13,000 SHOWS LATER, FILICHIA STILL DRAWS A CROWD:
THIS TIME, THE STARS CAME OUT
FOR THE GUY WHO’S SEEN IT ALL

The number in the next sentence is NOT a typographical error:

Peter Filichia, who recently regaled an audience at 54 Below with anecdotes about theatre productions he attended (some of which he reviewed), has seen more than 13,000 shows.

With comments that were interestingly informative, opinions that were unapologetically honest, with perspective and sharp timing, he held the stage, introducing theatre legends with representative songs from the handful of 13,000 he chose to talk about. He has spoken about his theatregoing experiences in prepared remarks, interviews, podcasts, casual conversation; he’s written books, articles, album liner notes, and reviews in print or online; he’s all over YouTube and other internet locales. And he does it with astonishingly clear and detailed memories.

They say an elephant never forgets, so the only reasonable explanation for the photographic recall is that he was an elephant in a former lifetime. But knowing his longtime love for musical theatre, I’d wish to think his prior incarnation situation was being the pachyderm appearing in the title role of the 1935 Broadway circus musical Jumbo, eating peanuts and enjoying the Rodgers & Hart score. But research reveals that the elephant in question, named Big Rosie, didn’t die until 1956 and Mr. Filichia was already born by then. The first musical that Peter the kid attended actually opened that year — although he didn’t get to the blockbuster until close to the end of its lengthy run in the early 1960s — My Fair Lady. That’s a pretty “loverly” way to start. Soon, he grew accustomed to this place called Broadway.

Michael Lavine provided the ready hands on the keyboard, providing the needed sparkle and Broadway verve to the show tunes, bringing cheer when he took a vocal solo on the zippy “Make ‘Em Laugh,” written by Arthur Freed and Nacio Herb Brown for the 1952 movie Singin’ in the Rain, which became a stage musical in the 1980s. And how’s this for a segue — ? Also in that decade was a revival of Brigadoon, having been concocted just around the time Peter Filichia was born, created by the same duo (Lerner & Loewe) who created that very first musical he saw on Broadway, which had debuted there in the same decade as the movie versions of both Singin’ in the Rain and Brigadoon. To represent the latter was a supporting character’s comedy number from the show, “The Love of My Life,” but is not always IN the show (and not in the movie) because, well, the censors and the sensitive were skittish about the Scottish lass’s list of lust-filled encounters in the Lerner lyric for the character of Meg. Coincidentally bearing the same first name, Meg Bussert was the marvelous Meg du jour, sly and savvy, garnering giggles galore for this night’s performance. She’d been in the 1980 revival (but in the leading female role of Fiona instead — don’t get confused).

Our host with the “mostest of recall” didn’t live close to New York until the end of a marriage to a theatre-resistant wife (grounds for divorce?), so in the years he resided in Massachusetts he saw many productions in Boston, where they were trying out pre-Broadway. Beyond minor tweaks, often the song list and cast and director might have been different. Penny Fuller was asked to take over the role of Eve, the underhanded understudy, when Applause was in Baltimore, before marching to NYC in March of 1970. Revisiting the role on August 4th of 2025, a dramatic Miss Fuller was full of fury and very focused with the saga that’s all about All Hallow’s Eve, haunting in remembering – with rage – “One Halloween” from the character’s childhood.

Opening in New York two weeks before Applause was the musical Purlie. The Peter puns on Purlie’s protagonists, not huge stars at the time, was “We knew very little about Cleavon Little and not much more about Melba Moore.” It was the then-rare case of an almost all-Black cast as was another musical that came along in the middle of the ‘70s, The Wiz (Toto the dog was white!). But Peter Filichia wasn’t expecting that version of the trip to Oz to be successful when he saw it in its troubled try-out, when it wasn’t easing its way down the yellow brick road on the road to Broadway. Presenting big numbers from both musicals, with big voice, getting a big response from the audience, was Aeja Barrows, at home with “Home” from The Wiz and proclaiming “I Got Love” from Purlie, which she starred in earlier this year in New Jersey. (That showstopper hadn’t been in the score way back when, when the intrepid theatre devotee saw an early Purlie performance before it was deemed ready for sailing to its grand unveiling.)

Fervent fan Filichia is always ready for another opening, another show… but he missed the opening song about a show’s opening in the show Kiss Me, Kate one year when it was being performed under a tent. But he arrived in time for the second item in the score. Back to 2025, when he’s still so in love with the Cole Porter score, he introduced a not-to-be-missed treatment of it as Janine LaManna in a glamorous, glittery golden dress addressed the musical question “Why Can’t You Behave?” Another time, Mr. F. had no intention of missing out on an early invitation-only presentation of 42nd Street. The only complication was that he didn’t have an invitation. He strode into the lobby, but caught the (evil) eye of its notorious producer, David Merrick, and the angry big cheese of 42nd Street personally showed him to the street. But persistent Peter walked around and snuck in through a different door and was able to complete the feat of getting a seat, and afterwards caught Merrick’s attention to mention, with condescension, his appraisal, snarling: “I hated it!” Nevertheless, he brought on one of its original cast members, Lee Roy Reams, to do a bravura turn with the score’s iconic “Lullaby of Broadway.”

Gypsy has a score filled with fierce stage mother material for a dynamic leading lady. Karen Mason certainly “Rose” to the occasion, delivering the determination in “Some People” in an exciting rendition. Mr. Filichia explained that, as an adolescent, he only became familiar with Gypsy’s score when some kind soul made him a copy of the 1959 cast recording on a little cassette tape. Without the benefit of liner notes on the vinyl record’s back cover – or other places where a plot synopsis could be found, and just knowing that it had to do with the life of a real-life stripper – he didn’t get much context. When he listened to the track called “Rose’s Turn,” he assumed it involved stripping and audiences saw a naked Ethel Merman by the end of the song and that Rosalind Russell would follow suit in her birthday suit when she had the role in the film version he went to see. (Spoiler Alert: He was wrong in both cases.)

A fun story about reluctantly attending a show while surreptitiously listening to a baseball game on his transistor radio while seated next to composer Mary Rodgers led to a number from her score to Once Upon a Mattress (lyrics by Marshall Barer). It was a lovably loopy LOL over-the-top showstopper: Jackie Hoffman, a winner doing Princess Winnifred’s wacky “The Swamps of Home.” (She’d played the part a decade ago.)

Josie de Guzman lit up the stage with three strong appearances, providing samples from her time in two Broadway revivals (Guys and Dolls, West Side Story) and sang the philosophy of saying “Yes” to life’s opportunities (from 70, Girls, 70) in a vocal duet with piano wizard Mr. Levine, ending the night on a peppy positive note.

Well before the well-informed walking encyclopedia of theatre had to be walking off the stage, it was clear that having him return on a regular basis to present more Tales and Tunes would be a treat. After all, he’d only scratched the surface of covering those 13,000-plus adventures.

Among other places to hear Peter Filichia’s tales is the “Broadway Radio” series online  

His books include:   Broadway Musicals: the Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season, 1959 to 2009; The Great Parade: Broadway’s Astonishing, Never-to-Be-Forgotten 1963-1964 Season; The Book of Broadway Musical Debates, Disputes, and Disagreements; Strippers, Showgirls and Sharks: A Very Opinionated History of the Broadway Musicals that Did Not Win the Tony Award.