In a way, it could be considered a Bernadette Peters album. Most of the star’s longtime fans can tell you that over the decades, Peters has released six solo recordings. But she really did a seventh as well. It’s her lengthiest one, at 64 minutes: SONG & DANCE – THE SONGS. Does that title sound […] The post SONG & DANCE: Not the Same Song and Dance By Peter Filichia appeared first on The Official Masterworks Broadway Site.| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
What you don’t know – or don’t remember – about SWEENEY TODD could fill a book. Rick Pender has proved that by writing Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd: Behind the Bloody Musical Masterpiece. Pender, a Cincinnati reviewer, has attended the tale of Sweeney Todd for 252 pages. To mark the musical’s 46-year history, here are 46 […] The post SO, YOU THINK YOU KNOW SWEENEY TODD… By Peter Filichia appeared first on The Official Masterworks Broadway Site.| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
With all the talk about A CHORUS LINE’S 50th anniversary, let’s remember that without this excellent 1975 musical, there wouldn’t have been an excellent 2001 musical. A CLASS ACT. It told of Edward Kleban, A CHORUS LINE’s lyricist, whose work netted him the Tony, Drama Desk and New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, as well […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Both friends and readers have asked me, “How did July 26 come and go without you commenting on A CHORUS LINE’s 50th anniversary?” Actually, I was saving it for this week, because August 9 was my 50th anniversary of seeing the show. I was living in Boston, so my Manhattan friend Richard Norton was asked […] The post HALF A CHORUS LINE WASN’T BETTER THAN A FULL ONE appeared first on The Official Masterworks Broadway Site.| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Returning to the original cast album of REDWOOD had me recalling a column that was once a go-to feature in Ladies’ Home Journal. Starting in 1954 and continuing for several decades, this magazine would ask an expert counselor and its readership, “Can This Marriage Be Saved?” And that became the question I had for REDWOOD’s […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Congratulations to Rocco Landesman, Kenny Leon, Kathleen Marshall, Paul Tazewell, Richard Thomas, Tom Viola and – posthumously – Rebecca Luker. Earlier this month, they were voted into The American Theater Hall of Fame. Soon their names will be emblazoned on a wall in the Gershwin Theatre lobby. And while we’re congratulating, let’s give shoutouts to […] The post HATS ON! HERE THEY COME… By Peter Filichia appeared first on The Official Masterworks Broadway Site.| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Let’s go back to November 15, 1956, when two very different events occurred in entertainment history. And yet, in one strange way, they were related. On this date, Elvis Presley’s recording of “Love Me Tender” was released. Meanwhile on Broadway, LI’L ABNER opened at the St. James Theatre. So, what could possibly be the commonality? […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
There aren’t all that many documentaries that bring back actual memories, but Liza: A Truly Terrific Absolutely True Story was one that did for me. I first encountered Ms. Minnelli when I sat in my first-row orchestra seat (my favorite place in a theater) during the Boston tryout of FLORA THE RED MENACE. I could […] The post LIZA WITH PF By Peter Filichia appeared first on The Official Masterworks Broadway Site.| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Sometimes, scattering those postcards around town does pay off. That’s how I discovered a play called Thank You, Don Ameche. Lawrence A. Heman’s new comedy runs this week at The Sargent Theatre on West 54th Street. The title was enough to spur me to play the three cast albums on which Ameche can be heard: […] The post THANK YOU, DON AMECHE! By Peter Filichia appeared first on The Official Masterworks Broadway Site.| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
“Maybe it was a compliment. I’ll never know.” So writes Thomas Z. Shepard in his most informative memoir, Recording Broadway: A Life in Cast Albums. He’s referring to the leading character in MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG. Franklin Shepard, the composer who turned out to have feet of the hardest clay, has a last name spelled […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Everyone I spoke to before the Tonys knew he’d be a shoo-in. And indeed, Jak Malone won the Best Featured Actor in a Musical prize. When his name was announced, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one giving a definitive, up-and-done head-bobbing, accompanied by a loud “Yes!” Granted, part of Malone’s achievement is his frenetic […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
THE PRODUCERS: THE NEW MEL BROOKS MUSICAL experienced that famous theory. Starting 25 years ago, THE PRODUCERS indeed saw that bad luck comes in threes. “Wait,” you’re saying, “it was a smash hit, wasn’t it?” Let’s start before the very beginning. In early 1998, Brooks received yet another offer to turn his 1968 Oscar-winning screenplay […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
And he was only three weeks away from his next birthday. True, anyone who’s 96 can’t count on becoming 97, but we would have wished that Charles Strouse could reach this June 7th and many more. Orson Welles famously said that when it comes to hits, “You only need one” to make a reputation and […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Jonathan Groff’s brilliant performance in JUST IN TIME got me listening to a recording that I hadn’t heard in some time. And I was reminded that BELLS ARE RINGING – which includes “Just in Time” – is a sensational cast album. Give a listen, and you may wonder why composer Jule Styne and bookwriter-lyricists Betty […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Fifty years ago this week, many musical theater fans were talking about one show and one show only. A CHORUS LINE. It had debuted at the Public’s Newman Theater on April 15, 1975, making many attendees ecstatically happy that they’d finished their taxes in time to attend. What they saw wasn’t quite what Broadway witnessed […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
How fitting that I got this book on April 1st, for it does seem to be a fool’s joke. It’s David H. Lewis’ Broadway Musicals: A Hundred Year History, in which he gives opinions on musical theater recordings. Granted, as I recently said, when it comes to such matters, “One man’s MAME is another man’s […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Fifty years ago this week, many musical theater fans were talking about one show and one show only. A CHORUS LINE. It had debuted at the Public’s Newman Theater on April 15, 1975, making many attendees ecstatically happy that they’d finished their taxes in time to attend. What they saw wasn’t quite what Broadway witnessed […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
How fitting that I got this book on April 1st, for it does seem to be a fool’s joke. It’s David H. Lewis’ Broadway Musicals: A Hundred Year History, in which he gives opinions on musical theater recordings. Granted, as I recently said, when it comes to such matters, “One man’s MAME is another man’s […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Fair warning: this column will appear to be something between a mild shill and a hard sell. But, really, I know you’ll have a better time at OPERATION MINCEMEAT if you hear the cast album in advance. The plain truth is that many of the songs that David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts wrote […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Fair warning: this column will appear to be something between a mild shill and a hard sell. But, really, I know you’ll have a better time at OPERATION MINCEMEAT if you hear the cast album in advance. The plain truth is that many of the songs that David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson and Zoe Roberts wrote […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
“Has anyone noticed how many R&H works have kids in them?” Ethan Mordden asked that question in his 1992 book Rodgers & Hammerstein. “The answer,” he then told us, “is nine out of eleven.” True. Only OKLAHOMA! and ME AND JULIET don’t feature children. You might argue that ALLEGRO doesn’t, either, but it does start […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Elvis famously sang “Oh, well, a-bless my soul, but what’s wrong with me?” but I’ll instead say, “Oh, well, a-bless my soul, but what’s wrong with them?” Two weeks ago at Graceland, a celebration was held for what would have been – gulp! – Presley’s 90th birthday. Concerts as well as conversations with some of […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site
Christopher S. Connelly knows how big a star Helen Morgan was during the Roaring ‘20s and beyond. But he’s now made sure that you know it, too. Connelly’s provided hundreds of eye-opening details in HELEN MORGAN: The Original Torch Singer and Ziegfeld’s Last Star. The biography proves that he’s a meticulous researcher and entertaining writer […]| The Official Masterworks Broadway Site