BROADWAY RECALL: Peter Filichia's Musical MVPs

Welcome to BROADWAY RECALL, a bi-monthly column where BroadwayWorld.com's Chief Theatre Critic, Michael Dale, delves into the archives and explores the stories behind the well-known and the not so well-known videos and photographs of Broadway's past. Look for BROADWAY RECALL every other Saturday.

In July of '61, a young kid named Peter Filichia attended his first Broadway musical; a late-run matinee of My Fair Lady starring replacements Michael Allinson and Margo Moser.  After the show, he and his dad hopped the D train to Yankee Stadium and saw Roger Maris move two home runs closer to Babe Ruth's single season record.

While Broadway fans know full well of Filichia's prowess as a theatre columnist and critic, some may not be aware that Peter is one of those cliché-defying gents who can define both the infield fly rule and an 11 o'clock number.  So in his terrific new book, Broadway Musical MVPs, he borrows a page from the sports section and picks a Most Valuable Player for the past 50 Broadway seasons.

What's a Most Valuable Player?  In Major League Baseball it's an award defined as honoring the player whose contribution meant the most to the success of his team.  So more often than not, the honoree is someone who not only had an outstanding season, but who was on a winning team.  Filichia translates that into Broadway lingo by, for the most part, honoring those involved with hits.  That means no MVP Award for Angela Lansbury's performance in the short-lived Dear World, despite winning a Best Actress in a Musical Tony for the role.

But performers whose star turns kept less-than-stellar vehicles running were certainly considered, so Filichia awards the 1969-70 prize to Katherine Hepburn for Coco and the 2003-04 trophy to Hugh Jackman for The Boy From Oz.  As you might expect, his award doesn't only consider the contributions of actors, but also those who write (Stephen Sondheim for Sweeney Todd), direct and/or choreograph (Michael Bennett for A Chorus Line) and produce (Margo Lion for Hairspray).

When appropriate, Peter adds additional awards to many seasons.  Rupert Holmes' work on Curtains after the deaths of Peter Stone and Fred Ebb earned him the title of the 2006-07 season's top reliever.  Chita Rivera was no doubt the comeback player of the year when she gave a spectacular turn in Kiss of the Spider Woman, her first musical after an automobile accident broke her tibia and fibula, requiring 12 pins to be inserted into her leg.  And the numerous rookies of the year include Tommy Tune (Seesaw), Trevor Nunn (Cats) and Barbra Streisand (I Can Get It For You Wholesale).

On occasion, he ventures outside the black box for some unexpected, but very deserving, choices.  For 1986-87 the MVP Award went to Betty L. Corwin for her work in creating the Theater on Film and Tape Archive for the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.  The archive has been active since 1970, but Corwin was considered especially deserving that season for making last-minute arrangements to document Rags when it suddenly announced a quick 4-performance closing.

When you can't catch the game, the next best thing is watching the big moments on TV, so consider the following videos as highlight reels for three of Peter Filichia's award winners, preceded by color commentary direct from Broadway Musical MVPs.  As sportscaster Warner Wolf would say, let's go to the videotape!

2007-08 Co-MVP and Rookie of the Year: Lin-Manuel Miranda, In The Heights

Miranda began writing while at Wesleyan University and, in seven years' time, saw his artistic lottery ticket win.  (He also did concede, however, that The Phantom of the Opera had some influence, too: "At the end of the day, it's about an ugly songwriter who can't get girls to notice him," said the diminutive Miranda.  "I was like 'That's me!'")

(CLICK BELOW TO PLAY THE VIDEO!)

1965-66 Reliever of the Year: Mimi Hines, Funny Girl

Hines' eighteen-month stint was three months shorter than Streisand's, but needless to say, replacements in long-running Broadway musicals have two strikes against them before they step on stage: first, interest wanes when a far less famous person takes over a Broadway role, and second, the tens of thousands of people who have already seen the show are usually canceled out as potential customers.  Hines deserves immense credit for running Funny Girl during a span when it had such competition as Man of La Mancha, Sweet Charity, Mame, Cabaret and I Do! I Do!  What's more, Hines achieved over six hundred performances with Funny Girl at a time when only about two dozen Broadway musicals had ever run that long.  No question that she was Reliever of the Year.

(CLICK BELOW TO PLAY THE VIDEO!)

2004-05 MVP, Comeback Player and Rookie of the Year: Christina Applegate, Sweet Charity

Although Applegate and the Weisslers stayed mum on her financial contributions, her co-star Denis O'Hare (who played Oscar, the man who almost loved her) told a 2010 Drama League luncheon that "Christina put up a million dollars of her own money to save the show."

 (CLICK BELOW TO PLAY THE VIDEO!)

Photo by Peter James Zielinsk

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