Thurs. Dec 2nd @ 6 P.M: PETER FILICHIA DISCUSSES THE BIGGEST HIT AND BIGGEST FLOPS OF THE LAST 50 SEASONS at The Drama Book Shop

In conjunction with his new book, Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season-1959 to 2009

It happens every season. Broadway has one, two, or a few hit musicals, but many, many more flops. Here’s a look at the extreme cases from each season of the past half-century. The musicals that everyone knew would be hits – The Sound of Music, The Phantom of the Opera, The Producers -- and were. The tuners that sounded terrible from the moment they were announced – Via Galactica, The Civil War, Lestat -- and turned out to be even worse than anyone expected. The shows that were destined to succeed – Breakfast at Tiffany’s, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Merrily We Roll Along -- but didn’t. The ones that didn’t have a chance – Man of La Mancha, 1776, Grease -- but went on to household-name status

Yes, Broadway is the oldest established permanent non-floating crap game in New York, and Peter Filichia takes a look at 100 shows that met either the most glorious or the most ignominious fates.

PETER FILICHIA is a theater critic in print for the Star-Ledger in Newark, and on television for News 12 New Jersey.

Three times a week, he also writes Peter Filichia's Diary for theatermania.com, and every Tuesday writes a column for masterworksbroadway.com. He wrote the weekly column entitled Stagestruck for Theater Week magazine for its entire nine-year run, and for three years on Playbill-on-Line. Then he wrote a daily column for theater.com for two years.

He is the author of Let's Put on a Musical, now in its third printing. His most recent book is Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit of the Season / The Biggest Flop of the Season: The Last 50 Years, and his next book, Broadway Musicals: The Most Valuable Players will be published in 2011.

He served four terms as president of the Drama Desk, and wrote and hosted its annual awards ceremony. For the past 13 years, he’s done the same for the Theatre World Awards.

In addition, he has written liner notes for many Broadway cast albums; is the critic-in-residence for the University of Cincinnati-Conservatory of Music; annually serves on the ASCAP Awards program; and is a Theatre Hall of Fame voter.

He can be reached at the Star-Ledger at pfilichia@starledger.com.

Broadway Musicals: The Biggest Hit and the Biggest Flop of the Season, 1959 to 2009
by Peter Filichia
Paper. $19.99

Let's Put on a Musical: How to Choose the Right Show for your Theater, Revised & Expanded Edition
by Peter Filichia
Paper. $16.95