WEST SIDE STORY: There’s a Place for It By Peter Filichia
It’s still jarring to me – and it shouldn’t be. While watching Mark S. Hoebee’s excellent production of West Side Story at the Tony-winning Paper Mill Playhouse (in Millburn, NJ), I was reminded of a great Stephen Sondheim lyric that isn’t in the celebrated 1961 film. It happens during “Quintet,” one of the most exciting […]
PRESENTING MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS By Peter Filichia
Did you know it was a true story? Indeed, Mrs. Henderson Presents, the 2005 film that became a 2016 British musical – and whose excellent London cast album is now available — was based on two real people. She was Mrs. Laura Forster Henderson (1863-1944); he was Mr. Vivian Van Damm (1899-1960). Together, they forged […]
MAME VS. DOLLY: THE TITLE SONG FACE-OFF By Peter Filichia
What’s the best production number I’ve seen in more than a half-century of attending musicals? “Who’s That Woman?” from Follies, of course. Second place? “We’ll Take a Glass Together” from Grand Hotel, natch. And who gets the brass ring of third place? The title song of Mame, the musical’s first-act closer, which Broadway came to […]
THE WAGON IS NOW NOT ONLY PAINTED BUT ALSO FILLED By Peter Filichia
The spanking new and sensational recording of Paint Your Wagon reiterates how prurient we were back in 1951. Need proof? Just dust off the original cast album and listen to “In Between.” RCA Victor’s fifth cast album had James Barton, playing San Francisco 49er prospector Ben Rumson, admit to a prospective wife that he wouldn’t necessarily be […]
And Bravo to Giovanni By Peter Filichia
“And the nominees for Best Musical are A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Little Me, Oliver! and Stop the World – I Want to Get Off.” So heard the elegantly dressed audience at the 17th annual Tony® Awards, April 28, 1963 at the Hotel Americana (now the Sheraton New York Times […]
