Peter Filichia (born 1946) is the former New York-based

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

critic for ''

The Star-Ledger ''The Star-Ledger'' was the largest circulation newspaper in New Jersey. It is based in Newark, New Jersey. The newspaper ceased print publication on February 2, 2025, but continues to publish a digital edition. In 2007, ''The Star-Ledger''s ...

'' newspaper in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

and New Jersey's television station News 12, as well as for '' The Asbury Park Press'' . In addition, Filichia has two weekly columns at Masterworks Broadway and Kritzerland, and also writes regular entries for the Music Theatre International Marquee blog. He wrote a regular column, "Peter Filichia's Diary," for the website TheaterMania.com from November 2001 until October 2011, and previously for the website BroadwayOnLine. He is the author of the books ''Let's Put on a Musical!: How to Choose the Right Show for Your School, Community or Professional Theater'', ''Broadway Musicals: the Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season, 1959 to 2009'', ''Broadway MVPs 1960-2010: The Most Valuable Players of the Past 50 Seasons,'' ''Strippers, Showgirls and Sharks: A Very Opinionated History of the Broadway Musicals that Did Not Win the Tony Award'', and ''The Great Parade: Broadway's Astonishing, Never-to-Be-Forgotten 1963-1964 Season''. At the beginning of his career, Filichia was a columnist for '' Seventeen'' and wrote books for teenagers. He served four terms as president and chairman of the nominating committee of the Drama Desk, and has also been a member of the nominating committee for the

Lucille Lortel Awards The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres ...

. He is currently head of the selection committee of the Theatre World Awards and has hosted the annual award ceremony for a number of years. Filichia has become a playwright with the work ''Adam's Gifts'', a loose contemporary adaptation of

Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by many as the great ...

' ''

A Christmas Carol ''A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas'', commonly known as ''A Christmas Carol'', is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 and illustrated by John Leech. It recounts the ...

''. Productions include Theatre at St. John's in Manhattan, Spotlight Vermont, and the Clinton Area Showboat Theater in Clinton, Iowa. He has also written "God Shows Up", a satire of

televangelism Televangelism (from ''televangelist'', a blend of ''television'' and ''evangelist'') and occasionally termed radio evangelism or teleministry, denotes the utilization of media platforms, notably radio and television, for the marketing of relig ...

, currently in a limited run at Playroom Theater in New York. Filichia's adaptation of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

's '' The Bourgeois Gentleman'' was presented in the 1972 New Jersey Shakespeare Festival. He has also written the liner notes for many Broadway cast albums, especially reissues of such recordings as ''

Jesus Christ Superstar ''Jesus Christ Superstar'' is a sung-through rock opera with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice. Loosely based on the Life of Jesus in the New Testament, Gospels' accounts of Passion of Jesus, the Passion, the work interprets ...

,'' '' Fade Out - Fade In'', ''Subways are for Sleeping, Ankles Aweigh, Redhead, Parade'' (Jerry Herman), ''Sweet Charity'' (Film Soundtrack)'', Prettybelle, Wish You Were Here'' and the Roundabout Theatre revival cast recording of ''110 In The Shade''.Liner note credits as per AllMusic.com as of 2016-05-13 Filichia is also the critic-in-residence for the

University of Cincinnati The University of Cincinnati (UC or Cincinnati, informally Cincy) is a public university, public research university in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. It was founded in 1819 and had an enrollment of over 53,000 students in 2024, making it the ...

College-Conservatory of Music. He has served on an assessment panel for the NEA and is the musical theater judge for the ASCAP Awards program. He has appeared on television with Sally Jessy Raphaël, Phil Donahue, and on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

''. In 2004 and 2005, he hosted with

Matthew Murray Matthew Murray (1765 – 20 February 1826) was an English steam engine and machine tool manufacturer, who designed and built the first commercially viable steam locomotive, the twin-cylinder ''Salamanca'' in 1812. He was an innovative design ...

the live theatre discussion show ''Bitch or Brag About Broadway'' at New York's 45th Street Theatre. Since March 2009, he has been on the panel of reviewers heard on the podcast
This Week on Broadway
produced and hosted by James Marino from BroadwayRadio.com. A fan of baseball and baseball statistics, Filichia claims to have seen 11,000 performances in the theater as of October 1, 2017.

References

American theater critics Living people 1946 births Place of birth missing (living people) {{US-theater-stub