New Line Theatre's Artistic Director Scott Miller Releases Book, 'Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll and Musicals'

New Line Theatre, "the bad boy of musical theatre," announces the release of artistic director Scott Miller's sixth book on musical theatre, SEX, DRUGS, ROCK & ROLL, AND MUSICALS, exploring these three powerful cultural forces and the musicals that tackle them - The Rocky Horror Show, Bat Boy, Grease, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, and many others - discovering what these works reveal about American culture and politics.

Author, director, and composer Scott Miller once again shares his passion for and knowledge of musical theater in this endlessly entertaining and informative look at how musicals have both reflected and adapted to America's changing culture. Eager to respond to the concerns and tastes of the increasingly influential baby-boomer generation, musical theater in the late Sixties began to embrace formerly taboo subjects. From the roaring 1920s (The Wild Party) through the cultural chaos of the 1950s (Grease) and the sexual revolution of the 1960s (Hair) and 1970s (Rocky Horror, I Love My Wife), through the rebirth of the art from in the 1990s (Hedwig, Bat Boy), up through the present (American Idiot, Spring Awakening), Scott Miller's Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musicals explores where we've been and where we might be heading. This is a celebration of the counter-culture taking center stage in the most American of performing arts, and changing it forever.

Shows discussed in the book include The Wild Party, Grease, Hair, Jesus Christ Superstar, The Rocky Horror Show, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, I Love My Wife, Bat Boy, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, High Fidelity, The Capeman, bare, Taboo, Jersey Boys, Next to Normal, Edges, Spring Awakening, Passing Strange, Love Kills, Glory Days, Rooms, American Idiot, and Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson.

Broadway composer-lyricist Andrew Lippa says about Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musicals, "Finally, someone who believes the American musical is not only alive and well but is growing and thriving in ways other observers may have missed. Scott Miller embraces the here and now of the art form and cries out ‘Hooray!' or a more appropriate and less printable rock and roll interjection. Well, fuck yeah for Scott Miller!"

Chris Gibson, of BroadwayWorld, writes, "Miller examines the post modern musical with a depth of knowledge that's astounding. . . I'm not going to take you through each chapter, because this book demands to be read. Miller has crafted another fine tome that examines the current state of theatre, and he does so with integrity, honesty and wit. Highly Recommend."

Peter Filichia, author and Broadway critic for the New Jersey Star-Ledger, says, "Miller will have you aching to see new productions of these works, and will send you back to the original cast albums so that you can now appreciate what you missed the first time around."

Doug Storm, original cast member of Bat Boy: The Musical, says, "Scott Miller is a theater sage. His thorough dissection of the genre and the shows he has chosen to represent it are great research opportunities for fledgling directors and actors alike who may be looking to build their backstories and character definition. Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musicals is a valuable addition to the world library of theater history and analysis."

Scott Miller is the founder and artistic director of New Line Theatre, an alternative musical theater company in St. Louis, Missouri, and he has been writing, performing in, and directing musicals since 1981. He has written a number of books on musical theater, including Strike Up the Band, Let the Sun Shine In: The Genius of HAIR, Rebels with Applause, Deconstructing Harold Hill, and From Assassins to West Side Story. For more info about Miller's other books, go to http://www.newlinetheatre.com/book.html

New Line Theatre is a professional company dedicated to involving the people of the St. Louis region in the exploration and creation of daring, provocative, socially and politically relevant works of musical theatre. New Line Theatre was created in 1991 at the vanguard of a new wave of nonprofit musical theatre just starting to take hold across the country. New Line has given birth to several world premiere musicals over the years and has brought back to life many shows that did not do well in their original New York productions. Altogether, New Line has produced 63 musicals and 5 concerts of theatre songs since 1991. New Line Theatre was recently given its own entry in the latest edition of the prestigious Cambridge Guide to American Theatre. New Line receives funding from the Regional Arts Commission, the Fox Performing Arts Charitable Foundation, and the Missouri Arts Council. For other information, visit New Line Theatre's full-service website at www.newlinetheatre.com.

 

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.