Ted Otten

Even though the winter hasn’t been too awful for our section of the country, I’m still hearing many people moaning that they want spring. With that in mind, on this week’s Dress Circle (1/11 7:00 p.m.) we’re going to jump ahead to March (when the spring equinox hits) with some Marches from the Musicals.

Happy New Year! (We hope.) We're still showcasing musicals that opened each month on the Dress Circle (1/4 7:00 p.m.), but instead of framing the program with the "oldest" and "newest" openings, we decided, instead, to pick a random sample of musicals we haven't showcased in a while to present their overtures and opening numbers or prologues to give a bigger picture of entire piece.

For many, this time of year features a whirlwind of parties. We really don’t have first-hand knowledge of that, so we had to turn to the musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (12/28 7:00 p.m.) for some help with what parties might entail.

The holidays seem to induce memories, and some of them seem to be rather interesting. This is the case with this week’s Dress Circle (12/21 7:00 p.m.) and our playlist of songs from musicals and films that make up some of our holiday memories. Several of these may not be what you might expect.

In the past, we’ve looked at various types of songs found in musicals such as the “I want” songs where a character lets the audience know his or her reasons for doing things. In this week’s Dress Circle (7/14 7:00 p.m.), we’re going to be looking at ‘story songs” which are, oddly enough, songs that tell stories. Sometimes, those stories are life-histories, but many times, they act as allegories.

The end is nigh! Well, the end of the year, that is. Welcome to December, and to kick off the month of wishes and gifts, we’re going to be looking at a dozen musicals that opened in New York this month on this week’s Dress Circle (12/7 7:00 p.m.). We’ll be looking at 125 years of musical history, from Victor Herbert’s “The Ameer” in 1899 through to the 2024 revival of “Gypsy” that starred Audra McDonald and Danny Burstein.

We’re turning to our third and final (for now) program of Literary Based Musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (11/30 7:00 p.m.), and we’re once again looking at four very different works from Broadway, television, and London's West End.

The year is speeding by, and it’s unbelievable that we’re already facing Thanksgiving, but face it we must. To get you ready, this week’s Dress Circle (11/23 7:00 p.m.) is all about “thanks.” Well, songs that say “thank” in some way.

BECAUSE OF THE LENGTH OF THIS WEEK’S SUNDAY OPERA, THE DRESS CIRCLE WILL BEGIN ONE HOUR LATER THAN USUAL AT 8:00 P.M. (ET). As promised, we’re back with more Literary Based Musicals on this week’s Dress Circle (11/16 8:00 p.m.), Once again, we’ve focused on four novels as source material realized in fourteen songs from six different recordings.

We’re starting a series on this week’s Dress Circle (11/9 7:00 p.m.). (We hope.) with four musicals that were based on literary originals. Three novels and a play are the basis for this week’s playlist that begins with songs from “The Color Purple" and includes songs from a variety of sources for "Little Women," "Mary Poppins," and "Peter Pan."