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over here

Get OVER HERE! By Peter Filichia

The exclamation point has always been part of the 1974 musical OVER HERE!  But even if it hadn’t been, it should be there now.  Aren’t we all excited that this musical — which hasn’t been seen in New York since the original production closed in the early days of 1975 — will return? (Well, in […]

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LET ‘EM ENJOY GERSHWIN By Peter Filichia

The eighty-sixth anniversary of LET ‘EM EAT CAKE is a good enough reason to celebrate George and Ira Gershwin. No, their sequel to OF THEE I SING that opened on Oct. 21, 1933 didn’t do nearly as well as the original. But when you consider the four-performance fate of BRING BACK BIRDIE and the out-of-town […]

FRANK

How HOW TO SUCCEED Succeeded By Peter Filichia

Fifty-eight years ago this week, HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING opened to raves from all seven (!) New York newspapers. A Best Musical Tony and even the Pulitzer Prize were in its future, as well as the distinction of becoming the fifth-longest-running musical in Broadway history. HOW TO SUCCEED’s road to success […]

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IN THE COMPANY OF HAROLD PRINCE By Peter Filichia

“Who wants to live in New York?” goes a lyric in one of Hal Prince’s most famous productions. The line is soon followed by “I do.” And I do, because I’ve now been three times to The Lincoln Center Library for the Performing Arts to see the extraordinary exhibition entitled IN THE COMPANY OF HAROLD […]

October’s Party

October’s Party by Peter Filichia

When you were in grammar school, were your required to memorize “October’s Party”? The poem, by 19th century bard George Cooper, started: “October gave a party; The leaves by hundreds came. The Chestnuts, Oaks and Maples, And leaves of every name. The Sunshine spread a carpet, And everything was grand. Miss Weather led the dancing, […]

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.