Episode 29: Broadway Bookwriter-Lyricist Tom Jones on Celebration

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with Broadway playwright-lyricist Tom Jones (The Fantasticks, 110 in the Shade, I Do! I Do!, Philemon, etc.), about his show Celebration and his 2016 revision, produced by New Line Theatre.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 28: Dael Orlandersmith on "Until the Flood"

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with playwright, poet, and actor Dael Orlandersmith, about her brilliant one-woman show Until the Flood, commissioned by The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, running through Nov. 6, 2016.

photo by Peter Wochniak

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 27: Neil LaBute, Playwright, Screenwriter, Director

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with playwright, screenwriter, and director Neil LaBute, about his writing process and about the annual LaBute New Theater Festival at St. Louis Actors' Studio.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 26: Lucy Cashion on ERA and Trash Macbeth

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with Lucy Cashion, educator and artistic director of Equally Represented Arts (ERA), a theatre company in St. Louis, about the process of creating their critically acclaimed devised work Trash Macbeth. Lucy is an assistant professor of fine and performing arts at St. Louis University.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 25: Broadway actor Ann Harada

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with New York actor Ann Harada about her career (Avenue Q, Seussical, Cinderella, 9 to 5, Les Miz, M. Butterfly, etc.), about her craft as an actor, and about race and the American theatre in 2016.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 24: Danny Ginges and Philip Foxman, on their rock musical Atomic

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with lyricist-bookwriter Danny Ginges and composer-lyricist Philip Foxman, about their rock musical Atomic, which debuted in Australia, then moved to off Broadway, and then was produced by two regional theatres in 2016, Meadow Brook Theatre in Rochester, Michigan, and then New Line Theatre in St. Louis. Danny and Philip talk about the creation and development of Atomic, on the phone from Sydney, Australia, where they live.

Danny Ginges (left) and Philip Foxman

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 23: Actor Jeff McCarthy on Urinetown and Southern Comfort

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with Broadway actor Jeff McCarthy, about playing Officer Lockstock in the original Urinetown, and about his newest project, the musical Southern Comfort. McCarthy has also appeared on Broadway in Beauty and the Beast, Chicago, Side Show, Urinetown, and The Pirate Queen; and off Broadway, in Dream True, Sympathetic Magic, and Southern Comfort.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 22: Director Michael Mayer on the Creation of American Idiot

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with director Michael Mayer (Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Spring Awakening, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Everyday Rapture, et al.) about the process of transforming Green Day's American Idiot album into a stage musical.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 21: Director Edward Stern on The Lion in Winter

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with director Edward Stern, about his production of The Lion in Winter at the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, where he has also directed many other Rep shows in the past.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.

               

Episode 20: Alex Prakken on Touring Newsies

On this episode of STAGE GROK, I talk with St. Louis-born actor Alex Prakken, who's currently touring the country in Newsies, about his work here in St. Louis, getting the Newsies gig, and the details of life on the road. Newsies opens at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis on January 19, 2016.

Photo credit: Lance Tilford, Limelight Studios.

STAGE GROK host Scott Miller is the artistic director of New Line Theatre in St. Louis, and the author of six books on musical theatre, nine musicals, and the musical theatre blog The Bad Boy of Musical Theatre. Opening and closing theme music: Overture from Cry-Baby the Musical by Adam Schlessinger and David Javerbaum, from New Line Theatre's 2012 production. Used by permission. Logo designed by Matt Reedy. Stage Grok is available on iTunes.