We Need a Little Music, Need a Little Laughter, Need a Little Singing...

It's that time of year again! That magical time of year when people get really stressed out and bitter and mean... but not the New Liners! We can make your holiday shopping better and stronger and deeper and nearer and simpler and freer and richer and clearer...

So how can New Line make my holiday season better and all those other adjectives?, I hear you ask. Let me count the ways...

First of all, as you do your online holiday shopping, you can support New Line at the same time! Yes, you are that powerful. When you go to Amazon.com to shop, instead just go to the address http://smile.amazon.com. You'll end up in the same place, with one exception – the first time you go to Amazon Smile, the site will ask you to choose a charity. Do a search and choose New Line Theatre. Then every time you visit Amazon Smile from then on, New Line will get a small donation on almost every purchase you make. Pretty cool, huh?

Okay, so go set that up right now before you do anything else. I'll wait...
          (singing quietly to myself)

Haul out the holly;
Put up the tree before my spirit falls again.
Fill up the stocking,
I may be rushing things, but deck the halls again now!
For we need a little Christmas
Right this very minute...

Oh, are you back? Excellent.

What's that you say? You're not sure what to get for your favorite musical theatre obsessive? We've got you covered.

Take a trip to the New Line Bookstore (hosted by Amazon). There you'll find so many cool books, videos, and music related to the musical theatre – behind-the-scenes books, history books, analysis books, scripts and scores, biographies, novels musicals are based on, audition materials, documentaries, live performances on video, fiction about musical theatre, and so much more. We've made your holiday shopping so much easier! And all you have to do is follow our links...

And I would be remiss if I didn't also include here a shameless plug for my own musical theatre books. I've written six books about our art form – From Assassins to West Side Story; Deconstructing Harold Hill; Rebels with Applause; Let the Sun Shine In; Sex, Drugs, Rock & Roll, and Musicals; and my history book, Strike Up the Band – and my seventh is in the works... And if you already own some of my books and have enjoyed them, some more customer reviews on Amazon would be really nice... hint, hint...

But some of the coolest musical-theatre-related gifts aren't on Amazon.

For the coolest shit, you have to go to the New Line Shop on CafePress. We've got all the usual cool stuff, t-shirts, mugs, flasks, Christmas ornaments, magnets, pillows, rugs, glasses, clocks, jewelry, bumper stickers, even dog t-shirts! But there's one thing I want to point specially -- our New Line calendar of gorgeous production photos from our shows, on the Zazzle website (because CafePress stopped carrying it), in three sizes. And of course there's also my personal favorite, the New Line Fuck Clock.

But wait there's more... Have you ever visited the Alternative Musical Theatre Shop? As the shop itself says, "If you prefer Spring Awakening, Bat Boy, and High Fidelity to The Sound of Music and Beauty and the Beast, or if you have to periodically remind your other theatre friends that Rodgers & Hammerstein are dead, then you're in the right place. But just so you know, some of the items in this shop contain adult language. A fair amount of it. If that freaks you out, go away. Otherwise, take a look around. We'll keep adding new items as ideas occur to us, so stop by once in a while and see what's up..."  I can't decide if my favorite is the "Will Direct Musicals for Food" t-shirt, or the "What Would Moritz Do?" bumper sticker, or the "Fuck the Fourth Wall" shower curtain...

But  we can't forget the lessons of that classic, The Year Without a Santa Claus – it's not the trappings of Christmas that are magical; it's about what's on the inside. So instead of buying your friends more crap they don't want out of a misguided sense of obligation and/or enforced gift reciprocity, there's a better way, more in tune with the true spirit of the season – GIVE NEW LINE YOUR MONEY!

Oops, I'm sorry, what I meant to say was...  make a donation to New Line in the name of a friend, and give that friend the greatest gift you can give, the gift of spirit, the gift of art, the gift of the continued life and work of one of the coolest theatre companies in the country, and in fact, the only alternative musical theatre company in the country. Just click on this link to either donate online securely or for info on how to mail us a check.

Because it is more blessed to give than to receive... Was that too crass...?

In the meantime, you can also give a non-monetary gift to New Line too. After you've set up Amazon Smile for your donations to go to New Line, become a Facebook fan, if you're not already, and then suggest to all your artsy friends that they become our Facebook fans too. And then go to our FB page and rate New Line, if you haven't already. Unless you really don't like New Line; then you can skip this part...

How could anyone not like New Line...???

And if you want to prepare for our next auditions in June, you can get the cast album of the show we'll open our 25th season with next fall, the outrageous and brilliant Heathers.

This is the most New Liney time of year, of course, because most of the Christmas specials are musicals. So spread the New Line spirit, celebrate the incredible joy and endless invention of our art form, and if you can, bring some new friends into the cult...

This is a season of humanity, of connection, joy, and community – all the things the musical theatre is. Enjoy the holidays!

Long Live the Musical!
Scott