New Line Theatre is an alternative musical theatre company in St. Louis, Missouri, producing challenging, adult, politically and socially relevant works of musical theatre. The company was created in 1991 and has produced world premieres such as Love Kills, Johnny Appleweed, Woman with Pocketbook, She's Hideous, In the Blood, Attempting the Absurd, and The AmberKlavier; lesser known Broadway and off Broadway shows such as High Fidelity, Passing Strange, bare, The Wild Party, Floyd Collins, A New Brain, March of the Falsettos, Passion, The Robber Bridegroom, The Nervous Set, and Bat Boy; abstract musicals such as Hair, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, and Songs for a New World; absurdist musicals such as Reefer Madness, Attempting the Absurd, The Cradle Will Rock, and Anyone Can Whistle; concept musicals such as Company, Assassins, Urinetown, Chicago, Sunday in the Park with George, and Cabaret; and reinterpretations of more mainstream works, such as Evita, Man of La Mancha, Camelot, Pippin, Sweeney Todd, Grease, and Into the Woods.
New Line claims to take philosophical and practical inspiration from theatre models of the 1960s, including Caffé Cino, Café La MaMa ETC, Judson Poets Theatre, Joan Littlewood's People's Theatre Workshop in London, and to a lesser extent from the Living Theatre, the Open Theatre, and various theatre collectives in the US and Europe.
New Line has produced the first productions after Broadway of the musicals High Fidelity, Cry-Baby, and Hands on a Hardbody,Weinert-Kendt, Rob "Those Magic Changes" American Theatre Magazine, July 2014 to reviews, redeeming them after their brief New York runs and giving them new lives in regional theatre.
New Line Theatre has been honored by the St. Louis Theater Circle with a special award for the company's body of work over the years, and feature stories in American Theatre magazine and The Riverfront Times.
Past shows
1991–1992 A Tribute to the Rock Musicals * Attempting the Absurd * 1992–1993 Smokin' Santa * A Tribute to Stephen Sondheim * 1993–1994 A Tribute to the Dark Side * Breaking Out in Harmony * Assassins ** 1994–1995 Pippin In the Blood * 1995–1996 Company Out on Broadway * Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street 1996–1997 Passion ** Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris The Ballad of Little Mikey ** 1997–1998 Extreme Sondheim * March of the Falsettos Woman with Pocketbook * Assassins 1998–1999 Songs for a New World ** Camelot Into the Woods 1999–2000 Floyd Collins ** Out on Broadway 2000 * Hair 2000–2001 Cabaret Anyone Can Whistle Hair 2001–2002 The Cradle Will Rock A New Brain ** Chicago
2002–2003 The Rocky Horror Show Bat Boy: The Musical ** The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas 2003–2004 Sunday in the Park with George The Nervous Set Reefer Madness ** Hedwig and the Angry Inch 2004–2005 Man of La Mancha She's Hideous * The Robber Bridegroom Kiss of the Spider Woman 2005–2006 The Fantasticks The AmberKlavier * Bat Boy: The Musical Jesus Christ Superstar 2006–2007 Johnny Appleweed * Grease Urinetown 2007–2008 Sex, Drugs, and Rock & Roll * Assassins High Fidelity ** 2008–2009 Hair Return to the Forbidden Planet ** The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee 2009–2010 Love Kills * The Wild Party ** Evita 2010–2011 I Love My Wife ** Two Gentlemen of Verona Bare: A Pop Opera **
2011–2012 Passing Strange ** Cry-Baby ** High Fidelity 2012–2013 Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson Next to Normal Bukowsical ** 2013–2014 Night of the Living Dead: A Musical Thriller ** Rent Hands on a Hardbody ** 2014–2015 Bonnie & Clyde ** Jerry Springer: The Opera The Threepenny Opera 2015–2016 Heathers: The Musical ** American Idiot Atomic ** Tell Me on a Sunday ** 2016–2017 Celebration (revised 2016) Zorba Sweet Smell of Success ** Out on Broadway: The Third Coming * 2017–2018 Lizzie ** Anything Goes Yeast Nation 2018–2019 The Zombies of Penzance* La Cage aux Folles Be More Chill 2019-2020 Cry-Baby Head Over Heels ** Urinetown
An asterisk denotes world premiere; a double asterisk denotes regional premiere"New Line Theatre's Past Shows" New Line Theatre website
References