a nickname for a character in GREASE. But by now, you probably know that “rizz” doesn’t refer to Rizzo. It’s a short way of saying “charisma.” And that brings us to Time magazine’s choice for “Breakthrough of the Year”: Alex Newell, who had plenty of […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (3)

MERRILY: NOTHING’S THE WAY THAT IT WAS IN KAUFMAN AND HART By Peter Filichia

Whether you loved it 42 years ago or sometime after, here’s a way to have even more respect for MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. Read the original play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. You’ll find that George Furth and Stephen Sondheim greatly improved it. First and undoubtedly least, they renamed the characters. Richard Niles […]

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MERRILY: BEYOND THE ILLS OF THE ‘80S By Peter Filichia

Stephen Sondheim is getting closer to breaking his own record. His 1964 musical ANYONE CAN WHISTLE ran a mere nine performances but has received three cast albums. First, the one with the original cast, then a 1995 concert recording (both of which are on Masterworks Broadway) and a 2020 studio cast recording. No musical that […]

HAIL TO THE CHIEFS! (2)

THE KIT KAT CABARET By Peter Filichia

Has this ever happened before? Go to the August Wilson Theatre, and you’ll see the words “The Kit Kat Club” on all three sides of the marquee. Above it is a two-sided sign that says the same thing. Some signs sport the letter “C” with a circle in the space that keeps a “C” from […]

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.