Peter Filichia

On March 8, 1971, Stephen Schwartz – making all of $22.50 a week thanks to one of his songs -- agreed to provide music and some additional lyrics for an upcoming off-Broadway show.Never mind that he had to have everything ready in thirty-four ...

It may very well be the most valuable and enriching musical a school can possibly do.And although it’s been around for decades, you may not be familiar with it.What’s made FAME a too-well-kept secret is that it’s never played on Broadway. ...

Mary Martin and the Darling Children in Peter PanGo ahead. Name a star entrance that’s greater than Peter Pan’s.Try to name one that’s more certain to get applause.You can’t, can you?Of course, such PETER PAN stars as Mary ...

Spencer Lau was quite proud of his pride of lions, his cackle of hyenas and every other group of animals he’d put on stage.For Lau -- the music director at Woodruff School in Seabrook, New Jersey – is one of the first directors to bring ...

Kurt Vonnegut If you were in college in the ’60s and ’70s, you were probably reading Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. even during the time you’d earmarked for physical science or calculus.The Baby Boomer generation was intoxicated with everything that ...

Lonny Price (© David Gordon)So in 1970, when the nation was entranced with The Carpenters’ “(They Long to Be) Close to You,” Lonny Price was more interested in someone who didn’t necessarily want a girlfriend to be close to him: Bobby in ...

It was “The Road to the Final Four,” as CBS Sports trumpeted all month long. The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s College Basketball Tournament – more chummily known as “March Madness” -- once again dominated the late winter ...

Victor Hugo is very much in place, but Victor, Hugo and Laverne are gone.We’re talking about one of the fundamental changes between the 1996 animated The Hunchback of Notre Dame and the new stage version that officially debuted at the Paper Mill ...

Stephen Sondheim has always loved New York, and, for the most part, Gotham has returned the love. Broadway’s greatest composer-lyricist who turns 85 this week has been a New York presence since his lyrics for WEST SIDE STORY reached Broadway in ...

When an event announces that it’s “the first annual,” we have to wonder if that’s truth-in-advertising. Yes, every happening has to start somewhere; there was a time when there were the first annual Tonys, Oscars, Emmys and Grammys – and, ...