Doing the Time Warp brings disparate discourses from queer theory, fan studies, performance studies, musicology and film studies to bear on the musical in ways that move beyond pastiche. Ellis’s combinatory skill set and fan eye do not forsake critical distance; her readings of well-trodden musicals like Rent feel fresh, even when the boundaries between different media forms grow increasingly porous. As readers progress through case studies of television and film musical numbers, shadowcast performances, Tony Awards shows and audio commentary, Ellis’s analyses compel us to re-engage – to spend time – with an archive many musical theatre scholars, artists and fans assume they know. [...] Ellis refines our understanding of how theatre geeks, queer folx, artists and other outsiders not only use musicals to refuse the status quo, but also to provide transformative and affirming, alternative ways to move through the world. |
Publications
Doing the Time Warp: Strange Temporalities and Musical Theatre.
Published with Methuen Drama, 2022. US * UK * DE
“Let’s Do the Time Warp Again: Performing Time, Genre, and Spectatorship.”
The Routledge Companion to the Contemporary Musical, 2019.
“Emanuel Azenberg's Life in Theater: 'Happiness is equilibrium. Shift your weight.'”
The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers, 2017.
“To Do or To Teach? Is That Even a Question?"
American Theatre, January 2015.
Theater criticism for L.A. Weekly, Stage and Cinema, and EDGE Los Angeles. 2010-2013.
“‘No Day But Today’: Queer Temporality in the American Musical.”
Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol. 5, Issue 2, August 2011.
“Establishing (and Reestablishing) a Sense of Place: Musical Orientation in The Sound of Music.”
Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol. 3, Issue 3, December 2009.
Published with Methuen Drama, 2022. US * UK * DE
“Let’s Do the Time Warp Again: Performing Time, Genre, and Spectatorship.”
The Routledge Companion to the Contemporary Musical, 2019.
“Emanuel Azenberg's Life in Theater: 'Happiness is equilibrium. Shift your weight.'”
The Palgrave Handbook of Musical Theatre Producers, 2017.
“To Do or To Teach? Is That Even a Question?"
American Theatre, January 2015.
Theater criticism for L.A. Weekly, Stage and Cinema, and EDGE Los Angeles. 2010-2013.
“‘No Day But Today’: Queer Temporality in the American Musical.”
Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol. 5, Issue 2, August 2011.
“Establishing (and Reestablishing) a Sense of Place: Musical Orientation in The Sound of Music.”
Studies in Musical Theatre, Vol. 3, Issue 3, December 2009.
Dramaturgy
HouseFire. A new climate crisis musical with book and lyrics by Poppy Burton-Morgan and music by Ben Toth. Produced by Metta Theatre, developed with funding from Arts Council England. Digital workshop, May 2020.
"Untuned Ears Hear Nothing But Discord." A song cycle investigating political violence via turn-of-the-century anarchist Emma Goldman. Music by Ben Toth and lyrics by Meghan Brown. Described as “moving and dangerous” by John Patrick Shanley, Untuned Ears premiered at Lincoln Center as part of In Need of Music: The Songs of Ben Toth with Lindsay Mendez as Emma Goldman, March 2015.
Pallas Theatre Collective New Musicals Development Committee. 2013 – 2014.
A True History. A new play by Chas LiBretto. Produced by Psittacus Productions. Staged reading at the Vineyard Theater, December 2012.
CYCLOPS: A Rock Opera. A Pulitzer Prize-nominated rock adaptation of Euripides’ satyr play. Conceived by Psittacus Productions. Book by Chas LiBretto with Louis Butelli, music and lyrics by Jayson Landon Marcus with Benjamin Sherman. Produced off-Broadway in the NY Musical Theatre Festival, October 2011.
New York Musical Theatre Festival Reading Committee. 2010 – 2011.
The Great Game at Duke Theater Previews. A new play by D. Tucker Smith, which later premiered at Kansas City Rep as Roof of the World. January – May 2007.
"Untuned Ears Hear Nothing But Discord." A song cycle investigating political violence via turn-of-the-century anarchist Emma Goldman. Music by Ben Toth and lyrics by Meghan Brown. Described as “moving and dangerous” by John Patrick Shanley, Untuned Ears premiered at Lincoln Center as part of In Need of Music: The Songs of Ben Toth with Lindsay Mendez as Emma Goldman, March 2015.
Pallas Theatre Collective New Musicals Development Committee. 2013 – 2014.
A True History. A new play by Chas LiBretto. Produced by Psittacus Productions. Staged reading at the Vineyard Theater, December 2012.
CYCLOPS: A Rock Opera. A Pulitzer Prize-nominated rock adaptation of Euripides’ satyr play. Conceived by Psittacus Productions. Book by Chas LiBretto with Louis Butelli, music and lyrics by Jayson Landon Marcus with Benjamin Sherman. Produced off-Broadway in the NY Musical Theatre Festival, October 2011.
New York Musical Theatre Festival Reading Committee. 2010 – 2011.
The Great Game at Duke Theater Previews. A new play by D. Tucker Smith, which later premiered at Kansas City Rep as Roof of the World. January – May 2007.