Idiots, Heathers, and Squips: The New Golden Age of the Musical Theatre

by Scott Miller

With Idiots, Heathers, and Squips, Scott Miller continues his acclaimed and well-loved series of books digging into some of the most original, most interesting musicals ever written. In this volume, Miller takes you on a short but fantastic journey through the first decade and a half of the new millennium, guided by deep dives into eleven of the musicals that represent the astonishing variety and fearlessness of this new Golden Age, including bare, Urinetown, Sweet Smell of Success, Jerry Springer the Opera, Passing Strange, Cry-Baby, Next to Normal, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, American Idiot, Heathers, and Be More Chill, all shows that opened in this new century, presented in chronological order so you can see how our art form is evolving like never before.

Genres: Theatre

346 pages, Paperback

Published February 9, 2020

About the author

Scott Miller is the founder and artistic director of New Line Theatre, an alternative musical theatre company he established in 1991 in St. Louis, at the vanguard of a new wave of nonprofit musical theatre being born across the country during the early 1990s, offering an alternative to the commercial musical theatre of New York and Broadway tours. He has been working in musical theatre since 1978 and has been directing musicals since 1981. He has written the book, music, and lyrics for ten musicals and two plays. His play Head Games has enjoyed runs in St. Louis, Los Angeles, London, and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland; and his musical, Johnny Appleweed, was nominated for four Kevin Kline Awards. He has written more than a dozen books about musical theatre, including The ABCs of Broadway Musicals series. He has also written chapters for several other collections of musical theatre essays, and pieces for several national theatre magazines and websites, and he has composed music for television and radio. For fifteen years, he co-hosted "Break a Leg - Theatre in St. Louis and Beyond," a weekly theatre talk show on KDHX-FM in St. Louis, and now he hosts the theatre podcast Stage Grok, available on iTunes. Miller holds a degree in music and musical theatre from Harvard University, and in 2014, the St. Louis Theater Circle awarded Miller a special award for his body of work in the musical theatre.