New Line Theatre was created in 1991, just as the idea of a more artistic, nonprofit musical theatre was starting to take hold across the country, with a mission to involve the people of the St. Louis region in the creation and exploration of provocative, alternative works of musical theatre – daring, muscular, adult theatre about politics, religion, race, sexuality, violence, drugs, the media, art, and other contemporary issues.
New Line produces concept musicals like Assassins, Sweeney Todd, Chicago, Company, and Cabaret; abstract musicals like Hair, Love Kills, A New Brain, Jacques Brel, and Songs for a New World; absurdist musicals like The Cradle Will Rock, Attempting the Absurd, Urinetown, Johnny Appleweed, and Anyone Can Whistle; radical new takes on mainstream works like Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Man of La Mancha, Camelot, Pippin, and Grease; and brilliant, lesser known Broadway and off Broadway shows like Bat Boy, High Fidelity, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Robber Bridegroom, The Nervous Set, Floyd Collins, Passion, Return to the Forbidden Planet, and The Wild Party.
New Line has produced quite a few world premieres over the years and has brought back to life shows that did not do well in their original New York productions. In 2019, New Line secured rights to the new musical Be More Chill, even while it was still running on Broadway!
In 2014, the St. Louis Theater Circle honored New Line with a special award for the company’s body of work over the years. New Line was honored in 2019 with a What’s Right With the Region Award from Focus St. Louis, and we also received a Monsanto Creative Impact grant from the Arts & Educational Council in 2019. And a recent Post-Dispatch Reader’s Poll named New Line the best company for musicals in St. Louis!
Mainstage performances are Thursday-Saturday at 8 p.m. at the Marcelle Theater. All seating is general admission. Advance tickets are available at the Fox Theatre box office or by contacting MetroTix.