Peter Filichia, James Marino, and Michael Portantiere talk about The Imaginary Invalid, Other Desert Cities, Mint Theater Company’s production of Phyl, Ruth Stage’s production of Night of January 16th, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button @ The Public Theater, Midnight @ Daryl Roth Theatre, Memoirs Of Amorous Gentlemen @ The Night Egg at The Culture Club, Atlantic Theater Company’s production of I Became We @ the Linda Gross Theater, Copperfield! The New Musical at The Duke on 42nd Street, Book Review: Love and Second Acts – A Novel by Lewis J. Stadlen, and Anon @ MCC
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Panel:
Peter Filichia | peter@broadwayradio.com | Facebook
PETER FILICHIA is a playwright, journalist, and historian with a number of books. Peter’s day-by-day desk calendar – A SHOW TUNE FOR TODAY – 366 Songs to Brighten Your Year – is available at finer retailers!
Larry, The Big-Time Broadway Producer @ The Hopkinton Center for the Arts (HCA)
November 19 presentation in NYC?
Showtune for Today: We Might Play All Night from Passing Strange
Michael Portantiere | michael@broadwayradio.com | Facebook
MICHAEL PORTANTIERE has been a theater journalist for more than 50 years. The founder and editor of CastAlbumReviews.com. He is also a theatrical photographer whose photos have appeared in The New York Times and other publications. Additionally, Michael is known as a producer and director of shows at the Laurie Beechman Theatre and other venues.
James Marino | james@broadwayradio.com | Facebook
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Reviews:
PF: The Imaginary Invalid @ Todd Haimes Theatre, through November 22, 2026
MP + PF: Other Desert Cities @ Hudson Theatre, through January 17, 2027
MP: Mint Theater Company’s production of Phyl @ Theatre Row, through November 7, 2026
Directed by Britt Berke
PHYL follows Phyllis Chester, a governess trapped in a solitary existence and walled off from the life she craves—until a moment of lost temper leads her to risk everything.
The play launches Mint Theater Company’s new season, featuring two frank, provocative, and deeply human works exploring sex, love, marriage, and the complexities of relationships. Originally scheduled to premiere in Oxford, PHYL was banned by the Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University, although it had passed the scrutiny of the Lord Chamberlain without requiring the alteration of a single line. The play instead premiered in Manchester, where one disapproving critic described Phyl as “slaking thirsty lips in the voluptuous pleasure of life.” When Hamilton was asked how she described the play, she replied, “Well, I call it a comedy because it has a happy ending, and I hope somebody is funny in it.”
PF: Ruth Stage’s production of Night of January 16th @ Theater Row
Ayn Rand’s Night of January 16th, directed by Theo Devaney. De Rogatis will play Bjorn Faulkner and “Guts” Regan in the company’s radical reimagining of Rand’s courtroom drama.
MP: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button @ The Public Theater Newman Theater, through December 20, 2026
A Musical
Book and Lyrics by Jethro Compton
Music and Lyrics by Darren Clark
Based on the Short Story by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Choreographed by Chi-San Howard
Directed by Jethro Compton
Following a highly acclaimed production in London’s West End, THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON makes its North American premiere at The Public this fall. Olivier Award-winning writing team Jethro Compton and Darren Clark reimagine F. Scott Fitzgerald’s iconic story of an old man who is not at the end of his life, but at the beginning. Set in a Cornish fishing village on the coast of Great Britain, and brought to life by a company of 15 actor-musicians, this is the magical tale of a love that defies all odds.
MP: Midnight @ Daryl Roth Theatre, through January 3, 2027
Set in the American South, MIDNIGHT follows twelve interconnected lives—six Black and six white characters—whose stories unfold through an exhilarating score that blends gospel, pop, R&B, rock, folk, opera, and contemporary musical theatre. As love, loss, prejudice, and hope collide, the boundaries that separate them begin to disappear, revealing a timeless truth: while we don’t choose the roles we’re born into, we do choose who we become.
MP: Memoirs Of Amorous Gentlemen @ The Night Egg at The Culture Club, through January 3, 2027
Based on the manga graphic novel “Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen” by Moyoco Anno
music and lyrics by Duncan Sheik
book by Leah Nanako Winkler
directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford
PF: Atlantic Theater Company’s production of I Became We @ the Linda Gross Theater, through November 15, 2026
by Mona Pirnot
music by Jack D. Coen
lyrics by Mona Pirnot and Jack D. Coen
directed by Sarah Benson
MP: Copperfield! The New Musical at The Duke on 42nd Street, December 6, 2026
Book, music, and lyrics by Jeffrey Scharf
Directed and choreographed by Gabriel Barre
PF: Book Review: Love and Second Acts – A Novel by Lewis J. Stadlen
PF: Anon @ MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater, through November 1, 2026
by Anne Washburn
directed by Anne Kauffman
When a gay pride flag is unfurled across the street from Jeanie, an increasingly online TikToker in a suburb in Texas, two seemingly different households…freak out. How well do you know the people you live among, and with, in an America where the line between fantasy and reality has become increasingly optional?
The cast of ANON will include Jeff Biehl (The Burning Cauldron of Fiery Fire), Crystal Finn (Cold War Choir Practice), Andrew Garman (The Holdovers), Izabel Mar (Family), and Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee Jeremy Shamos (Clybourne Park).
Discussion:
Future Episodes:
Peter’s Brainteaser:
He only did one Broadway play, but when the hit was sold to the movies, he reprised his role in the film version.
He later left a play that was a disaster in tryouts, but became a long-running hit that won a Tony for someone else in the cast.
Right now, you can hear his name mentioned in a Broadway production.
Who is he? What was the play and film? Of what property did he bail out? Who won a Tony for it? And what property is keeping his name before the public right now.
Michael’s Musical Moments
Music Opener: OPENER: Memoirs of Amorous Gentlemen: “Hoops” (Cory Jeacoma and ensemble)
Music Closer: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: “Where E’re She Looked at Me” (Company)
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